Fran Kirby

Francesca Kirby (born 29 June 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Chelsea and the England national team.

Kirby returned to the club in 2012 and went on to become the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division's top scorer for the 2012–13 season, with 32 goals in 21 appearances.

In August 2014, Kirby won her first senior cap for England.

With Reading promoted to the newly formed Women's Super League 2 for 2014, Kirby helped the team achieve third place with 24 goals in sixteen appearances.

She ended the season as the league's top goalscorer; netting four against London Bees, as well as hat-tricks against Durham, Watford and Doncaster Rovers Belles.

Shortly after, she became the first female player to receive a professional contract from the club.

At the 2014 FA Women's Awards, Kirby was named the inaugural WSL2 Players' Player of the Year.

She began her career with hometown club Reading before moving to Chelsea in July 2015.

She represented her country at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France and the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 in the Netherlands.

Kirby continued her goalscoring form into the 2015 WSL2 season, taking 11 goals in five league appearances for Reading, including all four goals in a 4–2 away win against Yeovil Town and five goals in a 7–0 win against London Bees.

Following the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Reading accepted an undisclosed transfer fee from Chelsea and she completed a move in July 2015.

It was reported that the fee of between £40,000 and £60,000 constituted a British record, although Chelsea denied this was the case and Kirby was not aware of the figure.

At the 2015 FA Women's Cup Final, staged at Wembley Stadium for the first time, Kirby was a cup-tied spectator for Chelsea's 1–0 win over Notts County.

It was Chelsea's first major trophy.

In October 2015, she scored twice in Chelsea's 4–0 win over Sunderland which secured the club's first FA WSL title; a league and cup double.

The same month, Kirby scored Chelsea's first ever UEFA Women's Champions League goal in a 1–0 win over Glasgow City.

Kirby's form extended into the 2016 FA WSL season.

In April, she secured Chelsea's return to Wembley Stadium by scoring a late, extra-time winner against Manchester City in the FA Women's Cup semi-final.

Four days later, she scored both goals in Chelsea's 2–0 WSL win at Arsenal.

In April 2018, Kirby was awarded the PFA Women's Players' Player of the Year and the Football Writers' Women's Footballer of the Year.

She was named to the shortlist for the Ballon d'Or in 2021, ranking 10th.

She was also named to the Top 10 of The Guardian The 100 Best Female Footballers In The World in 2021, ranking 7th.

On 22 April 2018, Kirby was awarded the PFA Women's Players' Player of the Year and the Football Writers' Women's Footballer of the Year for the 2017–18 season.

As of December 2020, she is Chelsea W.F.C.'s all-time top scorer.

Born and raised in Reading with her brother Jamie and parents Denise and Steve, Kirby began playing football as a young girl after watching her brother play.

She would play any chance she got: at school, in the street, in the front garden.

At a young age, her mother, Denise, wrote in a birthday card that Fran would play in a World Cup one day: she was her biggest supporter.

Kirby attended Caversham Park Primary School and Chiltern Edge, Sonning Common where she played against boys.

As part of the "Where Greatness Is Made" campaign, a plaque honouring Kirby was installed at local club Caversham Trents.

At age 7, she joined Reading's academy and made her senior debut at 16.

Kirby joined her hometown club Reading at the age of seven and worked her way through the youth teams.

She made her debut for the first team at the age of sixteen but quit football the following year after an onset of depression, brought about by the death of her mother.

In February 2020, Chelsea announced that Kirby was diagnosed with pericarditis, which had ruled her out of the team since November 2019.

She overcame her infection, despite being told by cardiologists that she may never play again, and played 70 minutes in Chelsea's FA Community Shield win against Manchester City on 29 August 2020.

On 9 December 2020, Kirby's 2 goals in a 5–0 win against Benfica in the UEFA Women's Champions League, saw her overtake Eniola Aluko as Chelsea's all-time goal scorer, with her 69th and 70th goals for the club, five years after signing.

During a match against her former club, Reading on 10 January 2021, Kirby scored four goals lifting Chelsea to a 5–0 win.

In the 2021 FA Women's League Cup final match against Bristol City W.F.C., Kirby scored two goals and created four assists as defending champions Chelsea won 6–0 at Vicarage Road.

Kirby was singled out by observers as the top performer for Chelsea during their double-winning 2020–21 campaign.

She later won FWA's 2021 Women's Footballer of the Year award.

On 5 December, Kirby scored the opening goal in the delayed 2020–21 FA Cup final against Arsenal, helping her team lift the trophy and secure the domestic quadruple of the 2020–21 season, the first English women's club to achieve the feat.