Bethany Jane Mead was born on 9 May 1995 and is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Women's Super League club Arsenal and the England national team.
96 Facts About Beth Mead
2.
In 2015, Mead won the WSL Golden Boot and the WSL Player of the Year award, becoming the youngest WSL Golden Boot winner at the age of 20.
3.
Beth Mead helped England reach the semi-final at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, providing second-most assists in the tournament.
4.
Beth Mead was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2023 New Year Honours for her services to football.
5.
Beth Mead started playing football when she was six years old.
6.
Beth Mead's mother wanted her to run off her boundless energy and took her to a Saturday morning football session on a village field in Hinderwell, which was run by a volunteer coach.
7.
Beth Mead played with the local boys on that bobbly community field as much as possible, regardless of which animals were on it or how long the grass was.
8.
Beth Mead joined in for the day and caught two balls from her brother's bowling.
9.
Beth Mead was captain of the primary school team, and that made the other girls feel more comfortable, seeing she had been accepted and made captain.
10.
Beth Mead began her youth career at California Boys FC and Middlesbrough centre of excellence at age nine.
11.
When Beth Mead was playing at California Boys FC in the boys' league, the other team's players and parents would laugh when they saw her turn up because she was a girl.
12.
Beth Mead's teammates used to tell the other team to laugh ahead of kick-off because they knew that as soon as the game started, she would be running rings around them.
13.
When Beth Mead was just 13 or 14 at Middlesbrough academy, she scored a hat-trick against Sunderland, one of the best teams in England at the time, in six or seven minutes.
14.
Beth Mead won the WPL Golden Boot, Sunderland Player of the Year award, and Mavis Clayton Memorial Trophy for Outstanding Achievement at the Scarborough and District Sports Awards.
15.
Beth Mead again won the FA WPL Golden Boot and Sunderland Player of the Year award.
16.
Beth Mead was named Top Female Achiever at the Scarborough and District Sports Awards.
17.
Beth Mead was nominated for WSL 2 Player of the Year.
18.
Beth Mead was named SportsByte Sports Person of the Year, Top Female Achiever at the Scarborough and District Sports Awards, and Sunderland Supporters' Young Player of the Year.
19.
On 19 July 2015, Beth Mead scored a hat-trick against league leaders Chelsea, making her the league-leading scorer with eight goals.
20.
Beth Mead's scoring 11 goals in the first ten games for Sunderland is the league record for most goals in the first ten appearances for a club.
21.
Beth Mead ended the 2015 season as the leading goalscorer in the WSL with 12 goals in 14 appearances.
22.
Beth Mead heard about Mead being a great striker, so he wanted to know about her as he wasn't the only great striker at Sunderland.
23.
Beth Mead had resisted several offers from Arsenal since 2015 to finish her university degree in Sports Development.
24.
In 2018, Beth Mead was named England Young Player of the Year for the second time, Football Supporters' Association Player of the Year, and Arsenal Women Supporters Club Player of the Season; and selected in the PFA Team of the Year.
25.
Beth Mead was nominated for the 2019 FSA Player of the Year.
26.
Beth Mead signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal on 28 November 2019.
27.
Beth Mead scored the only Arsenal goal against Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-final match on 28 August 2020.
28.
Beth Mead was second highest in xG assisted and through balls ; third in fouls drawn and xA per 90.
29.
Beth Mead broke the record for most chances created in a season and most chances created from open play in a season, becoming the first player who created over 50 chances from open play.
30.
Beth Mead led the majority of creative statistics in the league, many of them by wide margins.
31.
Just five minutes after the restart, Beth Mead whipped an inch-perfect delivery across the face of the Brighton goal and Vivianne Miedema was well-placed to fire home from close range.
32.
Beth Mead wasn't done there, though, and this time she went for goal herself with a free-kick on the edge of the area, firing a stunning curling effort into the top right corner to secure all three points.
33.
Beth Mead's assist resulted in teammate Jordan Nobbs' 50th WSL goal as well.
34.
Beth Mead established herself as the centrepiece of the pressing and counter-pressing system under new manager Jonas Eidevall.
35.
Beth Mead topped the charts for pressing and defensive actions in the final third.
36.
Beth Mead registered most pressures and succeeded the most, made most tackles and won the most, and made second-most blocks in Arsenal.
37.
Beth Mead can run 15 metres in seconds and close a player down.
38.
Beth Mead was named the FSA Player of the Year and nominated for the WSL Player of the Season and PFA Fan's Player of the Year.
39.
Beth Mead won both the Arsenal Player of the Season award and Arsenal Women Supporters Club Player of the Season award by a landslide.
40.
In October 2022, after her successful UEFA Women's Euro 2022 campaign, Beth Mead revealed it was her mother's terminal ovarian cancer diagnosis in summer 2021 that fuelled her acclaimed performance last season.
41.
Beth Mead became second in WSL all-time goal contributions with 54 goals and 39 assists on 16 September 2022.
42.
Beth Mead was named PFA Fan's Player of the Month and Arsenal Player of the Month for September 2022 after she scored three goals and assisted two in two games.
43.
On 19 November 2022, Beth Mead suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in a league game and faced months out of the game.
44.
Beth Mead finished second for the IFFHS World's Best International Goalscorer, meaning that she has scored the second-most goals in international matches for club and country in 2022.
45.
Beth Mead finished runner-up for the ATA Football WSL Player of the Year 2022.
46.
Beth Mead has represented England at every age level from under-15.
47.
Beth Mead was a part of the England U19 team that won the silver at the 2013 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship.
48.
Beth Mead played in all three England U20 matches at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup where she scored a long-range goal against Mexico.
