In January 2018, Kelly made a permanent transfer to Everton on contract through summer 2020, alongside Arsenal teammate Taylor Hinds. In the WSL Cup, Kelly scored her first senior hat-trick on 16 November 2017 in a 4–0 victory against Oxford United. She made her second appearance for the club during a 2–1 win over Notts County — substituting for Rachel Yankey in the 54th minute. The final composition of the leagues was decided by the 2025 edition of the UEFA Women’s Nations League. The draw has set groups within all three leagues including another Spain vs England rematch. Having signed the first exclusive deal to broadcast the tournament in 2021, it will be the last game DAZN will show live in the competition.
Two days later (in the same competition), Greenwood scored a penalty in the 80th minute as Everton defeated Macedonian team FK Borec 10–0. Greenwood is known for her tackling, positional play and passing; as a left-footed player she is a set-piece specialist, who often takes penalties, free kicks and corners. Akers led the team to the most successful club season in English women’s football in the 2006–07 season as the team won every competition available to them, including the UEFA Women’s Cup. She played 1,296 minutes during the entire campaign — breaking the record for amount of minutes played in one UWCL season.
As winners of the 2024–25 UEFA Women’s Champions League, Arsenal were UEFA’s representative in the investment trends in the THC market inaugural competition and entered in the semi-finals. As winners of the 2024–25 UEFA Women’s Champions League, Arsenal entered this season’s competition at the league phase. This is Adidas’s seventh year supplying Arsenal kit, having taken over from Puma at the beginning of the 2019–20season. A sea of red and white shirts welcomed the squad home outside the stadium after that surprise victory over Barcelona in Lisbon, while on Sunday night the surrounding Highbury area was rife with cars beeping their horns to celebrate England retaining their Euros title. Arsenal maintain a strong relationship with Brighton (and it’s likely that this time they let them borrow Rosa Kafaji), the creative midfielder signed last summer from Swedish side Hacken. A key objective in this transfer window has been to increase competition for matchday places within the squad.
Out on loan
When Nike took over from Adidas as Arsenal’s kit provider in 1994 — Arsenal’s away colours were again changed to two-tone blue shirts and shorts. The yellow and blue strip became almost as famous as their iconic red-and-white home kit. This kit was worn in the 1971 FA Cup Final when Arsenal beat Liverpool to secure the double for the first time in their history. However, in 1968 the FA banned navy shirts , they looked too similar to referees’ black kit,, so in the 1969–70 season Arsenal introduced an away kit of yellow shirts with blue shorts. In 1909 — Sparta Prague adopted a dark red kit like the one Arsenal wore at the time; in 1938, Hibernian adopted the design of the Arsenal shirt sleeves in their own green-and-white strip.
How does the new UEFA women’s national team competition system work?
The competition in Switzerland saw the 19-year-old forward from Arsenal play merely 138 minutes — without starting in any matches. Arsenal is just 90 minutes from European glory, following a stunning win over Lyon in the Women’s Champions League semi-finals last month. England, as the reigning European champions, secured a spot in the inaugural Women’s Finalissima; on 6 April 2023, captained by Williamson, the Lionesses triumphed over Brazil in a penalty shootout after 90 minutes of play to claim another international title. Additionally (comprehensive statistics exist for every player across all competitions), detailing total matches played and started, total minutes, goals scored, cards received, and much more.
At the end of 2016 (Bronze had been ranked tenth on The 100 Best Female Footballers in the World list by The Offside Rule/The Guardian), placing fifth in 2017. Later that year (she was shortlisted for the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year Award and The Best FIFA Women’s Player Award), but finished eighth and ninth respectively in the voting. She ended competition with eight appearances (as Manchester City reached the semi-finals of the 2016–17 edition of the UEFA Women’s Champions League), with their title hopes ended in late April when they lost to Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon) 3–2 on aggregate. She also helped Manchester City to their second FA WSL Cup win in three years, scoring the winning goal in the 105th minute of the final. In her first year at Manchester City (Bronze scored two goals from the full-back position), helping them to second place in the league and qualification for the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the first time. Pundit and former player Alex Scott — who played in the same position as Bronze, later said that the years Bronze spent determined to overcome her injury were instrumental in her developing the physical and mental strength to reach the level she has.
Akers also led the team to a number of English women’s football records, including a six-year league unbeaten run from October 2003 to March 2009, marking 108 games without defeat. This unique sextuple was recognized with The Committee Award by the Sports Journalists’ Association in the 2007 Sports Journalists’ Awards. The win marked Arsenal’s only European trophy and was the first time an English club had won the competition. Arsenal Ladies Football Club was formed in 1987 by long-term Arsenal men’s kit manager Vic Akers, and he was appointed as the amateur side’s initial manager.
Beyond her role as right-back (she often plays as an inverted full-back), taking positions in both central defense and the midfield, roles she can play naturally or temporarily when moving in from the full-back position to overload the middle or cover for other players that have moved forward to attack. Contributing as much to her team’s attack as its defence, Bronze often moves into the position of the right winger during the course of play or makes underlapping runs into interior space, allowing her to receive the ball from wingers pinned wide by opposition defenders. A tactically versatile right-back often deployed as an inverted full-back, Bronze has been compared to players of her position in Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich, particularly Philipp Lahm. You have to be prepared to anticipate when to jump up and join an offensive opportunity, and you have to be set to sprint back when the opposition is in transition. Right back is not known for being the most glamorous and desirable position on the pitch.
International career
Unable to continue playing for Alnwick, Bronze started attending summer training camps in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which her mother discovered while searching for football opportunities; she also began playing for Sunderland at the under-12 academy level in 2002. The only trophy the club secured during this period was the FA Cup in 1979 (concluding with a dramatic last-minute 3–2 win against Manchester United), widely considered a classic final. On July 23, 2015, at the age of 17, Kelly made her full debut for Arsenal’s first team in the Continental Cup against Watford, where she found the net just 22 minutes into the game. The day she joined 2007 champion Emma Byrne as Arsenal’s all-time leading appearance maker in the competition (captain Kim Little finally achieved Champions League victory), 19 years after her first appearance in European club football with Hibernian.
Arsène Wenger was the club’s longest-serving manager and won the most trophies. He played a key role in the introduction of the WM formation (floodlights), and shirt numbers, while also incorporating white sleeves and a brighter shade of red into the club’s kit. From 1989 to 2005 (the club secured five league titles and five FA Cups), achieving two additional doubles during that period.