Alex Greenwood (born 7 September 1993) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays for

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

in the

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

and the England national team. Mainly a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, she can also play as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and is considered to be a set-piece specialist. She has previously played for

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, ...

in the French

Division 1 Féminine The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twelv ...

as well as English clubs

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

and Everton where she began her career. Greenwood has played for the England national football team since 2014 and was named the FA Women's Young Player of the Year in 2012.

Club career

Everton

Liverpool-born Greenwood joined Everton at the age of eight, and progressed through the club's Centre of Excellence. On 5 August 2010, she made her first team debut in a 6–0

2010–11 UEFA Women's Champions League The 2010–11 UEFA Women's Champions League was the tenth edition of the European women's championship for football clubs. The final was held in London, England on 26 May 2011 at Craven Cottage. French side Olympique Lyon won the competition aft ...

qualification round win against KÍ. Two days later, in the same competition, Greenwood scored a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

in the 80th minute in a 10–0 victory over FK Borec. When Everton's longstanding left-back

Rachel Unitt Rachel Elizabeth Unitt (born 5 June 1982) is a former English footballer who last played for FA Women's Championship club London Bees. After beginning her club career with Wolves, Unitt began a long association with Everton in 2000. This was inte ...

signed for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

after the

2011 FA WSL The 2011 FA WSL was the inaugural season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 13 April 2011 and ended on 28 August 2011. The league also took a break between 12 May and mid-July to allow preparati ...

season, Greenwood took over her place in the team. Throughout the 2012 season she performed so well that she was named FA Young Player of the Year at FA Women's Football Awards in November. Greenwood played in Everton's 2–0 defeat by

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the 2014

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship re ...

final.

Notts County

When the 2014 season culminated in Everton's

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open league ...

, Greenwood requested to leave in order to protect her national team place ahead of the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

. She signed for

on a two-year contract for an undisclosed transfer fee. The move disappointed Everton who wanted Greenwood to leave on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

and come back if they were promoted again.

Liverpool

In January 2016, she joined

. At the club, she scored in each of the three seasons in the two-year spell with the club, the first came from the penalty spot against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. At the end of the 2017–18 season, after 44 appearances and six goals, Greenwood was released by the club.

Manchester United

On 13 July 2018, it was announced that Greenwood was joining and would captain

for their inaugural season. She made her competitive debut for Manchester United in a 1–0

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

victory against former club

on 19 August. On 20 September, she made her

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

debut in a 3–0 win against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games a ...

. On 18 November, she scored her first goal for the club from the

penalty spot The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends 16.5m (18 yd) to each side of the goal and 16.5m (18 yd) in front of it. With ...

in a 5–0 win away at

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

. Greenwood helped Manchester United win the Championship and gain promotion to the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features ...

in their debut season.

Olympique Lyonnais

On 4 August 2019, Manchester United announced they had agreed a deal for the transfer of Greenwood to French

team

, subject to personal terms. Lyon confirmed the deal on 8 August for a fee of €40,000, plus €20,000 in potential add-ons. On 24 August, she made her league debut for the club in a 6–0 home win against

Olympique Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club p ...

. On 30 August 2020, Greenwood made her first Champions League appearance since 2010, entering as a stoppage time substitute for

Eugénie Le Sommer Eugénie Anne Claudine Le Sommer (born 18 May 1989) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for French club Lyon and the France national team. She primarily plays as a creative attacking midfielder and left winger, but has ...

as Lyon beat

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's ...

3–1 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. By the end of her one-year contract with Lyon she had played 17 matches and won a quadruple of trophies including the Champions league.

Manchester City

On 9 September 2020, Greenwood returned to England, signing a three-year contract with

following the expiration of her Lyon contract. In one of her first games she helped win the FA Women's Cup with Manchester City at the end of the 2019/20 season.

International career

Greenwood captained

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

at youth level and played at the

2012 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA Women's U-19 Championship 2012 Final Tournament was held in Antalya, Turkey between 2 and 14 July 2012. Players born after 1 January 1993 were eligible to participate in this competition. Tournament structure The regulations make up fo ...

. Senior national team coach

Mark Sampson Mark Geraint Sampson (born 18 October 1982) is a Welsh football coach who was most recently a first team coach at Stevenage. He has also been a manager of the England women's team. Playing career Born and raised in Creigiau, a suburb of Card ...

selected her for the

2014 Cyprus Cup The 2014 Cyprus Women's Cup was the seventh edition of the Cyprus Women's Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Cyprus. It took place between 5–12 March 2014. France won the final over defending champions England. Fo ...

