97 Facts About Keira Walsh

Keira Fae Walsh was born on 8 April 1997 and is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Women's Super League club Chelsea and the England women's national team.

Keira Walsh is considered both a playmaker and a defensive midfielder.

Keira Walsh has previously played for Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, and Barcelona, and Great Britain at the Olympics.

Keira Walsh was part of the England team that won the Euro 2022, and was named player of the match in the final.

Keira 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.

Keira Walsh stayed with the side for nine seasons, 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.

Keira Walsh 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.

Keira Walsh made her senior debut in 2017, for 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying, and started as captain in a match a year later.

Keira Walsh 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.

Keira Walsh 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.

Keira Walsh briefly supported Arsenal, due to being a fan of Cesc Fabregas, until she saw David Silva, her favourite player, with City.

In 2008, aged eleven, Keira Walsh was named Greater Manchester Young Sports Person of the Year.

Keira Walsh described it as her "second sport" and as of 2022 still played badminton in football's off-season "as a way of keeping fit".

Keira Walsh 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.

Keira 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 County Cup.

Keira Walsh got the ball, walked round everyone, scored a goal and came back.

Keira Walsh then went to trials at the Blackburn Rovers Girls' Centre of Excellence, put forward by her childhood coach and encouraged by good performances at the Skills Centre, and joined them in 2008.

Keira Walsh played for Blackburn Rovers in their age-group teams from under-12 through under-17.

Keira Walsh began playing as a right-footed left-back, and then a centre-half, before moving to the central midfield at Blackburn when a new coach came in for the under-14 team and suggested she try the position.

Keira Walsh played for the under-17 team in the 2013 FA Girls' Youth Cup final against Arsenal, narrowly missing an opening goal, with Blackburn eventually losing the match.

In February 2014, when she was sixteen, Keira Walsh signed for Blackburn Rovers' first team until the end of the season, debuting as a half time substitute four days later.

Keira Walsh played for Blackburn as a striker: they had suffered a poor start to the league that season, and said that the addition of Keira Walsh was key to maintaining their place in it.

Keira Walsh played for the team in the final of the Lancashire Women's Challenge Cup, said to be the best overall player in the match that the team lost, and in the fourth round of the FA Women's Cup.

Keira Walsh left both youth and senior Blackburn Rovers sides in 2014, picking up a Contribution Award for six seasons with them.

Keira Walsh moved up to the Women's Super League shortly after she turned seventeen.

Keira Walsh had been offered a place on Everton's development squad without trialling and was planning to join.

Manchester City, the club Keira Walsh supports, was preparing to enter the WSL and holding trials for their development squad.

Keira Walsh was uncertain about the opportunity, but her mother encouraged her to attend the trials; before the session was complete, first team coach Nick Cushing, who had gone as an observer, wanted to sign Walsh to the main squad as their holding midfielder.

Keira Walsh performed particularly well in the match, marking England legend Kelly Smith out of the game and "leaving the footballing world intrigued" by the unknown talent.

In June 2015, Keira Walsh signed her first professional contract with the club, until the end of 2017, though she did not play for much of the 2015 season due to injury.

Keira Walsh was injured again at the start of the 2016 league campaign but worked her way back onto the squad and, in September, was described as their "unsung hero" by 90min.

Regularly running games for Manchester City, Keira Walsh picked up the Northwest Football Rising Star Award.

Manchester City held their pre-season in the United States, which Keira Walsh felt was a positive in terms of the team's professionalism, and came third in the invitational 2018 Women's International Champions Cup.

In September 2019, accounting for the international season, Keira Walsh was shortlisted for the dream team FIFA FIFPRO The Best Women's World 11, the only English midfielder to be named.

Around this time, Keira Walsh's abilities were said to be maturing.

Coach Gareth Taylor joked after the match that Keira Walsh "was getting a bit sick of everyone else missing chances", adding that she did not need to score goals as the club recognised the importance of her role.

Keira Walsh first returned to playing in October 2021 and, in November, scored a powerful strike against Leicester from the edge of the box to put City ahead, which was shortlisted for the WSL goal of the month.

