Kick It Like A Girl

Mary Earps was born on the 7th of March 1993. She is an English goalkeeper, born in Nottingham. She plays for the England National Football Team and is on a two year contract at Paris Saint-Germain F.C also known as PSG. Earps has a MBE and is a two time winner of the Best FIFA Women's Goalkeeper in 2022 and 2023. In the history of the award she is the first two-time winner.  At the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023 she received the Golden Glove award for best goalkeeper of the tournament and also served as England's vice captain.  Mary Earps said in an interview for Children In Need "The advice I'd give teenage me is that, yeah, it's gonna be alright and that it's alright to be exactly who you are. And don't be afraid of being yourself".  

Marta was born on the 19th of February 1986 in Dois Riachos, Brazil. Marta is widely considered the greatest female footballer ever. She has won the FIFA World Player of the Year award six times from 2006-2010 and 2018. At her first Women's World Cup in 2003 she was 17 years old. It was Brazil vs South Korea and 14 minutes into the match she scored a penalty for Brazil. The game finished 3-0 with two other goals from Kátia Cilene Teixeira da Silva.  This is what Marta said in a press conference ahead of her side's match with Jamaica: "When I started playing, I didn't have an idol, a female idol. You guys didn't show any female games. How was I supposed to see other players? . . Today, when we go out on the street, people stop. The parents stop and say, Oh my daughter loves you, she wants to be just like you. . . This wouldn't have happened if we had stopped at the first obstacles we faced. So it's a continuous persistency and it didn't just start with m...

FIFA first banned the hijab in 2007 and released the ban in 2014. FIFA's original reason for not allowing the hijab was religious symbolism, but that would mean also banning religious tattoos, the signing of the cross and multiple goal celebrations made a lot by prominent male players. Because of this they used health and safety as a reason for banning the hijab saying that the hijab was unsafe. Asmahan Mansour was Canadian. It was 2007 when she stepped onto the football pitch in Laval. She wore a hijab because of her Islamic faith but the referee said it was unsafe and told her she could still play but she couldn't wear her hijab on the pitch. Her team, from Ottawa withdrew from the event and did not play that match. Mansour went to the Canadian Soccer Association but they agreed with the rule and so did the FIFA officials.  In 2011, the Iranian women's football team were facing Jordan in the Olympic qualifiers but they were banned from playing because of their hijabs. The...

Record Breaking Women It's the first day of the Women's Olympic Tournament today and the first match is Canada vs New Zealand. I've decided to write about one amazing Canadian football player, Christine Sinclair. Christine retired in 2023 but she definitely left a legacy behind. She holds the record for the most international goals scored by a female or male football player worldwide. What an amazing woman! Her record is 190 goals in 331 appearances.  Most international goals in women and men's football Rank Name Country  Goals Appearances 1 Christine Sinclair Canada 190 331 2 Abby Wambach USA 184 256 3 Mia Hamm USA 158 276 4 Maysa Jbarah Jordan 137 133 5 Carli Lloyd USA 134 316 6 Kristine Lilly USA 130 354 6 Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal  130 212 7 Birgit Prinz Germany 128 214 8 Alex Morgan  USA 123 222 9 Marta Brazil 119 184 10 Julie Fleeting Scotland 116 121

 Japan vs Nigeria (Group C) 16:00 Brazil vs Spain (Group C) 16:00 Zambia vs Germany (Group B) 18:00 Australia vs United States (Group B) 18:00 New Zealand vs France (Group A) 20:00 Colombia vs Canada (Group A) 20:00 Watch on BBC iPlayer, Discovery Plus, Eurosport, BBC Sport or a BBC channel

 New Zealand vs Colombia (Group A) 16:00 Brazil vs Japan (Group C) 16:00 Spain vs Nigeria (Group C) 18:00 Australia vs Zambia (Group B) 18:00 United States vs Germany (Group B) 20:00 France vs Canada (Group A) 20:00 Watch on BBC iPlayer, Discovery Plus, Eurosport, BBC Sport or a BBC channel

Canada vs New Zealand (Group A) 16:00 Spain vs Japan (Group C) 16:00 Nigeria vs Brazil (Group C) 18:00 Germany vs Australia (Group B) 18:00 United States vs Zambia (Group B) 20:00 France vs Colombia (Group A) 20:00 Watch on BBC iPlayer, Eurosport, Discovery Plus, BBC Sport or a BBC channel

Hi everyone, my name is Ava Hussein, I'm 13 years old and I love football. I love playing it and watching it. I love the competitiveness of it but also how it brings people together. It's an amazing feeling watching your team play, cheering them on with friends and family. I want everyone to be able to have that moment, I want everyone to feel accepted and safe playing or watching football. Not everyone might enjoy it but I want everyone to have the chance to enjoy it. Being a girl playing football isn't always easy. Boys sometimes steal our ball or shout things at us. Sometimes they assume we don't know how to play football. All of those times have just made me more determined to play football and to prove them all wrong but it does sometimes put me off. I don't want anyone to ever be put off of doing something they love just because other people think they shouldn't do it.  In this blog I'll write posts about the history of women's football and amazing...