Liv Cooke

Liv Cooke
Liv on her tour of Asia in 2017
Born (1999-04-20) 20 April 1999
Leyland, Lancashire, England
Nationality British
Known for Football freestyler

Liv Cooke (born 20 April 1999) is a British professional football freestyler [1][2] and the current world champion. She is also the founder of Girls ATW Ltd and the co-founder of Boldr Sports Ltd.

Biography

Cooke got into football at a young age having grown up with her two older brothers, Jack and Sam.

At the age of 10, Liv joined Preston North End F.C. whilst also playing in Woodlea Junior School's football team. Cooke went on to study at Balshaw's Church of England High School, where she captained the girls' football team, and signed for the Blackburn Rovers F.C. Centre of Excellence at the age of 14.

One year later, Cooke was sidelined by a recurring back injury and discovered freestyle football videos online. She began to learn the basics in her back garden and stopped playing football in 2015 to focus on freestyle. In 2016, at the age of 17, Cooke left Runshaw College early to pursue a career as a professional football freestyler.

In November 2016, Cooke finished second in the 2016 World Football Freestyle Championships in Melbourne.[3]

In August 2017, Cooke became the world's number 1 football freestyler. She obtained full points in every battle during the Superball event in Prague on her way to the world title. Alongside competing, she has recently appeared in a number of TV commercials and regularly travels across the world to display her freestyle skills.

Career

In 2015, Cooke performed publicly for the first time at St Andrews Infant School in her local town of Leyland, Lancashire. This was quickly followed by her first professional event, where she performed at a Blackburn Rovers half-time show at Ewood Park. Since then, Cooke has become the youngest ever professional football freestyler, performing at events across the globe and working with a number of major organisations.

Her work has included performing at Qatar’s national sports day,[4] becoming an ambassador for the UEFA ‘We Play Strong’ initiative designed to get more girls into football, and touring Australia to inspire children to get active. Commercially, Cooke has featured in a Channel 4 TV commercial, a number of Adidas commercials, and a LIDL advert.[5] In addition, she has appeared on a number of TV shows including Match of the Day, Soccer AM, BBC[6] and Fox Soccer News.[7]

Liv made her competitive freestyle debut in London in August 2016 at the Red Bull Street Style World Finals,[8] where she placed 6th having been the youngest qualifier.

Later that year, Cooke qualified for the 2016 World Football Freestyle Championships in Melbourne.[9] She finished second, making her the youngest ever finalist. Cooke broke her foot in the final, which ruled her out for several months. She returned to training in April 2017.

In August 2017, Cooke qualified for the 2017 Super Ball open football freestyle championships in Prague. Once there, she won all of her battles to become the world open football freestyle champion.

Girls ATW

In May 2016, Cooke founded Girls ATW, which went on to become the world's leading female football freestyle agency. Having officially launched in June 2016, the company acts as both a platform for elite female football freestylers and a bridge to interact with clients and utilise their skills sets as services for commercials, campaigns, fun days, and more.[10]

As a result of Cooke's work, she has won a number of awards including Parliamentary Rising Star[11] and Woman of the Future.[12]

Boldr

In January 2018, Cooke co-founded Boldr - a lifestyle and sports innovation brand - with Adam Wilson. In February 2018, Adam's share of Boldr was bought out by Caan Baybutt.

References

  1. ↑ Gwynn, Simon (3 July 2017). "Channel 4 snaps up McDonald's to sponsor UEFA Women's Euro 2017 coverage". Campaign magazine. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Meet Liv Cooke: the 17-year-old revolutionising the freestyle football scene - The Irish News". Irish News. 5 Nov 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  3. ↑ "Meet Liv Cooke, Freestyle Footballer". Sportswomen.ie. 2016-11-05. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  4. ↑ "Leyland teenager Liv's silky soccer skills wow TV viewers". Lancashire Post. 2017-07-07. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  5. ↑ "Freestyler Liv Cooke shows off her football skills in Lidl". YouTube. 2016-10-10. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  6. ↑ "Meet the amazing female freestyle football prodigy - BBC Three". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  7. ↑ "Liv Cooke has serious freestyle skills". FOX Sports. 2016-12-07. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  8. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  9. ↑
  10. ↑ "About Us | Girls ATW". GirlsATW.com. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  11. ↑ "Rising Stars Awards 2015 - Top 50 - WeAreTheCity | Information, Networking, jobs & events for women". WeAreTheCity. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  12. ↑ "2015 - Women of the Future Awards". Awards.womenofthefuture.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
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