Kerry Davis (born 2 August 1962) is an English former international women's

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 lea ...

. She was the first Black woman to play for the England women's national team. During her 16-year international career, Davis represented England in the inaugural 1984 UEFA Championships final and at England's first

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

appearance in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. She also helped England win the Mundialito tournament in Italy and scored for her country at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. At club level Davis spent four seasons playing in Italy, in between spells with Crewe Alexandra Ladies. She later played for Liverpool Ladies and

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

Club career

Davis was a 23–year–old student from

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

, playing for Crewe Alexandra Ladies, when Italian club Roi Lazio signed her in November 1985. She spent four years playing semi–professionally in Italy, one year at the

Stadio Flaminio The Stadio Flaminio is a stadium in Rome. It lies along the Via Flaminia, three kilometres northwest of the city centre, 300 metres away from the Parco di Villa Glori. The interior spaces include a covered swimming pool, rooms for fencing, amate ...

with Roi Lazio, two years with

Trani Trani () is a seaport of Apulia, Southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, by railway west-northwest of Bari. It is one of the capital cities of the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani (BAT). History Overview The city of ''Turenum'' appears for the ...

and one with Napoli. In her second season with Trani, Davis played alongside compatriot

Debbie Bampton Deborah Bampton (born 7 October 1961) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder. During her career, Bampton won a treble at Arsenal and two doubles with Croydon. She was also capped a total of 95 times for England, scoring seven ...

. They finished runners–up in both the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

and

national Cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League (England), National Basketball League. For most of th ...

before the club folded and Bampton returned to England. After a further year at Napoli, Davis returned to Crewe Alexandra Ladies, but by April 1994 was playing for Knowsley United Women in the

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup 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 (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

final. Knowsley became Liverpool Ladies that summer and Davis left for Croydon Women in December 1994. In 1996, Davis was playing for Croydon when they won the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

and

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

. In May 1996 goals from Davis and Brenda Sempare earned the decisive 2–1 league win over

Arsenal Ladies Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as just Arsenal, is an English professional women's association football, women's football club based in London Borough of Islington, Islington, London, England. The club plays in the FA Women' ...

. That summer she sparked rumours of a transfer by guesting for Arsenal Ladies in a pre–season tournament, but remained with Croydon. She eventually resigned in April 1999.

International career

Davis made her England debut in 1982, becoming England's first black woman international. Davis played in the first UEFA championships for national women's teams in 1984.

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

reached the final only to lose to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

on penalties, despite Davis successfully converting her kick. In the qualifying stages, Davis had been England's top scorer after making her debut in the first ever match in UEFA competition; a 7–1 win over

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Gresty Road Gresty Road or the Alexandra Stadium, currently known as the Mornflake Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Crewe, Cheshire, England. The home ground of Crewe Alexandra, it has an all-seated capacity of 10,153. History C ...

on 19 September 1982. In August 1985 Davis scored in a 1–1 group stage draw with

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, during England's victorious Mundialito campaign. At the 1987 UEFA championships England lost to Sweden at the semi–final stage, 3–2 after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. Davis gave England the lead against Italy in the third place match, but

Carolina Morace Carolina Morace (; born 5 February 1964) is an Italian politician and former footballer, who played as a striker. She was most recently the head coach of Lazio Women. She played for the Italian national team and for various clubs in women's ...

and Betty Vignotto replied to ensure England finished fourth. As a curtain–raiser to the 1990

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

, England played Italy at

. Davis netted a consolation in England's 4–1 defeat, while Carolina Morace scored all four Italian goals and featured on the front page of the following day's

La Gazzetta dello Sport (; English: "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any type in Italy (in 2018). History and profile was fou ...

. Davis later described her former Trani teammate Morace as: "the best women's player I have ever seen." Davis also played in all four of England's matches at the

1995 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, the second edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was held in Sweden and won by Norway women's national football team, Norway, who became the first European nation to win the Women's World Cup. The tournament fea ...

. She had won her 60th cap in the 4–1

UEFA Women's Euro 1995 The 1995 UEFA Women's Championship was a women's association football tournament which was held between 11 December 1994 and 26 March 1995, involving UEFA-affiliated national teams who have qualified for the competition. Germany won the competitio ...

semi–final first–leg defeat to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

on 11 December 1994. In May 1996 Davis scored two goals and set up the other for strike–partner

Kelly Smith Kelly Jayne Smith (born 29 October 1978) is an English former football forward who spent three spells with FA WSL club Arsenal. After moving to the United States, Smith broke records with Seton Hall University then played professionally with ...

in a 3–0 win over

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a association football, football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground was in a predominantly resi ...

. Although Davis's versatility saw her selected as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

or sometimes as a defender, she continued to score at a prolific rate. By the time of a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in October 1997, Davis had 42 goals in 78 appearances. In March 1998, Davis made her 82nd and final appearance for England, but was substituted 20 minutes into a 1–0 defeat to Germany at

The Den The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in Bermondsey, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter-of-a-mile from the Old Den, whic ...

. Davis left the England squad in April 1998, ahead of another friendly with Italy. In October 2010, ''

She Kicks ''She Kicks'' is a women's football magazine and website published by Baltic Publications. Produced bi-monthly, costing £4.25, and at 64–72 pages long, it published FIFA Women's World Cup special editions in 2011 and 2015 and a 20th anniversa ...

'' magazine reported that Davis remained England's all–time record goalscorer. Although it was stated that records were "sketchy" because

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

(FA) took over running women's football in 1993. There was uncertainty whether all Davis's goals before this were scored in matches considered official. In February 2012 Kelly Smith netted twice against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, moving on to 45 goals for England and setting a new record.

International goals

Awards

In 2022, Davis was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame. Davis received the Keith Alexander award, at the Football Black List event in April, 2024, for being a pioneer in women's football.

Personal life

Davis was born in England to a Jamaican father and English mother. After returning from Italy Davis worked in a sports shop in

Honours

;Croydon *

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

FA Women's Premier League The FA Women's National League is a group of six Association football, football divisions which sit at the third and fourth tiers of women's football in England. Founded in 1991 as the WFA National League, the league was run by the Women's Footba ...

: 1995–96

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Kerry 1962 births Living people Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent English women's footballers England women's international footballers English people of Jamaican descent Sportspeople of Jamaican descent English Football Hall of Fame inductees FA Women's National League players Charlton Athletic W.F.C. players Crewe Alexandra L.F.C. players Expatriate women's footballers in Italy Liverpool F.C. Women players 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players English expatriate women's footballers Serie A (women's football) players SS Lazio Women 2015 players A.C.F. Trani 80 players Women's association football forwards 20th-century English sportswomen