What a year 2019 has been for Lucy Bronze.
England Women head coach, Phil Neville, set Bronze up for having a good year when he insisted she was the world’s best footballer back in March.
Since then, Bronze scored an incredible goal for England in the World Cup quarter final and won the Silver Ball - the award for the second best overall player. She was also named second in the Ballon d’Or awards in December and was awarded the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year. That’s just the tip of the iceberg for her, with a whole host of other titles being added to her list.
And today she has been named the 2019 England Player of the Year, having played in 18 of the team’s 20 international games this year.
Upon the announcement of her award, Bronze tweeted “Really grateful for this”.
Lucy Bronze's journey
Bronze began playing football at Sunderland - first for the Under-12 academy and then for the senior team, captaining the Under-16s along the way.
She was named player of the match in her first FA Cup Final appearance in 2008 before moving to the USA to go to university for the summer.
When she returned to the UK, she rejoined Sunderland but quickly signed for Everton. Two seasons later she moved to local rivals, Liverpool before a stint at Manchester City.
In 2016, the full back contributed to Man City's unprecedented season, conceding just four goals and topping the table undefeated.
After three seasons with City, Bronze moved abroad - like many successful female footballers do - and signed for Olympique Lyonnais. With Lyon in 2019 she finished as runner-up for the women's Ballon d'Or award, was named UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award, and finished third in the voting for The Best FIFA Women's Player Award.
Individual honours
PFA Women's Players' Player of the Year: 2013–14,
England Player of the Year: 2015, 2019
FA WSL 1 Players' Player of the Year: 2016
MCWFC Etihad Airways Player of the Season: 2016
FIFA FIFPro Women's World11: 2017, 2019
BBC Women's Footballer of the Year: 2018
FIFA Women's World Cup Silver Ball: 2019
UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award: 2018–19
IFFHS Women's World Team: 2017, 2018, 2019
Globe Soccer Awards Best Women's Player of the Year: 2019
Have your say
Who do you think should have been named England's Player of the Year? Leave a comment!
(Feature image: Getty Images)