Later that month, Keira Walsh made her 200th appearance for the club, becoming the second player, following Houghton, to reach a double century.

Keira Walsh only found out she had achieved the milestone after the match, when teammate Janine Beckie told her and gathered the team to celebrate.

Keira Walsh had been connected with a move to Spain as early as May 2022, but was surprised to be contacted by Barcelona in August.

Sports director Markel Zubizarreta and head coach Jonatan Giraldez said at different times that they did not plan for Keira Walsh to be a direct replacement of Putellas, but another option within the team, as she offers a different playing style to others.

Keira Walsh then had a successful season in her role as pivot, cementing her strength within the team and excelling personally.

The Guardian felt that the most significant part of Keira Walsh's game continued to be "her sublime passing quality", even with more goal contributions.

Keira Walsh again picked up a variety of accolades at the end of 2023, including a nomination for The Best FIFA Women's Player and being voted the She's A Baller of the Year.

Keira Walsh placed fourth both in the IFFHS Women's World Best Playmaker ranking and on The 100 Best Female Footballers list, while featuring in the 2023 FIFPRO World 11; on ESPN's list of the 50 best women's footballers; and being one of nine Barcelona players on the GOAL50 list.

Keira Walsh placed eighteenth on The 100 Best Female Footballers list, dropping out of the Top 10 in part due to "not always being a guaranteed starter in a stacked Barcelona midfield".

Keira Walsh later said that homesickness was her primary motivation for leaving Barcelona; despite enjoying the city and being grateful to the club and her friends for helping her to adapt, she struggled with communicating and missed having her family nearby.

Speculation and interest in Keira Walsh transferring to the WSL had continued throughout her last half-season at Barcelona.

Head coach Sonia Bompastor said that, due to Keira Walsh travelling and having limited training time, they had not planned to use her in the game; Bompastor was impressed with her impact late in the game.

Keira Walsh was then selected to the under-19 England squad, for which she was sometimes a striker, while still playing at under-17 club level.

Keira Walsh said that, when she was sixteen, coach Mo Marley told her that she needed to work harder; missing out on selections at this age and Marley's warning, which she felt was tough love and indicative of Marley believing in her, "was a massive career defining moment".

Keira Walsh served as under-19 captain for some of their appearances at the March 2015 La Manga Tournament in Spain, and wore the armband again after returning from injury for 2016 U19 Euro preparation matches in September and November 2015.

Keira Walsh then picked up her second ankle injury while on international duty with the under-19 side in La Manga in March 2016.

Keira Walsh was named in the squad for an under-20 tournament in September 2016, but had to withdraw.

In November 2017, Keira Walsh was called up to the senior England squad for the first time, along with Williamson, by interim coach Marley for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification campaign.

Keira Walsh received her first cap on 28 November 2017 in England's match against Kazakhstan, providing an assist in the fifteenth minute, to become the 200th England women's international.

Keira Walsh then encouraged veteran player Karen Carney to help mentor Walsh through the 2019 Women's World Cup, her first major tournament.

In May 2019, Keira Walsh was selected as part of England's 2019 World Cup squad.

Keira Walsh felt that the criticism of her performances was deserved, saying she lacked focus, but said this did not stop it from affecting her.

Keira Walsh considered quitting football because of it, working with psychologists to rebuild her enjoyment of the game.

Still struggling in January 2020, Keira Walsh was encouraged by Neville and England's then-head of performance Dawn Scott to "address her lifestyle habits" so that she could develop further and be able to focus on marginal gains.

Since 2019, Keira Walsh has been "an automatic starter for England," said by The Offside Rule to be "a name on the teamsheet that is never questioned".

Keira Walsh became essential when Sarina Wiegman was appointed manager in 2021 and instilled a strong focus on passing quality.

Under Wiegman, England's reliance on Keira Walsh grew; sports media and personalities affirmed that her role in the England squad is one that cannot be matched or replicated by other players.

Every time Keira Walsh touched the ball, there was a collective exhale from the 87,192 fans inside Wembley Stadium.