49.
Beth Mead introduced herself to the rest of the world with two superbly-taken goals at England's triumphant 2019 SheBelieves Cup campaign in February 2019.
50.
Beth Mead started in the first two matches of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France.
51.
Thanks to her performance at the 2019 World Cup, Beth Mead was shortlisted for England Player of the Year and named Yorkshire Post Sports Hero of 2019.
52.
In October 2019, Beth Mead scored England's game-winning goal against Portugal.
53.
In February 2020, Beth Mead was left off the squad for the 2020 SheBelieves Cup due to injury.
54.
Beth Mead became the first woman to score a hat-trick at Wembley for England.
55.
On 24 June 2022, Beth Mead scored a brace against reigning European champions and World Cup finalists the Netherlands as a half-time substitute.
56.
Beth Mead's goal put England ahead for the first time.
57.
Beth Mead added her second and England's fifth when she twisted and turned past the Dutch defence in the box and finding the bottom corner.
58.
At UEFA Women's Euro 2022 on home soil, Beth Mead won the Golden Boot, as well as becoming the Player of the Tournament and top assist provider with 6 goals and 5 assists in 6 matches, helping England win the tournament.
59.
Beth Mead became the only English player of either gender to win both the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament award at the Euros or World Cup.
60.
Beth Mead was directly involved in half of England's goals at the tournament.
61.
Besides scoring the most goals and assisting the most in the tournament, Beth Mead created the most chances, completed the most crosses, had the highest crossing accuracy among players who attempted over 10 crosses, made the highest assists per 90 and won the most Player of the Match awards.
62.
Beth Mead was brave in one-on-ones and sent some great balls into the box, as well as scoring three herself.
63.
Beth Mead's delivery, providing two assists for teammates, made it a supremely productive evening.
64.
Beth Mead is the only the second English footballer of either gender after Michael Owen in 2001 to win the World Soccer World Player of the Year award.
65.
Beth Mead was voted third in Fans' Footballer of the Year, ahead of prominent Premier League players such as Bukayo Saka, Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, and Harry Kane.
66.
Beth Mead is the first and only women's footballer on the shortlist in awards' history.
67.
Beth Mead made the final three-woman shortlist for Globe Soccer Awards Player of the Year and voted fourth in Goal 50 for the best female players in the world.
68.
Beth Mead was selected in the IFFHS World Team 2022 and ATA Football World Team of the Year.
69.
Beth Mead was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, one of the UK's longest-running and most prestigious awards, by a landslide.
70.
Beth Mead is the first female footballer to win the award.
71.
Beth Mead is only the sixth footballer to receive the accolade, with Bobby Moore, Paul Gascoigne, Michael Owen, David Beckham, and Ryan Giggs; and the first since 2009.
72.
Beth Mead is the first Arsenal and former or current Sunderland player of either gender to win the award.
73.
Beth Mead is the second out LGBTQ+ player to win the award, after John Curry in 1976.
74.
Beth Mead was named Sports Journalists' Association Sportswoman of the Year, the oldest of their kind in Britain.
75.
Beth Mead is the first footballer to win the award.
76.
Beth Mead finished runner-up for the European Sportswoman of the Year awarded by the International Sports Press Association.
77.
Beth Mead was named Yorkshire Sports Performer of 2022 and Yorkshire Young Achievers Personality of the Year.
78.
Beth Mead was nominated for Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year and BT Sport Action Woman of the Year.
79.
Beth Mead was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2023 New Year Honours for her services to football.
80.
In October 2022, Beth Mead revealed that it was her mother's terminal ovarian cancer diagnosis that fueled the best season in career so far.
81.
Beth Mead earned her 50th cap against Japan on 11 November 2022.
82.
Beth Mead has scored 29 goals in all competitions for England, 12 more than any other member of the latest Lionesses' squad.
83.
Beth Mead has been directly involved in 37 goals in 23 appearances under Sarina Wiegman, 13 more than any other teammate.
84.
Beth Mead was the top scorer in all women's UEFA competition for club and country in 2022, tied with Aitana Bonmati.
85.
Beth Mead finished second for the IFFHS World's Best International Goalscorer, meaning that she has scored the second-most goals in international matches for the club and country in 2022.
86.
Whilst playing for Sunderland, Beth Mead gained BA in Sports Development from Teesside University.
87.
In September 2022, Beth Mead became McDonald's Fun Football ambassador, which aims to give every child, from every background, gender and ability, the opportunity to enjoy football for free.
88.
In October 2022, Beth Mead was nominated for the European Diversity Awards Media Diversity Champion of the Year for promoting women in football.
89.
In October 2021, Beth Mead signed an open letter to the Prime Minister, calling for a kinder, fairer and more effective system for refugees in the UK.
90.
Beth Mead has been nominated for British LGBT Awards in 2020 and 2022.
91.
In 2015, Beth Mead won the first Yorkshire Open Egg Throwing Championships in her village, Hinderwell.
92.
In October 2022, after her successful UEFA Women's Euro 2022 campaign, Beth Mead revealed it was her mother's terminal ovarian cancer diagnosis in summer 2021 that fueled the best season in her career so far.
93.
Beth Mead was previously in a relationship with then-Arsenal teammate Danielle van de Donk.
94.
Beth Mead is currently in a relationship with Arsenal teammate Vivianne Miedema.
95.
Beth Mead is good friends with her former Arsenal teammate Jordan Nobbs.
96.
Beth Mead used to look up to Nobbs as Nobbs was at the Middlesbrough Centre of Excellence in the age group above her and was known as a huge talent at England youth teams.