Keira Walsh

Keira Fae Walsh (/ˈkɪərə feɪ wɒlʃ/; born 8 April 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for, and a vice-captain of, Women's Super League club Chelsea and the England women's national team. She is considered both a playmaker and a defensive midfielder. She has previously played for Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, and Barcelona, and Great Britain at the Olympics. Walsh has numerous titles, having won the Women's Super League; the Liga F; the FA Cup; the Copa de la Reina; the League Cup; the Supercopa de España; and the Champions League all on multiple occasions. With Manchester City she achieved one domestic treble, while at Barcelona she successively achieved a continental treble and continental quadruple. For the 2024–25 season, Walsh achieved two domestic trebles, one each with Barcelona and Chelsea. She was part of the England teams that won the Euro 2022 and Euro 2025, and was named player of the match in the 2022 final.

Walsh became a first team regular at City as a teenager during their 2014 campaign, playing a key role in helping the team secure their first League Cup. She stayed with the side for nine seasons (in eight years), briefly captaining them several times, and in March 2022 became the second player to reach 200 appearances for them; when she left to join Barcelona later that year, she jointly held City's record for number of appearances and set a world-record fee for a female footballer.

She represented England for their age-group teams from the age of twelve, helping the under-17 team to fourth in the 2014 U17 Euro and being named in its Team of the Tournament. She made her senior debut in 2017, for 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying, and started as captain in a match a year later. With England she has played in four major tournaments: the 2019 World Cup in which they placed fourth, the 2023 World Cup that they finished as runner-up, and the 2022 and 2025 Euros that they won. With Great Britain, she competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She was named in the Team of the Tournament for the 2022 Euro, and is considered one of the best players and best midfielders in the world.

Keira Fae Walsh was born on 8 April 1997 in Rochdale to Peter and Tracy Walsh, and was raised by the Pennines in Syke, a rural suburb of the town. Here she practised football with her father on the field across from their house from about the age of five. She played for local boys' teams Pearson Juniors under-7s, and then Samba Stars – both coached by the father of her primary school best friend, who initially took her along – until she turned eleven.

Walsh attended Haslingden High School and Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School Sixth Form, both in Rossendale; Haslingden High School had girls' football teams in the first few year groups, in which Walsh played. She joined Manchester City, the team she and her family support, in July 2014, when she was seventeen; City sent her to St Bede's College in Manchester to finish her A-Levels while she trained and played with them. Future teammate Georgia Stanway would also attend St Bede's.

A dedicated Manchester City fan, Walsh was inspired as a child by Spanish football, in part due to having family in Spain and often playing in the country when visiting them, and because her father encouraged her to watch Barcelona play. She also briefly supported Arsenal, due to being a fan of Cesc Fàbregas, until she saw David Silva, her favourite player, with City.

In 2008, aged eleven, Walsh was named Greater Manchester Young Sports Person of the Year. The award was principally for her achievements in badminton: she was ranked number 1 in the county in under-13 badminton between 2007 and 2009, having taken up the sport aged nine and representing Rochdale in it. She described it as her "second sport" and as of 2022 still played badminton in football's off-season "as a way of keeping fit". She took part in a variety of youth level sports in 2008, including playing cricket for Lancashire and football with the Blackburn Rovers Girls' Centre of Excellence. Walsh was one of eleven Blackburn Rovers players in the 2013 Lancashire Schoolgirls football team, a team she represented in 2012 and 2013 for the Northern Counties Championship and English Schools' Football Association (ESFA) County Cup. In both years they won the Northern Championship and were runner-up in the ESFA Cup.

She got the ball, walked [a]round everyone, scored a goal and came back. One of her team-mates would win the ball and give it to her straight away. It was almost like she was a magnet.