In June 2022, Keira Walsh was named to the England squad for the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 in July, which they won.

Keira Walsh showed what Liew described as "classic understated dominance" and was key throughout the tournament, including mounting England's comeback quarter-final win over Spain.

Keira Walsh was named player of the match and was included in the Team of the Tournament.

Keira Walsh was part of the squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, which began in July 2023.

Keira Walsh suffered ligament damage, though not an ACL injury as many were concerned, and managed to return after missing only one game.

Keira Walsh was more commanding and influential in the quarter- and semi-final wins over Colombia and Australia, performing reliably to help the Lionesses reach a World Cup final for the first time.

England had lost midfield control without Keira Walsh; she brought such control and launched England's attacks when playing the remainder of their group matches.

Still considered England's most important and irreplaceable player come January 2025, while England were preparing for the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 critics continued to lament "that coping with the opposition's 'man-marking' of [Keira Walsh] is often the team's main tactical task", criticising the lack of tactical variation in proactively responding to Keira Walsh being marked out as well as the lack of a viable substitute.

Keira Walsh was named vice-captain and served as England captain in 2024, including for the opening match of their Euro 2025 qualifying campaign.

In England's final group game, which saw them qualify, the team had found ways to overcome the marking of Keira Walsh, including using her as a left-sided centre-back for parts of the match.

Keira Walsh made her 80th England appearance in a December 2024 friendly when she replaced Ruby Mace, who had made her debut in the number 4 role as England searched for a Keira Walsh back-up.

Keira Walsh created opportunities from the right wing with Mead and Bronze in a "close to faultless" performance that was compared to her 2022 Euro showing.

Keira Walsh was part of the Great Britain women's football team at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo in 2021, making three appearances.

Keira Walsh took the first shot at goal in the fifth minute, before beating Australian goalkeeper Teagan Micah but hitting the post with a powerful strike in the fifteenth.

Keira Walsh is typically played as a 'number 6' holding midfielder; "not a traditional holding English midfielder", having instead been described as "built in the mould of a traditional Spanish midfielder", her game has been consistently compared to that of Barcelona and Spain's Sergio Busquets.

Keira Walsh is statistically one of the most accurate passers in world football, and most often plays by passing.

Keira Walsh is able to execute a large variety of passes equally over all distances and when under pressure, and has a high success rate of long passes into the final third.

Keira Walsh's passing skills, and speed of executing them, are considered vital in the transitional phase of play.

Keira Walsh uses passes to set up opportunities for her attacking midfielders; playing alongside Georgia Stanway, she can play to Stanway to attack, as a double pivot, or with their positions swapped.

Not usually an attacking player, Keira Walsh is able to strike powerfully from distance but is instead typically key in her team's build-up play.

Keira Walsh has been known to receive and distribute balls quickly, too, accurately passing due to her positional awareness.

Keira Walsh provides defensive cover, shadowing opposition players to disrupt their play when they have possession and to create space for her teammates to progress in attack when they are on the ball.

Keira Walsh will move back to support both when they are defending and to act as a stand-in when a defender moves forward in attack.

Still, aware that her hometown of Rochdale has a negative reputation, Keira Walsh was happy to "show young kids from that area that they can go on to achieve [good] things", as well as hoping to inspire young footballers there.

Keira Walsh became an ambassador of Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary, working to promote it along with president Gemma Atkinson, in February 2024.

Keira Walsh received the freedom of the borough of Rochdale on 19 October 2022, honoured by Rochdale Borough Council, and a mural of her was installed in the borough in 2024.

In 2022, Keira Walsh appeared as a panellist on the final series of Question of Sport and wrote guest columns covering the men's 2022 FIFA World Cup for the Evening Standard.

Keira Walsh is an advocate for mental health support and breaking the stigma around getting help.

Keira Walsh has a West Highland White Terrier called Narla, whom she says helps her switch off.

Keira Walsh maintains good friendships with former youth teammates Abbie McManus and Katie Zelem, and particularly Leah Williamson.

Keira Walsh has a similar close friendship with Georgia Stanway, having gone through their club careers together until 2022.