England's Lionesses brought football home after a spectacular win in the Women's Euro 2022 final.
The team beat Germany 2-1 at Wembley on Sunday, with Chloe Kelly scoring the winning goal in extra time and sending the country into raptures. People across the country have been celebrating the win - the first major trophy since the men's side won the World Cup in 1966.
A host of England team members have become household names since the tournament kicked off last month, from Golden Boot winner Beth Mead to captain Leah Williamson. But what do we know about our nation's top footballers - and what are their lives like away from the pitch? Here, we reveal all you need to know about the players.
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Demi Stokes
Demi, 30, who plays for Manchester City, recently welcomed her first child with fiancée Katie Harrington. NHS worker Katie, 32, gave birth to son Harlen Harrington-Stokes in May after he was conceived via IVF. It took the couple two years to conceive after they initially struggled with it not working, something Demi has spoken out about in the hope it will help other same-sex couples, reports The Mirror.
Demi said: “In our head, it was a case of: ‘we’re just going to go down to the clinic and then it will work and we’ll have a baby’... but it wasn’t as simple as that, and we had to learn.”
Demi has also spoken out about her difficult upbringing. Her mum was a survivor of domestic violence, and Demi and her four siblings moved from their native Birmingham to a women’s refuge in Newcastle. She was then brought up by her grandmother, who died in 2015. Demi said: “I feel like life can be a storm and I’ve come out the other end.”
Leah Williamson
Selected as England captain, Arsenal player Leah, 25, describes herself as being "exceptionally" patriotic. She added: "I’ve been brought up that way – so I love representing my country."
Off the pitch, Leah appears to be private about her love life. She has spoken about her close friendship with England teammate Keira Walsh, 25. The pair met playing football for youth groups - but are reportedly banned from sharing a room on international duty to ensure they don’t isolate themselves.
Away from football, Leah, who is also studying accountancy part time, fancies herself as a singer, saying Keira has walked in on her performing in her bedroom before. Her talent runs in the family.
Leah said: "My grandad once had a Top 40 hit with his band The Good Time Losers called Trafalgar Square. They supported Pink Floyd and The Who back in the day so we are a musical family."
Alex Greenwood
Manchester City player Alex, 28, met childhood sweetheart - and fellow footballer - Jack O’Connell, also 28, when they were studying at Savio Salesian College in Bootle. Jack, who plays for Sheffield United, and Alex tend to keep a low profile on social media, as the latter has suffered abuse and even death threats from trolls.
However, they have given fans an insight into their life together on occasion, recently uploading holiday snaps from a luxury trip to Dubai. Alex is also known for being one of the more glamorous of the Lionesses.
Georgia Stanway
Georgia, 23, was the youngest player in England’s World Cup line-up and recently signed for Bayern Munich. She is often seen at rugby matches cheering on her boyfriend Olly Ashall-Bolt, 24, who plays rugby league for Toulouse Olympique. When he’s not in France, Olly, who has dated Georgia since messaging her on Instagram in March 2018, lives with Georgia in Widnes, Cheshire.
The pair developed an unusual hobby - fishing - during lockdown and still do it regularly. Olly said: “Literally within the second time of going, Georgia caught the biggest fish ever, she’s so competitive in everything she does.”
While Georgia says Olly’s rugby friends are settling down, they don’t plan to get married or have children yet. She added: “We’re enjoying each other’s company, we’re still young and just loving life. I’ve got trophies that I want to lift before I lift any children up.”
Lauren Hemp
Manchester City striker Lauren Hemp, 21, has been hugely tipped as one of the Lionesses to watch, having won four Professional Footballers’ Association Young Player of the Year awards over the years.
Like several of her fellow players, Lauren is dating a footballer. She has been in a relationship with Ellie Butler, 20, who has played for Wolves also as a striker since last summer. The pair are also fairly private on social media, but recently posted pictures on Instagram of them enjoying a holiday to Amsterdam with friends.
Lauren started out in the world of sport as a cricketer, but ditched it for the beautiful game.
Jill Scott
Sunderland -born Jill, 35, has been a member of the Lionesses for 16 years and is the second-most capped player in their history.
At five foot 11, she has earned the nickname ‘Crouchy’ from her teammates - a reference to lanky former footballer Peter Crouch. She has been engaged to Shelly Unitt, 37, since 2020 and the couple own a coffee shop in Manchester together.
