Football Career of Queen Alexandra: Difference between revisions
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While not necessarily known to have shared or inherited her [[William Smith|half-brother]]'s infamous militaristic leadership style (hence his nickname "The General"), Alexandra has nonetheless received much praise for her great sense of teamwork which, coupled with her general friendliness towards her teammates, helped establish her as a reliable and proficient team player and who particularly excelled in that regard, especially during important matches. Accordingly, by her own admission, Alexandra described herself as "not necessarily someone who can easily and just effortlessly take charge of a huge team in an instant but who, under the right circumstances, can work well with others in times of need". Meanwhile, in a 2019 interview, former {{wp|Lionesses}} captain {{wp|Steph Houghton}} said, ''"Of course, throughout the time she was there she was never actually captain in an official sense but if necessary I would say I trust her somewhat as a team captain because in a way she just has that sense of unbroken togetherness that easily brings a disjointed team together"''. | While not necessarily known to have shared or inherited her [[William Smith|half-brother]]'s infamous militaristic leadership style (hence his nickname "The General"), Alexandra has nonetheless received much praise for her great sense of teamwork which, coupled with her general friendliness towards her teammates, helped establish her as a reliable and proficient team player and who particularly excelled in that regard, especially during important matches. Accordingly, by her own admission, Alexandra described herself as "not necessarily someone who can easily and just effortlessly take charge of a huge team in an instant but who, under the right circumstances, can work well with others in times of need". Meanwhile, in a 2019 interview, former {{wp|Lionesses}} captain {{wp|Steph Houghton}} said, ''"Of course, throughout the time she was there she was never actually captain in an official sense but if necessary I would say I trust her somewhat as a team captain because in a way she just has that sense of unbroken togetherness that easily brings a disjointed team together"''. | ||
Revision as of 05:54, 1 March 2024
Football Career
Manchester United Women (2005 - 2007)
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Alexandra Katharine Charles Nicole Lauren Elizabeth Thomas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 11 May 1996 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Margaretha House, New York, United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Forward | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 - 2007 | Manchester United | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 - 2010 | Arsenal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 - 2012 | Arsenal | 28 | (26) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2013 - 2014 | OL Reign | 40 | (38) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 - 2019 | Arsenal | 70 | (81) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 138 | (145) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 - 2014 | England U19 | 11 | (8) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | England U20 | 6 | (13) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 - 2019 | England | 71 | (84) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Honours
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
At the age of nine, hoping to pursue a professional football career in her later years, Alexandra initially joined the women's youth academy of Manchester United, the club that she had initially grown up supporting as a child via her father, a longtime fan of the English football club. Almost immediately, her inherent natural talent, coupled with her humble personality and being a relatively quick learner in her own right, soon made her a somewhat promising and standout academy talent, even catching the attention of Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton who, in an interview shortly after the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup concluded, described the royal as "one of Manchester United's finest academy products". However, despite consistent and promising progress that saw her being perceived as the club's "next big talent" as well as the "natural successor" to her half-brother, one of Manchester United's most decorated and talented players of all time, the disbandment of the women's senior team in 2005 by the club's new owner Malcolm Glazer soon threw Alexandra's footballing prospects into doubt, particularly with concerns over whether she would ever earn her first professional contract after coming of age. Eventually, in 2007, after taking into account the overall performance of England's top women's football clubs, Alexandra subsequently transferred to Arsenal which is generally considered to be one of the strongest and most successful English women's football clubs with the expectation that she would eventually make her way into the senior team via her commendable talent at a relatively young age. Later, during a 2018 interview with Sky Sports, Alexandra revealed that her father once attempted to convince the Manchester United ownership to reinstate the women's team so as to especially not lose the club's young academy talents to other clubs with an existing women's team as was the case with Alexandra herself but to no avail as the Glazers insisted on having the women's senior team disbanded due to financial reasons.
In a 2022 interview with Sky Sports, when asked over whether she regretted having never played for her favourite club of Manchester United, Alexandra replied by asserting that despite some "personal regret" over not playing for her much-beloved football club, she nonetheless found her decade-long time at Arsenal to be a "very great and rewarding experience", stating, "Even if I wasn't playing outright for the club that I initially wanted, Arsenal itself, especially its women's side, is nonetheless a very good and professional team and without a doubt I would never forsake the many great friends I made at the club for anything, even for an alternate reality where I was playing at a different club altogether". On the other hand, in a pointed criticism directed towards the Glazer ownership, Alexandra argued that it was the latter who should bear much of the regret, stating, "For fifteen years, they essentially chose to discard any promising talents coming from the academy while otherwise letting them fend for themselves out in the open trying their luck with any interested clubs all while being much uncertain about the future of their careers. If anything, we players made a choice and moved on when we had to while the owners were basically sitting in their comfy offices with much little care for every talent that leaves due to their own actions".
