London City Lionesses appoint Martin Semmens as Chief Executive Officer

London City Lionesses are delighted to announce that Martin Semmens has joined the Club as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Martin brings a wealth of experience in club management, having previously been Vice Chairman and CEO at Southampton Football Club, and most recently CEO of Krause Group Soccer.

Martin has invaluable insight into professional football which will strengthen London City’s Board, executive team and coaching staff as the club prepares for its first season in the Barclays Women’s Super League. 

He will work closely with London City Managing Director Sarah Batters and the wider global Kynisca team, as it continues to transform women's football through unprecedented investment, proving commercial viability and cultural impact around the world.

As CEO of Southampton FC, Martin drove significant progress in women’s and girls’ football through increased investment, pioneering development programmes, and greater visibility, demonstrating both his expertise and commitment to the women’s game.

At Krause Group, Martin was charged with overseeing all operations (men’s and women’s) at Parma, returning both sides to Serie A, and overseeing the development of a new franchise (men’s and women’s) in Iowa, USA. His appointment signals a bold statement of intent from the London club ahead of the new season.

Martin joins at an exciting time for London City Lionesses, having recently announced an impactful partnership with iconic sports brand Nike and signed 10 new world class signings to strengthen the squad, including international superstars Daniëlle van de Donk, Sanni Franssi, Elena Linari and Nikita Parris.

Announcing Martin’s appointment, London City Owner and Kynisca Founder and CEO Michele Kang said:

“Martin will bring enormous experience to London City which will help create a high-performance culture, grow our commercial opportunities, expand our fan base and cement our long-term future in the Barclays Women’s Super League. Martin shares our Kynisca values to grow the women’s game, and I am really looking forward to working with him as we enter a truly exciting moment on our London City journey, both at our stadium and with the development of our state-of-the-art training centre in Aylesford”.

Martin Semmens said:

“I’m excited to be joining London City at this key moment in the Club’s journey.  What Michele, Kynisca and her excellent operational team at London City have built is phenomenal and really demonstrates the potential of women’s football.  I am really looking forward to the season ahead and putting the operation in place to enable success on the pitch”.