Watford Women will start their 2024/25 Southern Premier Division campaign with an away trip to a club formed less than a decade ago by a YouTuber.

The Golden Girls will make the journey to Essex on Sunday August 18 to face Hashtag United in a 2pm kick-off, with all Sunday games in the season starting at this time.

It will be Watford’s first league game after their relegation from the Championship last season.

Hashtag United was formed in March 2016 by Spencer Owen, a football YouTuber who uses the name Spencer FC - the team initially consisted of friends from school and university.

By playing five-a-side and some eleven-a-side exhibition matches, which were filmed and uploaded to their YouTube channel, the team's Instagram account grew to over 100,000 followers, and a 'penalty challenge' video uploaded to YouTube accumulated over 2,000,000 views.

From starting in the Eastern Counties League South, the club have risen and in the 22/23 season they won 21 league matches in a row going on to win the Isthmian League North Division title and earning promotion to the Isthmian League's Premier Division.

In April 2020 the club announced that they would have a women's team, Hashtag United Women, from the start of the 2020/21 season as a result of a merger with AFC Basildon.

They won promotion to Tier 3 after a successful 22/23 campaign and in March 2024 they clinched their third trophy in as many years, beating Newcastle 2-1 to win the FA Women's National League Cup Final.

The second weekend of the season sees a first home fixture of the campaign, with Billericay Town the visitors on Sunday August 25.

The third and final fixture in August is the League Cup determining round, which will decide if play in the FA WNL Cup or the FA WNL Plate.

Midweek fixtures throughout 2024/25 will kick-off at 7.45pm, with the first of these coming at home against AFC Wimbledon on Thursday September 26, while the Golden Girls will enter the FA Cup in the first round, which is set to be played on Sunday November 3.

Another unfamiliar name Watford will face this season is Gwalia United – the new name for the former Cardiff City Ladies.

The club set a place in the Women's Super League as the long-term target following a takeover last September, and said the name change will be part of the journey towards reaching that goal.

Gwalia is the Medieval name for Wales and has also been adopted by one of two professional women's rugby teams, Gwalia Lightning.

Twenty-two rounds of league matches will take place in all in the division, across 20 weekends and two midweeks.

The full Watford Women’s provisional fixture list is:

AUGUST 2024

Sun Aug 18 Hashtag United A

Sun Aug 25 Billericay Town H

Wed Aug 28 League Cup Determining Round

SEPTEMBER 2024

Sun Sep 1 Lewes A

Sun Sep 8 Milton Keynes Dons H

Sun Sep 15 Plymouth Argyle A

Sun Sep 22 Cheltenham Town H

Thu Sep 26 AFC Wimbledon H

Sun Sep 29 League Cup Round 1

OCTOBER 2024

Sun Oct 6 Ipswich Town A

Sun Oct 13 Oxford United H

Sun Oct 20 League Cup Round 2

Sun Oct 27 Gwalia United A

NOVEMBER 2024

Sun Nov 3 Women’s FA Cup Round 1

Sun Nov 10 Exeter City H

Sun Nov 17 Hashtag United H

Sun Nov 24 Women’s FA Cup Round 2

DECEMBER 2024

Sun Dec 1 League Cup Quarter Final

Sun Dec 8 Women’s FA Cup Round 3

Sun Dec 15 Billericay Town A

JANUARY 2025

Sun Jan 5 Lewes H

Sun Jan 12 Milton Keynes Dons A

Sun Jan 19 County Cup

Sun Jan 26 League Cup Semi-Final

FEBRUARY 2025

Sun Feb 2 Ipswich Town H

Wed Feb 12 AFC Wimbledon A

Sun Feb 16 County Cup

Sun Feb 23 Cheltenham Town A

MARCH 2025

Sun Mar 9 Plymouth Argyle H

Sun Mar 16 County Cup

Sun Mar 23 Oxford United A

APRIL 2025

Sun Apr 13 Gwalia United H

Sun Apr 20 County Cup

Sun Apr 27 Exeter City A