Beth Mead

Bethany Jane Mead (born 9 May 1995) is an English footballer who plays as a forward for Arsenal and the England national team.

Beth Mead
Mead at the Emirates Cup 2019
Personal information
Full name Bethany Jane Mead[1]
Date of birth (1995-05-09) 9 May 1995
Place of birth Whitby, England[2]
Height 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)[1]
Playing position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Arsenal
Number 23
Youth career
2005–2011 Middlesbrough
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2017 Sunderland 78 (77)
2017– Arsenal 55 (19)
National team‡
2010 England U15 2 (2)
2010 England U17 3 (2)
2012–2014 England U19 15 (5)
2014 England U20 3 (1)
2015– England U23 5 (2)
2018– England 25 (8)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:46, 20 February 2020 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 12 November 2019

Club career

Sunderland
Mead celebrating Sunderland's promotion to WSL1 in 2014

Mead began her youth career at California Girls FC before joining Middlesbrough F.C. Centre of Excellence at age 10 before moving at age 16 to Sunderland, then in the FA Women's Premier League. In her first season she scored 23 goals in as many games, and ended the season with 29 goals in all competitions, followed by 30 goals in 28 matches the following season, and 15 goals in the 2014 FA WSL season to lead Sunderland to promotion to WSL 1.[3] Although Mead turned professional upon Sunderland's promotion, she resolved to finish her final year at University. She also agreed to work as a barmaid in her local pub during the off-season, as a courtesy to the owners who had previously provided her with sponsorship funding.[4]

In her first match at the top level, Mead scored in Sunderland's shock 2–1 win over reigning champions Liverpool.[5] On 19 July 2015, Mead scored a hat-trick against league leaders Chelsea, making her the league-leading scorer with eight goals.[6] Earlier that week, Mead avoided injury despite rolling her car three times while trying to avoid a deer.[7] The following week, she scored twice in a 4–1 win at Bristol, sending Sunderland to the top of the WSL 1.[8] She ended the 2015 season as leading goalscorer in the WSL1 with 12 goals in 14 appearances.[9]

Arsenal
Beth Mead for Arsenal in 2018.

On 24 January 2017, it was announced that Arsenal Ladies had signed Mead on an undisclosed-length full-time deal.[10] At Arsenal, summer 2017 signing Vivianne Miedema soon occupied the centre-forward berth, so Mead had to play as a winger instead: "I'd played No 9 all my career until I came to Arsenal. I was a bit annoyed that I wasn’t playing No 9, because I thought that was my best position. But now I really enjoy playing on the wing. I can get involved, run at people, bring other people into play."[11] Arsenal won the 2017–18 FA WSL Continental Tyres Cup with Mead scoring in the knockout rounds against her former club Sunderland in the Quarter Final and against Reading in the semi final. Mead finished the 2017–18 season as Arsenal's top goalscorer in the league with 8 goals and was voted Arsenal's player of the season. Despite this, Arsenal missed out on qualification to the 2018–19 Champions League. On missing out on Champions League qualification, Mead said, "It’s a bit frustrating, we had a few results this season where we slipped up and that was our fault. That took it out of our own hands today and Manchester City deserved to finish above us in the end."[12]

By the 2018–19 season, Mead had fully reinvented herself as a versatile winger under Joe Montemurro and built up a good relationship on the pitch with Arsenal leading goalscorer Vivianne Miedema combining nine times to score, more than any other duo. She also broke the record for most assists in a single season with 12 and created more chances than any other Arsenal player with 54. She finished third in the WSL for total goal contributions with 7 goals along with her 12 assists.[13] Mead capped a great season off by scoring the 3rd goal in Arsenal's 4–0 title clinching win at Brighton and Hove Albion on 28 April 2019.[14]

Mead signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal on 28 November 2019.[15] She suffered an injury during a 3–2 league win against Liverpool on 13 February 2020.[16] A week later, Arsenal announced that she had injured her medial collateral ligament, which led to her being omitted from the England squad for the 2020 SheBelieves Cup.[17][18]

International career
Beth Mead playing for England in 2019.

Mead has represented England at every age level from under-15, and played in all three England under-20 matches at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup where she scored a long-range goal against Mexico.[3]

In April 2018, Mead made her debut for the senior England women's national football team as a substitute in a 0–0 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification draw with Wales in Southampton.[19] She started her first match in September 2018, scoring twice in England's 6–0 win over Kazakhstan in Pavlodar.[20]

International goals
As of match played 12 November 2019. England score listed first, score column indicates score after each Mead goal.
International goals by date, venue, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
1 4 September 2018Ortalik Stadion, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan Kazakhstan1–06–02019 FIFA World Cup qualification[21]
2 5–0
3 27 February 2019Talen Energy Stadium, Chester, United States Brazil2–12–12019 SheBelieves Cup[22]
4 5 March 2019Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, United States Japan3–03–0[23]
5 9 April 2019County Ground, Swindon, England Spain1–02–1Friendly[24]
6 29 August 2019Den Dreef, Heverlee, Belgium Belgium2–03–3Friendly[25]
7 8 October 2019Estádio do Bonfim, Setúbal, Portugal Portugal1–01–0Friendly[26]
8 12 November 2019Stadion Střelecký ostrov, České Budějovice, Czech Republic Czech Republic2–13–2Friendly[27]

