Fran Kirby

Fran Kirby
Kirby playing for Chelsea
Personal information
Full name Francesca Kirby[1]
Date of birth (1993-06-29) 29 June 1993
Place of birth Reading, England
Height 1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)[1]
Playing position Forward
Club information
Current team
 Chelsea
Number 14
Youth career
2001–2010 Reading
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2015 Reading 42 (68)
2015– Chelsea 37 (24)
National team‡
2013–2014 England U23 4 (1)
2014– England 31 (10)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:30, 30 September 2018 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11:38, 1 September 2018 (UTC)

Francesca Kirby (born 29 June 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for FA WSL club Chelsea and the England national team. She began her career with her local team Reading before moving to Chelsea in July 2015. In August 2014, Kirby won her first senior cap for England and represented her country at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada.

Club career

Reading

Kirby joined her hometown club Reading at the age of seven and worked her way through the youth teams. She made her debut for the first team at the age of sixteen but quit football the following year after an onset of depression, brought about by the death of her mother.[2][3] Kirby returned to the club in 2012 and went on to become the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division's top scorer for the 2012–13 season, with 32 goals in 21 appearances.[4]

With Reading promoted to the newly formed Women's Super League 2 for 2014, Kirby helped the team achieve third place with 24 goals in sixteen appearances.[5] She ended the season as the league's top goalscorer; netting four against London Bees,[6] as well as hat-tricks against Durham, Watford and Doncaster Rovers Belles.[7][8][9] Shortly after, she became the first female player to receive a professional contract from the club.[10] At the 2014 FA Women's Awards, Kirby was named the inaugural WSL2 Players' Player of the Year.[11]

Kirby continued her goalscoring form into the 2015 WSL2 season, taking 11 goals in five league appearances for Reading, including all four goals in a 4–2 away win against Yeovil Town and five goals in a 7–0 win against London Bees.[12][13] Following the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Reading accepted an undisclosed transfer fee from Chelsea and she completed a move in July 2015.[14] It was reported that the fee of between £40,000 and £60,000 constituted a British record, although Chelsea denied this was the case and Kirby was not aware of the figure.[15]

Chelsea

At the 2015 FA Women's Cup Final, staged at Wembley Stadium for the first time, Kirby was a cup-tied spectator for Chelsea's 1–0 win over Notts County. It was Chelsea's first major trophy.[16] In October 2015, she scored twice in Chelsea's 4–0 win over Sunderland which secured the club's first FA WSL title; a league and cup double.[17] The same month, Kirby scored Chelsea's first ever UEFA Women's Champions League goal in a 1–0 win over Glasgow City.[18]

Kirby's form extended into the 2016 FA WSL season. In April, she secured Chelsea's return to Wembley Stadium by scoring a late, extra-time winner against Manchester City in the FA Women's Cup semi-final.[19] Four days later, she scored both goals in Chelsea's 2–0 WSL win at Arsenal.[20]

On 22 April, 2018, Kirby was awarded the PFA Player's Player of the Year and the Football Writers’ Women’s Footballer of the Year for the 2017-2018 season.[21]

International career

Early in her career, Kirby was a member of the England under-23 squad. She became the first WSL 2 player to be called up to the senior squad, in June 2014 for the World Cup qualifiers against Belarus and Ukraine.[22] She was named on the substitutes' bench against Belarus but did not make an appearance. She made her senior international debut against Sweden in August 2014, getting the second goal in a 4–0 friendly win at Victoria Park, Hartlepool.[23]

In May 2015, England manager Mark Sampson named Kirby in his final squad for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, hosted in Canada.[24] She scored in England's 2–1 win over Mexico and was hailed as "mini Messi" by Sampson.[25] Although Kirby was disappointed to be ruled out by injury from the quarter-finals onwards, England's eventual third-place finish left her with a positive overall impression of the tournament: "a fantastic experience and one I won’t forget in a hurry."[26]

Sampson kept Kirby in the national team for the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying campaign. In Estonia on 21 September 2015 she scored twice in England's 8–0 win.[27][28]

