Lily Crosthwaite: Promotion has always been the goal for Birmingham City

2nd September 2025 Oliver Taliku
Lily Crosthwaite joined Birmingham City from Durham this summer

Birmingham are aiming for promotion to the WSL yet again this season, claims City forward Lily Crosthwaite.

The Blues finished second to the London City Lionesses by just two points last season and the team is keen to make up for the heartbreak.

Birmingham aiming high once more

Birmingham had a chance to go up on the final day of last season, but they dropped points in back to back games to close out the campaign and as a result remained ini WSL2.

Blues summer signing Lily Crosthwaite may be new to the club but she knows exactly what the team wants this year.

“The focus has always been the same here; promotion is what everybody wants, that’s a very strong opinion from everyone in the club.

“Any way that I can help the squad is something that I will strive to do. It’s just an exciting place to be and I’m super-looking forward to what’s to come.”

Crosthwaite joined Birmingham from Durham this summer and is keen to get started.

After last season’s close call, there is no doubt that Birmingham will be amongst the favourites with betting sites to earn promotion this year.

“You just have to take the league in your stride. It’s competitive so there will probably be peaks and dips in the season,” Crosthwaite continued. “If a dip does occur, it’s about how quickly you can get that peak back for the team; bouncing back with a win and how quickly you can turn it back around.

“Everyone wants a smooth-sailing season but the WSL2 doesn’t allow it to be as smooth as everyone wants it to be.”

With the WSL and WSL2 expanding to 14 teams from next season, this year the top two clubs will automatically be promoted.

As well as the automatics, third place will face bottom of the WSL in a playoff fixture for the right to be in the top-flight.

Birmingham kick off their WSL2 campaign and road to promotion this weekend, with Bristol City visiting St. Andrew’s on Sunday afternoon.

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About Oliver Taliku 179 Articles
Olly Taliku has worked with highly respected sports and gambling websites where he has produced hundreds of articles, as well as being published with Burton Albion and Chesterfield FC. At Burton Olly worked closely alongside the women's team, producing mainly matchday content including reports and interviews. He also has experience as an accredited Premier League and EFL writer for Prost International where he worked during the 2021/22 season to produce matchday content as an on location reporter. Olly specialises in women's football as well as long form SEO content plus news and tips. While he enjoys writing about all football, Olly supports Arsenal passionately as a lifelong fan of the club.