Chloe Kelly: Ealing’s Lioness

Wembley Stadium, 31 July 2022. It’s all level in the Euros final as England and Germany have one goal apiece.

England’s Lionesses take a corner with ten minutes left of extra time. And it’s the substitute Chloe Kelly who, stretching across the keeper, toes the ball into the back of the net. England win their first major football tournament since 1966.

For Kelly, victory at Wembley was a victory on home turf. She grew up a bus ride away from the stadium in Ealing. And she cites her football journey as starting right here – on the streets and in the enclosed pitches of her west London home.

Three years later, at the Women's Euro 2025, Kelly became the hero once again when she netted the crucial final penalty against Spain. England retained their title as European champions.

Kelly now plays for north London club Arsenal. She was named Time Out’s Londoner of the Year in 2022.

Kelly grew up playing football with her five older brothers at the cage on Southall’s Windmill Park Estate, one of the many enclosed pitches you’d find across the city. The physicality and non-stop intensity of cage football shaped Kelly’s playing style: fast, agile, strong on the ball.

“The creative side to my football I get from the cages,” she reflected in an interview with England Football. “Even the physical side because you get bounced off the cage and you have to get back up and go again.”

Born and raised a Queen’s Park Rangers fan, Kelly’s journey to professional football began at her beloved Shepherd’s Bush-based club. She joined their training and development programmes aged eight.

She then moved from west to north London and joined Arsenal FC’s Centre of Excellence. She’d spend an hour travelling by train each way. “But that was the sacrifice I had to make,” she told BBC Sport. “I'd get home at about 10.30-11pm and go back to school the next day!"

Aged 17, Kelly made her debut for Arsenal’s first team in a cup match against Watford – and scored her first goal only 22 minutes in. She signed her first professional contract with the club a year later. But she spent the next couple of years either struggling to cement her spot in the first team, or out on loan at Liverpool-based club Everton.

Kelly made the move to Everton permanent in 2018, scoring 14 goals over the next three seasons. She was also part of the England under-20s squad that won bronze at the World Cup that year.

In 2020, Kelly joined the Women’s Super League title contenders Manchester City and made an immediate impact as the club’s joint top goalscorer in her debut season.

But in 2021, a serious injury to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her knee led to a long 11-month recovery period off the pitch. She had to relearn how to walk. And she missed out being in the England squad at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which was delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was an isolating experience at times. “The hardest part of it was the mental side,” she said in an interview with Manchester City. “It feels like you don’t have any worth, not playing your sport or being able to do your job… and that was difficult for me.”

Kelly celebrating her goal at Wembley – sprinting across the pitch, waving her shirt above her head – became the iconic image of the Lionesses’ 2022 Euros campaign.

She’d only played her first game back in an England shirt after her injury the month before. The Lionesses and coach Sarina Wiegman were each awarded the Freedom of the City of London, an honour recognising their outstanding achievement in the competition.

On 27 July 2025, Kelly wrote herself into the history books once again.

Just two years after the Lionesses’ painful 1–0 defeat by Spain at the Women’s World Cup, the two teams met again at the Euro 2025 final. Spain scored the opener, but Kelly made an inch-perfect cross to Alessia Russo, who headed the ball into the net to bring England level. Extra time ended with a goal apiece. Time for penalties.

And who else would you want to step up for the game-deciding spot kick than Chloe Kelly? She took a deep breath, did her trademark hop and smashed the ball past the Spanish goalie. England retained their title as European champions.

The game rounded off a whirlwind year for the west Londoner. Kelly started the 2024/25 WSL season sidelined and frustrated at Manchester City. But a deadline day loan to Arsenal saw her find her love for the game again. She won the Champions League with the team in May and made her move to north London permanent in July.

Her decisive impact throughout the Euros tournament – scoring penalties and making assists at critical moments – showed just what a world-class player she is.