International goals

Scores and results list England's goal tally first.[29]
GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
13 August 2014Victoria Park, Hartlepool, England Sweden2–04–0Friendly
29 April 2015Academy Stadium, Manchester, England China PR2–02–1Friendly
313 June 2015Moncton Stadium, Moncton, Canada Mexico1–02–12015 FIFA Women's World Cup
421 September 2015A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia Estonia3–08–0UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying
56–0
610 June 2017Tissot Arena, Biel, Switzerland  Switzerland2–04–0Friendly
723 July 2017Rat Verlegh Stadion, Breda, Netherlands Spain1–02–0UEFA Women's Euro 2017
81 March 2018Mapfre Stadium, Columbus, Ohio, United States France2–04–12018 SheBelieves Cup

Great Britain

Kirby was hailed as a "stand out player" in Great Britain's gold medal-winning team at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia.[30]

Honours

Individual

References

  1. 1 2 "FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015™: List of Players: England" (PDF). FIFA. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  2. ↑ Hassan, Nabil (17 March 2015). "Fran Kirby: England & Reading forward on overcoming adversity". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  3. ↑ Kessel, Anna (27 December 2014). "England forward Fran Kirby aiming for greatness at women's World Cup". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "Southern Division Player Stats 2012/13". The Football Association. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "WSL Player Stats". FA WSL. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  6. ↑ "London Bees 1 – 9 Reading FC Women". FA WSL. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  7. ↑ "Reading FC Women 4 – 0 Durham Women FC". FA WSL. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "Hat-Trick Heroine Kirby". FA WSL. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "Stunning Reading Silence the Belles". FA WSL. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  10. ↑ Trehan, Dev (24 March 2015). "England striker Fran Kirby says Reading means 'everything' to her". Sky Sports. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  11. ↑ "Ji So-Yun named FA WSL 1 Players' Player of the Year". The Football Association. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  12. ↑ "Royals defeat Glovers to kick of 2015 Campaign". FA WSL. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "Royals take the sting out of the Bees in the Hive". FA WSL. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  14. ↑ "Fran Kirby: Chelsea Ladies sign England striker from Reading". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  15. ↑ "Fran Kirby: Chelsea striker 'does not know' her transfer fee". BBC Sport. 14 July 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  16. ↑ Aloia, Andrew (1 August 2015). "How Chelsea won the Women's FA Cup". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  17. ↑ Garry, Tom (4 October 2015). "WSL 1: Chelsea Ladies 4–0 Sunderland Ladies". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  18. ↑ Todd, Oliver (9 October 2015). "Chelsea Ladies 1–0 Glasgow City Ladies: Fran Kirby hits screamer to seal victory in Blues' Women's Champions League debut". Daily Mail. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  19. ↑ Piperdy, Hash (18 April 2016). "Kirby wants Wembley chance after firing Chelsea to Final". The Football Association. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  20. ↑ "Chelsea beat Arsenal with Kirby brace". BBC Sport. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  21. ↑ "Fran Kirby named Football Writers' Women's Footballer of the Year".
  22. ↑ "Mark Sampson announces 23-player squad for crunch qualifiers". The Football Association. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  23. ↑ Reid, James. "Ruthless England Women defeat Sweden in Hartlepool". The Football Association. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  24. ↑ Lavery, Glenn (11 May 2015). "England squad named for FIFA Women's World Cup". The Football Association. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  25. ↑ Magowan, Alistair (14 June 2015). "Women's World Cup 2015: Kirby England's mini Messi – Sampson". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  26. ↑ "Kirby: I couldn't have asked for any more". FIFA. 12 November 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  27. ↑ "Danielle Carter hat-trick guides England to opening Euro 2017 qualifying win". The Guardian. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  28. ↑ "Euro 2017 qualifying: England thrash Estonia 8–0". BBC Sport. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  29. ↑ Fran Kirby at Soccerway
  30. ↑ "Fran Kirby 2013 – Gold Medalist at World University Games Kazan, 2015 England forward, going for gold again". British Universities and Colleges Sport. 9 June 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  31. ↑ "Chelsea's Fran Kirby wins PFA Women's Player of the Year prize". Sky Sports. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  32. ↑ "PFA WSL 1 Team of the Year: Five Chelsea Ladies players named". BBC Sport. 19 April 2018.
  33. ↑ "Fran Kirby named Football Writers' Association Women's Footballer of the Year". Sky Sports.
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