, where she made her debut against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

on 5 March 2014. She scored her first goal for England in September 2014 in a 10–0 win against

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = ...

. At the

, youngest member of the squad Greenwood shared England's left-back duties with

Claire Rafferty Claire Lauren Rafferty (born 11 January 1989) is an English pundit and retired professional footballer. She made over 100 appearances as a left back or left winger for Chelsea in the FA WSL and also spent time at Millwall Lionesses and West Ham ...

. She won a bronze medal when the team beat

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

in the third place play-off. In 2019, Greenwood was part of the England team that won the

SheBelieves Cup The SheBelieves Cup is an invitational women's soccer tournament held in different cities in the United States in late February or early March. In its first three years (2016, 2017 and 2018), it was contested by the same four teams: the United ...

in the United States. Later that year, Greenwood was selected as part of England's

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

squad. As part of England's social-media facing squad announcement, her name was announced by singer

Olly Murs Oliver Stanley Murs (born 14 May 1984) is an English singer, songwriter, and television presenter. He was runner-up on the sixth series of '' The X Factor'' in 2009 and was subsequently signed to RCA Records and Sony Music in the United Kingdom ...

. On 23 June, Greenwood scored England's third goal in the 3–0

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

win against

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west- central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; th ...

as England went on to finish fourth. Greenwood was also included in the England squad that won

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 The 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2022 or simply Euro 2022, was the 13th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by U ...

. She first captained England during an

Arnold Clark Cup The Arnold Clark Cup is an invitational women's association football tournament hosted by The Football Association, starting in 2022. It is named after car retailer Arnold Clark, who signed a multi-year sponsorship deal. ITV acts as the competit ...

match on 19 February 2023, having previously worn the armband after a series of substitutions in England's 20–0 victory over Latvia on 30 November 2021, becoming the fourth captain in that match.

Personal life

Although she joined Everton aged eight and signed her first professional contract with the club, Greenwood was brought up supporting Merseyside rivals

and admired

Jamie Carragher James Lee Duncan Carragher (; born 28 January 1978) is an English football pundit and former footballer who played as a defender for Premier League club Liverpool during a career which spanned 17 years. A one-club man, he was Liverpool's ...

. She attended

Savio Salesian College The Salesian Academy of St John Bosco (formerly known as Salesian College Grammar School, Savio Catholic High School and then Savio Salesian College) is a Roman Catholic secondary school in Bootle, Merseyside, England. The school is under the c ...

. Greenwood is in a relationship with

Jack O'Connell Jack O'Connell may refer to: * Jack O'Connell (actor) (born 1990), English actor * Jack O'Connell (Australian politician) (1903–1972), member of the Victorian Legislative Council * Jack O'Connell (diplomat) (1921–2010), American diplomat and CI ...

, also a professional footballer for

. Greenwood has spoken out, on a number of occasions, about the online abuse that she and some of her colleagues receive regularly, which have included comments about her appearance, transfers and threats against her family. Greenwood generally opts to keep her personal life private and tends to keep her social media posts football-related.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Greenwood goal.''

Honours

Manchester United *

FA Women's Championship The Women's Championship (formerly The FA Women's Championship) is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2 (WSL 2). WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 d ...

: 2018–19 Olympique Lyonnais *

Trophée des Championnes The Trophée des Championnes is a French women's association football trophy contested as an annual match between the champions of Division 1 Féminine and the winners of the Coupe de France Féminine from previous season. It is the female equi ...

: 2019 *

: 2019–20 *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professio ...

: 2019–20 *

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

: 2019–20 Manchester City *

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship re ...

: 2019–20 *

FA WSL Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. ...

: 2021–22 England *

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

third place:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalen ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

Cyprus Cup The Cyprus Women's Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football. It has been held annually in Cyprus since 2008. Although the competition takes place in Cyprus, the hosts have yet to take part in t ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Individual * FA Young Player of the Year: 2012 * PFA WSL Team of the Year: 2015–16, 2021–22 *

Freedom of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...

(announced 1 August 2022)

References

External links

Profile
at the Olympique Lyonnais website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Greenwood, Alex Living people English women's footballers Footballers from Liverpool 1993 births Women's Super League players England women's under-23 international footballers England women's international footballers Everton F.C. (women) players Notts County L.F.C. players Liverpool F.C. Women players Manchester United W.F.C. players Association footballers' wives and girlfriends 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association football fullbacks 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Olympique Lyonnais Féminin players Division 1 Féminine players Expatriate women's footballers in France England women's youth international footballers UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players UEFA Women's Championship-winning players UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players