Explainers

ENGLISH professional football player Bethany England is one of the well-known players of the English team. Her skill as a striker has afforded her a highly successful career so far and she will be taking her skills to Tottenham Hotspur.
Bethany has been one of the top goal scorers at Chelsea FCCredit: Getty
Who is Bethany England?
Bethany England was born and raised in Barnsley, England, on June 3, 1994.
She grew up with her parents, twin sister and her other sister in the South Yorkshire town.
The future Lioness started playing football at a young age, first joining a team when she was six years old.
The first team she played with was a boy’s team called Junior Tykes for almost four years.
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Bethany attended Barnsley Sixth Form College before studying law through a partnership with BPP University and the Doncaster Belles.
Bethany proudly identifies as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
What teams has Bethany England played for?
The Tottenham striker has played for a few different teams so far in her career.
During her youth career, she played for Sheffield United.
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She also represented England for their under-19 and under-23 teams from 2011 until 2017.
She made her senior professional football debut with Doncaster Rovers Belles in 2011.
She played for Doncaster until 2015 and was then transferred to Chelsea FC.
She spent almost 7 years with Chelsea FC, making 99 appearances and scoring 45 goals.

Part was through her time at Chelsea she was loaned to Liverpool, making 16 appearances and scoring 10 goals for them in one season.
On January 4, 2023, Bethany’s transfer from Chelsea to Tottenham Hotspur was announced.
It was reported that her transfer fee was £250,000, breaking the record for a domestic women’s football transfer.
She is contracted to stay with Tottenham until June 2026 at the earliest.
Bethany has also earned quite a few accolades throughout her professional career.
In 2020 Bethany was named the league’s Player of the Year and PFA Women’s Player of the Year.
She was awarded these after helping Chelsea win the 2019/20 FA WSL and the 2019/20 FA Women’s League Cup.
Bethany was also part of the England team that won the UEFA Women’s Championship in 2022.
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When did Bethany England win her first international cap?
Bethany made her senior international debut for the England women’s team in a friendly against Belgium in 2019.
Off the back of being Chelsea’s top striker the season prior, she was brought on for the final quarter of an hour of the game. More

ALANNA Kennedy has achieved success at a number of clubs during her career.Here we take a look inside the life of the Australian defender.
Alanna Kennedy has achieved success at a number of clubs during her careerCredit: AP
Who is Alanna Kennedy?
Alanna Kennedy, born on January 21, 1995, is an Australian professional football player.
Kennedy, who plays as a defender, is recognised as being a versatile, technical player and right-footed free kick specialist.
She is also capable of playing in midfield.
As a child, the sports star was raised in the Sydney suburb of Rosemeadow and attended primary school at Rosemeadow Public and selective sports school Westfields Sports High School.
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In her youth, Kennedy was the only girl on an all-boys team, before playing for the Campbelltown Cobras.
She has also trained with the Girls Skills Acquisition Program (GSAP) at MacArthur Rams.
What teams has Alanna Kennedy played for?
Alanna Kennedy has achieved success at a number of clubs during her glittering career so far.
She started her career playing for Sydney FC in the 2010–11 season, where she featured in 3 games.
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Kennedy then made the decision to switch clubs and joined the Newcastle Jets, before returning to Sydney FC in the 2012–13 season.
For the following season, the sports star joined city rivals Western Sydney Wanderers, before joining Perth Glory.
After a number of career moves, Kennedy returned to Sydney FC in 2015, where she remained for the following two seasons.
A year later in 2016, The Campbelltown-born defender signed with the Western New York Flash in the National Women’s Soccer League, where she made 17 appearances.

In 2017, she made yet another move – this time to Orlando Pride, where she appeared in every game that season.
In the final match, Kennedy scored the game-winning goal on a free kick in stoppage time.
This win allowed Orlando to finish the regular season in third place and qualify for the playoffs for the first time in club history.
Kennedy then joined Melbourne City on loan for the 2017–18 season.
After spending one season at Melbourne City, Kennedy returned to Sydney FC once again in 2018 and remained at the club until 2020.
That same year, she made the move to Tottenham Hotspur on a six-month loan, before signing permanently with the club until the end of the season.
In May 2021, Kennedy was released by Tottenham, which opened the door for her next signing – a two-year deal with Manchester City.
Kennedy put pen-to-paper on a two-year contract extension with the Manchester club in May 2023.
While playing at the Academy Stadium, she wears the No.33 shirt.
How long has Alanna Kennedy played for Australia?
Kennedy has spent the majority of her career so far in her native Australia with the likes of Sydney FC, Newcastle Jets and Perth Glory.
She has also been part of Australia women’s national football team, the Matildas, for over a decade.
In 2012, Kennedy made her national team debut for the Matildas aged 17, against New Zealand.
In May 2015, the defender was named to Australia’s 23-player roster for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The following year she attended her first Olympic Games in 2016 before attending once again as a member of the Matildas Tokyo 2020 Olympics squad.
Kennedy then went on to become part of the Matildas squad that won the 2017 Tournament of Nations and defeated the United States for the first time ever.
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In May 2019, Kennedy was named to the Matildas squad for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
For the third time in 2023, Matildas head coach Tony Gustavsson proudly announced Kennedy as part of the 23-player squad that would be representing Australia at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023. More

NORWEGIAN professional footballer Ada Hegerberg has had a hugely successful career.Ada has won many championships and awards throughout her career, read on to find out more.
Ada is commonly referred to as one of the most influential players in women’s footballCredit: Getty
Who is Lyon and Norway striker Ada Hegerberg?
Ada Martine Stolsmo Hegerberg was born on July 10, 1995, in Molde, Norway.
From a young age, she has represented Norway in football at an international level.
She made her senior team debut for Norway in 2011.
Ada was part of the Norwegian team that won the silver medal at the 2013 UEFA Women’s Championship.
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She married her long-term partner Thomas Rogne in 2019 who is also a professional football player.
Who else has Ada Hegerberg played for?
During her youth football career, she played for Sunndal Fotball, a Norwegian Association football club.
During her senior career, she has played for a number of teams, finding success with all of them.
For her senior debut, she played for Kolbotn from 2010-2011, followed by Stabaek from 2012-2013.
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She was then transferred to Turbine Potsdam for 2013-2014 before being transferred to Lyon.
Ada has been playing for Lyon since 2014, making over 130 appearances and scoring more than 150 goals.
Internationally, she has represented Norway since 2009 on their youth teams.
She made her senior debut for Norway in 2011 and remains on the team’s roster.
Since her senior debut, she has played in over 70 games and scored more than 40 goals.
What awards has Ada Hegerberg won during her football career?
Ada has won many awards and accolades throughout her career so far.
She was awarded the UEFA Best Women’s Player in Europe award on August 25, 2016.
She was named BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year in 2017 and 2019.
In 2018, Ada was the first-ever recipient of the Ballon d’Or Feminin.
Ada holds a record for the most goals scored in a UEFA Women’s Champions League season with a total of 15.
She remains the all-time highest goalscorer in the UEFA Women’s Champions League with a total of 59 goals.
As well as winning on the pitch, she received her flowers off the pitch also.
She is considered one of the most impactful spokespeople for her sport as she has given countless interviews for women’s football.
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In 2020 she had a documentary published about her journey called My Name is Ada Hegerberg.
Ada is also commonly referred to as one of the most powerful women in sports by many media outlets such as Sports Illustrated. More