In the meantime, Alexandra herself has vocally criticised the family's ownership of Manchester United, which she described in one instance as "a bad tragedy", as well as the club's controversial but ultimately aborted decision to reintegrate controversial academy graduate Mason Greenwood after charges of rape and sexual assault against the latter was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service in which the Queen, as the most vocal critic of the decision, derided it as "morally bankrupt", adding, "If such an egregious decision goes through, it effectively shows that regardless of what troubles or controversies one could get themselves into, he or she is essentially guaranteed a spot in one of the most prestigious football clubs in the world under the guise of being a supposedly talented player all while suffering little to no consequence for their behaviour". Later on, it was announced that Greenwood had been loaned out to the La Liga side Getafe, a decision that she treated with some antipathy, stating, "Even if some football club somehow still sees some value in the man despite his misgivings, it is perhaps better that he does his stuff elsewhere and preferably outside of England where he is clearly no longer welcome".
Arsenal Women (2007 - 2019)
In the midst of this, the timing of Alexandra's entry into the club happened to coincide with Arsenal opting to take a temporary hiatus shortly after their victory in the 2009-10 season of the FA Women's National League thereby delaying her debut by roughly a year. Nonetheless, the space in time granted as a result of the club's temporary hiatus that year quickly proved to be a blessing in disguise for the young princess who, after initially being met with some skepticism over her actual talent and the fact that she is the first British royal to actively dabble in professional football, subsequently used the period available to gradually improve her skills and technique while also endearing herself among the club's senior ranks that included Ellen White, Katie Chapman, and Alex Scott as well as fellow newcomers including Steph Houghton and Jordan Nobbs. Later, in recounting her early years at Arsenal, Alexandra said, "Honestly speaking, from the moment of my arrival, I was an immediate outsider among the other girls there who were obviously quite surprised to see an actual princess joining them at a football club. To put it simply, making friends wasn't the easiest process early on but in the face of it I just accepted the reality that I wouldn't immediately be the most popular person there and just mostly concentrated on improving myself as a player by attending training and whatnot. Eventually, some of the girls began warming up to me and by the time I left in 2019, I could confidently say that I'm friends with almost every player at the club that I've ever met and played with".
In the ensuing inaugural season of the newly-established Women's Super League, for the club's first match, that being against Chelsea, then-manager Laura Harvey chose not to initially include the princess in the starting lineup, most likely over initial concerns surrounding her true potential and capabilities. However, after finally coming onto the field in the 70th minute as a substitute for Ellen White, Alexandra immediately left a positive impression on her squad when just nine minutes later she successfully netted her first ever goal for Arsenal through a powerful 20-yard shot that she followed up on with two more goals in the final minutes of the game to record a memorable hat-trick at the 91st minute. Then, despite later finding herself unable to register any further goals in the next few matches, an early 10th-minute goal by the princess proved vital in helping Arsenal achieve a narrow 3-2 victory over Bristol City. Similarly, in an August 11th match against Birmingham City, a 60th-minute brace from Alexandra helped her team break a 1-1 deadlock while also ensuring a dominant 3-1 victory over their opponents. Just a week later, a second hat trick from Alexandra at the 76th minute saw Arsenal record their biggest win of the season, namely a 6-0 win over Doncaster Rovers Belles. By the end of it, with nine goals to her name, she consequently emerged as the league's second top goalscorer behind Birmingham City's Rachel Williams with fourteen goals. In the meantime, aside from success in the domestic league, Alexandra also saw much success with her club in domestic tournaments, winning both the Women's FA Cup and the FA Women's League Cup during which she scored a brace in the former to mark a 5-2 victory over Sunderland in the sixth round proper. Meanwhile, in the UEFA Women's Champions League, a goal in the first leg and a hat-trick in the second leg of the semi-finals from the princess against Olympique Lyonnais saw Arsenal reach the finals in the tournament's inaugural season since its rebranding where they proceeded to defeat Turbine Potsdam 5-2 to achieve their second continental treble, having previously done so in the 2006-07 season. At the same time, with twelve goals to her name in the tournament, Alexandra herself finished as the tournament's top scorer that season.