Shelly is the sister of former England player Rachel Unitt, so is used to travelling around to watch games. She recalled that when she and Jill went on holiday together after the 2019 World Cup, Shelly was struck by the positive public response.
She added: "Everyone was recognising her, and she had a lot of time for everyone. They were telling her she’d played well, that everyone was getting together in their family homes and making time to watch these games."
Rachel Daly
Born in Harrogate, Rachel, 30, now spends most of her time across the pond where she plays for Texan team Houston Dash. She was previously linked to her teammate Kristie Mewis but Rachel is now in a long-distance relationship with Manchester United player Millie Turner, 25.
Unlike her teammates, Rachel regularly shares loved-up photos on social media, often with their dog Dexi in tow. Millie recently said she was proud as punch of Rachel following a recent England win.
Beth Mead
Golden Boot winner Beth Mead, 27, is an ex-Sunderland superstar. She was born in Hinderwell, near Whitby in North Yorkshire, and started her youth career with California Girls FC. She then went on to join Middlesbrough FC's Centre of Excellence before landing a professional contract with Sunderland AFC Ladies.
After a highly successful stint on Wearside, she was picked up by Arsenal in 2017. Interestingly enough, Mead has also represented England at every age level since her career began.
In a piece she wrote for England Football, Beth said: "I come from Hinderwell, which is a little village, literally in the middle of nowhere in North Yorkshire. I had a lot of energy as a kid and because of that, my mum wanted to get rid of some of that energy and decided to take me to a Saturday morning football session on a village field in Hinderwell, which was run by a guy who volunteered.
"I went down there one day and he turned around and said to me and my mum: “It’s fine that you’re coming down to get involved but you will be the only girl here. They are quite rough so will she be ok?” My mum replied: “She’ll be fine,” because she just wanted to get rid of me I reckon. But when she came back an hour later, he basically said I was rougher than most of the boys! The guy ended up saying: “She’s quite a talented footballer so you’ll probably need to go a bit further afield to have a chance to play somewhere with other girls.
"The pathway then for girls wasn’t there like it is now, so I had to travel for 45 minutes to Middlesbrough to go to a girls’ team over there called Middlesbrough Academy. I was a country girl with girls from Middlesbrough town so I was out of my comfort zone and I would cry probably on a weekly basis about going there but you get used to these things and eventually, I got my head around it and enjoyed playing football.
"I actually joined a boys’ team after that, California Boys, and I loved every minute of it. There was no judgment and they were great with me from day one. I probably played with them for a couple of years until the age when the ban came in. I then played for the California Girls team and went to Middlesbrough’s Centre of Excellence after that."
Lucy Bronze
Often referred to as one of the best right-backs in women's football, Northumberland -born Lucy Bronze is a true North East success story. Bronze has previously admitted that growing up she never aspired to be representing England because she "didn't know that was even possible." But now she has made over 80 appearances for her country, including the 2015 and 2019 World Cup squads.
Born in Berwick in 1991, Bronze grew up on Holy Island until the age of seven. She later moved inland and attended the Duchess' High School, in Alnwick. She joined her local football team, Alnwick Town, but was later forced to travel to Blyth to play the game she loved as she wasn't allowed to play on the boys' team after the age of 12 due to then-FIDFA regulations.
Blyth had the only girls' team in reach at the time. However, Alnwick now has a thriving women's side, partly inspired by her success.
As a teenager she played for Blyth Town and then for Sunderland. She was promoted to Sunderland's first team in 2007, aged 16, and became Manager's Player of the Year in the same year.
Bronze later relocated to America after being offered the chance to study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and play for the North Carolina Tar Heels. There she became the first British player to win an NCAA Cup.
She later returned to Sunderland. And in September 2010, it was revealed that she had signed for Everton. By 2012, Bronze had secured a move to Liverpool where she was awarded the PFA Women's Players' Player of the Year. Bronze then went on to play for Manchester City between 2014 and 2017, helping them qualify for the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the first time.
In 2017, she signed a three-year contract with Olympique Lyonnais, where she helped the team go on to win the Champions League. Towards the end of her time with the club, she finished as runner-up for the Women's Ballon d'Or.
A return to Manchester City followed in 2020. After her contract expired in June 2022, she agreed to join Barcelona on a two-year contract.
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