Megan Bell (born 17 April 2001) is a Northern Irish

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 ...

who plays 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 ...

for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

in the and

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 ...

Early life

Bell was born in

Dundonald Dundonald may refer to: Places Canada * Dundonald, Ontario, Cramahe * Dundonald, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan * Dundonald Park, in Ottawa South Africa * Dundonald, Mpumalanga United Kingdom * Dundonald, County Down, Northern Ireland ** Dundonald ...

, Northern Ireland. Growing up, she idolised Steven Gerard, but was a fan of

Rangers F.C. Rangers Football Club is a professional football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football. The club is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers, though this has never been i ...

Club career

Linfield

On 19 August 2015, 14-year-old Bell scored two goals for Linfield on her senior debut in a 6–1 home win over Sion Swifts. She won three consecutive

Women's Premiership The Women's Premiership, also called the RFUW Premiership was the top level of women's rugby union in England until 2017. It was formed in 1990 and was run by the Rugby Football Union for Women. It was superseded in the 2017/18 season by Premi ...

titles with Linfield between 2016 and 2018, having left

Grosvenor Grammar School Grosvenor Grammar School (formerly Grosvenor High School) is an 11–18 co-educational, grammar school and sixth form in Belfast, Northern Ireland. History Grosvenor Grammar School was founded in 1945 as Grosvenor High School, by the Belfast ...

in 2017.

Durham

On 9 July 2019, Bell signed with English

FA Women's Championship The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The div ...

team

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

. The move coincided will Bell starting a degree in sport, physical activity and exercise at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

. On 18 August 2019, she made her debut for the team in the season opener against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, scoring in the 7th minute of a 5–1 win. After 14 appearances in all competitions in the first half of the season, Bell announced her departure from semi-professional Durham in January 2020 in order to concentrate solely on football.

Rangers

On 5 January 2020, Bell became a full-time footballer, signing with professional SWPL club

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

. since then despite injuries she has made several appearances for Rangers and won the league title and sky sports cup with the club rangers currently just got into finals of the Scottish cup against Celtic

Heart of Midlothian

Megan joined Hearts on loan from Rangers until the end of the season on 25 January 2024.

International career

On 28 November 2017, Bell made her senior debut for

aged 16 years 7 months, starting in a 3–1 2019 World Cup qualifying win away to

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. On 2 March 2018, Bell scored her first international goal in a 1–1 draw against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

at the

2018 Turkish Women's Cup The 2018 Turkish Women's Cup was the second edition of the Turkish Women's Cup, an invitational Women's association football, women's football tournament held annually in Turkey. It took place from 27 February to 7 March 2018. Format The twelve i ...

friendly tournament.

Honours

Club

Linfield *

: 2016, 2017, 2018 *

IFA Women's Challenge Cup ''For the equivalent tournament in the Republic of Ireland, see FAI Women's Cup.'' The IFA Women's Challenge Cup or Irish Women's Cup is the annual cup competition of women's football teams in Northern Ireland. Currently branded as Electric Irela ...

: 2016 Rangers *

Scottish Women's Premier League The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL (previously styled as ''SWPL 1'') and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of th ...

: 2021-22, * Sky sports cup winners : 2022-23

References

External links

* * * 2001 births Living people Women's association footballers from Northern Ireland 21st-century sportswomen from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland women's international footballers Women's association football midfielders Women's Premiership (Northern Ireland) players Women's Super League 2 players Scottish Women's Premier League players FA Women's National League players Linfield F.C. Women players Durham W.F.C. players Rangers W.F.C. players Heart of Midlothian W.F.C. players Nottingham Forest Women F.C. players People from Dundonald, County Down Association footballers from County Down {{NorthernIreland-women-footy-bio-stub