Birmingham City Ready to Compete Against Champions Manchester City

Birmingham City will walk back into the Women's Super League with the toughest welcome the fixture list could throw at them – and Amy Merricks wants a fight, not a ceremony.

The newly crowned WSL 2 champions open their 2026-27 campaign away to title holders Manchester City on Sunday at the Joie Stadium (14:30 BST), returning to the ground where a 6-0 defeat in May 2022 sealed their relegation. Same venue. Same opponent. Very different mood.

Merricks: “We are here to compete”

Birmingham have spent four years clawing their way back to this stage. They clinched promotion on the final day last season, winning the second tier with an attacking style that produced 2.09 goals per game and a reputation for front-foot football.

Merricks has no intention of parking that ambition at the door just because the champions are in front of them.

“I think it's a great time to play Man City. We know it's going to be a challenge but we are well and truly up for it. We are here to compete, not just make up the numbers,” she said in her pre-match media conference.

“Our focus is on ourselves, we appreciate and respect who they are and what they have, but our mindset doesn't change.”

That mindset is built on a clear identity. Birmingham went up by attacking, by taking risks, by insisting on playing their way.

“There is a core part of our identity that is non-negotiable for us as Blues and myself as a head coach,” Merricks added.

“We are a progressive team, we will find ways to create and score. We are really clear on what our strengths are and what we need to maximise.

“This is the best league in the world, it is going to be tough and a challenge, but what we can't do is lose our strengths. We have to amplify those and put ourselves in the best position possible.

“We have to focus on what we can control and that's how we can compete. We don't fear anyone. I think we showed that in the cup competitions last year.”

A reminder from the cup

Manchester City know exactly what she means. Just five months ago, in the quarter-finals of the Women's FA Cup, Birmingham forced them into a narrow 1-0 win that asked real questions of the eventual league champions.

That night left an impression on Andree Jeglertz.

“We had a tough game against them last year. They were tactically very good and destroyed all the space on the field, defending low and their transitioning was very good. There are threats in their team we need to give attention to,” the Man City boss said.

“Playing against a team that is new in the league is always a challenge because I know they are coming in with a lot of energy in the first game.”

City will need that awareness. They were flawless at home in the league last season, winning all 11 WSL matches at the Joie Stadium on their way to a first title in a decade. The champions’ aura is back. So is the target on their backs.

Champions who still feel like chasers

This is City’s first league title defence in ten years, but Jeglertz wants no hint of comfort creeping in.

“We are still chasing, chasing to win again. If you start protecting things, I don't think that will help us. We need to be in a mood of hunger, trying to win again, to compete in different tournaments.

If we drop a little bit in performance or attitude, teams will go past us.”

The message is blunt: defend nothing, attack everything. Birmingham arrive as underdogs, but also as a live warning of what happens when standards dip.

Team news: Miedema out, questions over Charles

City’s squad is not at full strength. Vivianne Miedema will be out until at least late autumn with a knee injury, removing one of their most dangerous forwards from the early part of the campaign. Defender Rebecca Knaak also misses the opener with a foot problem.

There is better news elsewhere. Defender Jade Rose and midfielder Grace Clinton are back in training and pushing to be involved, while summer signing Niamh Charles remains, in Jeglertz’s words, “a big question mark” for Sunday.

For Birmingham, the assignment is brutal, the memories of that 6-0 still raw. But this is a different team, with a different coach, arriving with promotion momentum and a clear sense of who they are.

Toe-to-toe with the champions on day one. If they really mean that, what does it say about the ceiling of this newly promoted side?