Career statistics

Club
As of 29 February 2020[28][29][30]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup[lower-alpha 1] League Cup[lower-alpha 2] Europe[lower-alpha 3] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Sunderland 2014 WSL 2 15130052—2015
2015 WSL 1 14120052—1914
2016 1653100—196
Total 453031104—5835
Arsenal 2017 WSL 1 510000—51
2017–18 1791176—2516
2018–19 WSL 1970061—258
2019–20 143107540268
Total 5520212012408133
Career total 100505130164013968
  1. Includes the Women's FA Cup
  2. Includes the WSL Cup/Women's League Cup
  3. Includes the UEFA Women's Champions League

Personal life

Whilst playing for Sunderland, Mead gained a degree in Sports Development from Teesside University.[31][32]

We Play Strong

In February 2020, Mead joined #WePlayStrong, a social media and vlogging campaign which was launched in 2018. The campaign's "...aim is to promote women's football as much as we can and to make people aware of women's football, really". "The ultimate goal is to make football the most played sport by females by 2020."[33] The series, which also originally included professional footballers Lisa Evans, Sarah Zadrazil, Eunice Beckmann, Laura Feiersinger and now also includes Petronella Ekroth and Shanice van de Sanden, follows the daily lives of female professional footballers.[34] Her fitness routines have been shared online as part of the #TrainAtHome series.[35]

Honours

Sunderland[36]

  • FA Women's Super League 2: 2014

Arsenal[36]

England

Individual

References
  1. "List of Players – England" (PDF). FIFA. 4 August 2014. p. 5. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  2. "Women's World Cup 2019: Mapping England's Lionesses squad". BBC Sport. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  3. Dick, Stuart (23 September 2014). "Is Sunderland striker Beth Mead a future England star?". BBC Newcastle. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  4. "Mead eager to revise Canadian experience". FIFA. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  5. "Exclusive: Beth Mead". Shoot (football magazine). 23 April 2015. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  6. Currie, Jo (19 July 2015). "Carlton Fairweather: Beth Mead 'deserves' senior England call". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  7. Currie, Jo (18 July 2015). "WSL 1: Sunderland Ladies 4–0 Chelsea Ladies". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  8. "Williams says Sunderland's sights are set on the top". FA WSL. 25 July 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  9. Stillman, Tim. "Arseblog Exclusive- Interview with Arsenal Women Striker Beth Mead | Arseblog News – the Arsenal news site". Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  10. "Beth Mead: Arsenal Ladies sign Sunderland striker ahead of WSL Spring Series". BBC Sport. 24 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  11. "Mead hoping for more moments of magic". FIFA. 1 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  12. Stillman, Tim. "Arseblog Exclusive! Beth Mead Reacts to Victory Over Bristol City Women | Arseblog News – the Arsenal news site". Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  13. "2018/19: The stats behind our title-winning season". www.arsenal.com. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  14. "Women's Super League: Brighton & Hove Albion Women 0–4 Arsenal Women". 28 April 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  15. "Beth Mead signs new long-term contract". www.arsenal.com. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  16. Garry, Tom (13 February 2020). "Women's Super League: Liverpool 2–3 Arsenal". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  17. "Beth Mead injury update". arsenal.com. Arsenal FC. 20 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  18. "Beth Mead: Arsenal Women & England forward sidelined by knee injury". BBC Sport. 20 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  19. Lavery, Glen (April 2018). "New position and new focus for England debutant Beth Mead". The Football Association. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  20. "Kazakhstan 0–6 England: Beth Mead scores twice on full debut to round off World Cup qualifying campaign". The Independent. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  21. "KAZAKHSTAN 0 – 6 ENGLAND". Soccerway. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  22. "ENGLAND 2 – 1 BRAZIL". Soccerway. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  23. "JAPAN 0 – 3 ENGLAND". Soccerway. 5 March 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  24. "ENGLAND 2 – 1 SPAIN". Soccerway. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  25. Magowan, Alistair (29 August 2019). "Belgium 3–3 England: Sloppy Lionesses salvage draw". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  26. Sanders, Emma (8 October 2019). "Portugal 0–1 England: Beth Mead capitalises on error to give Lionesses win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  27. Garry, Tom (12 November 2019). "Czech Republic 2–3 England: Leah Williamson's late goal gives Lionesses win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  28. "Beth Mead".
  29. "B. MEAD".
  30. "Player Stats".
  31. Neal, Martin (15 October 2015). "Teesside University student Beth Mead wins full England call-up". Gazette Live. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  32. Lavery, Glenn (4 October 2019). "Beth Mead relishing return to Middlesbrough". The FA. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  33. "Arseblog exclusive interview with Arsenal's Lisa Evans". Arseblog. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  34. "5 second challenge with Beth Mead & Arsenal!". instagram.com. 6 February 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  35. "Shutdown and reboot suits Mead just fine". China Daily. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  36. "B. Mead". Soccerway. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  37. "England record statement win over Japan to clinch prestigious SheBelieves Cup". The Football Association. 5 March 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  38. Aloia, Andrew (17 March 2016). "Women's Super League: Sunderland striker Beth Mead says she is 'no one-trick pony'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  39. Sports, PA. "Bronze caps memorable 2015 with Player of the Year award". The Football Association. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  40. FA, The. "CELEBRATION TIME AT 20TH ANNUAL FA WOMEN'S FOOTBALL AWARDS". The Football Association. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  41. "The PFA". www.thepfa.com. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  42. "Beth Mead voted FSF Women's Player of the Year". www.arsenal.com. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
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