Why the Women’s FA Cup is so important to Martin Ho and Tottenham Hotspur

Martin Ho Tottenham WSL
Martin Ho

Tottenham Hotspur face London City Lionesses in the fifth round of the Women’s FA Cup on Monday evening. 

And Spurs head coach Martin Ho spoke on Thursday afternoon about the importance of the competition to him and his team. 

“It’s a prestigious competition. It’s something we want to go far in. It’s something that the club has got to a final in already.  

“And definitely to the staff and players, it’s an important competition, but it’s important for us to make sure that we can go as far as we can – and if we want to be a successful team, we should want to be in the latter stages of these competitions.” 

Martin Ho: Tottenham Hotspur are not just here to take part

And on the prospect of playing London City Lionesses, he added that although he wanted to see his team in the fight for the trophy – as they were in 2024 when they reached the final and lost to Manchester United – they needed to focus on one game at a time.

“You want to be amongst it, you want to make sure that you get to those latter stages of the competition, and we want to make sure that it’s not just seen as [a competition for] a team from the top four that has always won it over the last period. We need to make sure that we can upset that.

“But it starts with the game against London City. We can’t think too far ahead; if we think too far ahead we’ll probably come up short, and London City is a difficult task ahead of us. Whatever it presents after that, if we get through, then we’ll focus on that but, for now, it’s London City.

“We want to be amongst it, we don’t want to just be here to take part, we want to make sure that we can be successful and get ourselves through to the final.”

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About Carrie Dunn 678 Articles
Carrie Dunn is a women's football writer. Her book 'Unsuitable for Females' was shortlisted for Football Book of the Year at the 2023 Sports Book Awards, and more recently 'Woman Up' was nominated for the 2024 Vikki Orvice Award for Women's Sport Writing. Her newest book 'Flying the Flag: The Footballing Heroines of the Home Nations Who Made History Abroad' is out now.