Brighton players celebrate their FA Cup final qualification after defeating Liverpool.
Photograph: Craig Brough/Action Images/Reuters
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Brighton players celebrate their FA Cup final qualification after defeating Liverpool.
Photograph: Craig Brough/Action Images/Reuters
History makers Brighton are disrupting the established order and making no secret of their high aspirations. The Seagulls have reached their first Women’s FA Cup final, but head coach Dario Vidosic is already setting his sights even higher.
As the club’s traditional song goes, “Hark to the merry bugles,” because something special is brewing in Sussex by the sea. A purpose-built women’s team stadium is in the works, a second consecutive top-half finish in the Women’s Super League appears likely, and the women’s side are heading to Wembley for the first time. The fans have never experienced such a thrilling era.
It took something extraordinary for Brighton to overturn a two-goal deficit in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final win at Liverpool. They left it very late – Nadine Noordam settled a captivating five-goal thriller with a 95th-minute winner. This final appearance is the culmination of a long-term plan. In 2022, Brighton outlined an ambitious vision to become a “top-four WSL club,” and last summer, Vidosic spoke openly about even higher targets during a determined, confident interview with The Guardian.
The former Australia international expressed his desire to “challenge the establishment,” win a trophy, and “be the best of the best,” rather than settling for last season’s fifth-place league finish. Those were strong words, and many outsiders were likely skeptical, but the evidence suggests he can deliver on his promises.
Brighton are unbeaten in seven matches, with victories over Arsenal and their upcoming Cup final opponents, Manchester City. They proved these results were no flukes by drawing with Arsenal and Manchester United. They have been one of the most in-form teams since mid-March, and their entertaining performances have come at the perfect time as the season reaches its climax.
How are they achieving this? First, their forwards are in sensational form. Fran Kirby, Kiko Seike, and Madison Haley have particularly excelled in recent weeks. Seike returned from the Asian Cup with Japan, while Kirby came back from injury at the end of February. The squad’s cohesion is strong, as Kirby told TNT Sports after Sunday’s game: “The culture in the group is incredible. Everyone wants to work for each other, everyone is willing to do the graft, and that’s one of the reasons we’ve had such a successful end to the season. The girls are great. It’s just a really nice group to be part of.”
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Madison Haley is among the Brighton forwards who have excelled in recent weeks.
Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA
They are also winning with an attractive playing style. When asked if Sunday’s second-half display reflected the way he wants his team to play, Vidosic was almost purring. “It was a joy to watch,” he said. “We created so many chances. We were dominant, calm on the ball, moving it around, and we made it very tough for Liverpool.”
Few could argue that Brighton deserve their place in the final. They have beaten top-flight sides in three consecutive rounds—West Ham, Arsenal, and Liverpool—after starting with a 2-0 home victory over WSL2 side Nottingham Forest in January’s fourth round. Vidosic offered insight into his mindset during Sunday’s post-match press conference. Instead of waxing lyrical about reaching the final, he focused on two things: winning the trophy and Saturday’s WSL final day, where his team could record the club’s highest points tally of 29 by beating Tottenham.
“It’s a huge achievement,” he said of reaching the final. “It’s important we celebrate it, so I’ll encourage the girls and staff on the way home—but I’ll probably be somewhere watching the game back, seeing how we can improve, because we still have something important coming up this weekend. We still have a chance to have our best-ever season. Since I’ve come in, we’ve always spoken about ‘history.’ We want to be historic as a team. Last season’s team wrote their name in Brighton history with the club’s best points tally. Now this team has started to write its own history, and we’ve got two very important games where we could really put our names there forever.”
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Brighton’s head coach, Dario Vidosic, has been challenging his players to make history.
Photograph: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images
The final on 31 May will be a special day for the entire club. Brighton’s men’s team made only one FA Cup final appearance in 1983, before many current supporters were born, and neither senior side has won a major trophy. When Brighton’s women’s team was founded in the late 1960s, the squad was almost entirely made up of telephonists. If they were operating today, there would surely be only one connection requested: the ticket office, as fans eagerly look forward to their trip to Wembley and a chance to witness the next chapter of this promising journey.