In the following season, an overwhelmingly dominant performance in the league saw Arsenal emerge as winners with no matches lost in the process, a feat that promptly drew comparisons to the 2003-04 season of the Arsenal men's side who were popularly nicknamed "The Invincibles". During this, Alexandra herself scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 win against Liverpool, a separate tiebreaking hat-trick against Everton, and lastly, two tiebreaking goals against Bristol City. Separately, a hat-trick from Alexandra in the Women's FA Cup semi-finals against Chelsea proved decisive in overturning their opponent's 2-0 lead, although a 1-3 loss to Birmingham City in the finals prevented them from ultimately retaining the title. Nonetheless, they were otherwise successful in retaining their FA Women's League Cup title through a 3-0 victory in the finals against Birmingham City, with Alexandra herself scoring a brace in what was later said to be an "act of vengeance" for the club's previous 1-3 Women's FA Cup loss. However, an elimination in the semi-finals at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt instead saw them unable to defend their Champions League title which subsequently went to Olympique Lyonnais who later defeated the former 2-0 to win their first European title. In the meantime, despite much initial success with her club, under the auspices of pursuing her education abroad, Alexandra temporarily left Arsenal at the end of the 2012 FA WSL season before later rejoining it two seasons later following her return from the United States and a subsequent recovery from a personal tragedy.
In her first season since returning to the club, Alexandra re-established herself almost immediately by scoring two tiebreaking goals in the opening match against Notts County before promptly following it up with a tiebreaking goal against Chelsea and another against Bristol City on later dates. In addition, Alexandra also proved vital in securing a draw against Manchester City, which proved more than enough to win her club the domestic league that season. Moreover, by helping to decisively overturn a 1-2 Chelsea lead in the quarter-finals, Alexandra also helped her club to win the Women's FA Cup through a final 5-1 victory in the finals over Notts County who they also defeated 5-0 to win the FA Women's League Cup as well. Following this, in the ensuing seasons leading up to her retirement, Alexandra went on to see much further success with the club, winning the Women's Super League three further seasons in a row, the FA Women's League Cup twice, and the UEFA Women's Champions League once more, with her final season seeing her win both the Women's Super League and the FA Women's League Cup where in the latter tournament, Arsenal ultimately prevailed over rivals Manchester City in a dramatic penalty shootout which they won 5-4. On the other hand, a 2-3 loss to Chelsea and a 1-2 loss to VfL Wolfsburg respectively saw her fail to win both the Women's FA Cup and the UEFA Women's Champions League in her final season with the club prior to her ensuing retirement which she announced shortly after the conclusion of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final whereby she made clear her full retirement from professional football at both club and international level in order to fully assume her regnal duties as queen.
Former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry on Alexandra's footballing skills
With 107 goals in 98 appearances, Alexandra is the all-time goalscorer for both Arsenal Women and the Women's Super League. In addition, she also holds five Women's Super League Golden Boot awards, the most of any player, aside from which, Alexandra also holds the record for most assists in the Women's Super League with 50 assists, followed by Arsenal's Beth Mead with 38 assists. In 2019, she was inducted into the Women's Super League Hall of Fame as one of the league's most talented players. In that same year, she was also appointed as the club's honorary president and is since considered by many to be Arsenal's royal patron. Meanwhile, together with Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema, Alexandra is one-third of the Women's Super League's fabled "One Hundred Trio" as the only players so far to have accumulated a total of one hundred goals plus assists.
Seattle Reign FC (2013 - 2014)
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In the lead-up to the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League, having moved to the United States for educational purposes, a sixteen-year-old Alexandra was soon chosen by Seattle Reign FC head coach Laura Harvey who had previously managed the royal at Arsenal and therefore saw an immediate benefit in acquiring the latter's services for her new team. However, given that she was far below the determined age limit of eighteen for eligible players, Alexandra's acquisition soon sparked considerable controversy with the league effectively prohibiting her from officially signing a professional contract with the club due to the aforementioned age limit. In response, Alexandra, who previously faced little issue in playing for Arsenal at just fifteen, promptly filed a lawsuit against the National Women's Soccer League at the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington on the basis of the age limit being in apparent violation of antitrust laws established by the Sherman Antitrust Act given that the age limit violated the principle of free competition. Eventually, amidst a response from the league claiming that the age limit was to "protect minors at an important stage of development", Alexandra, pointing to her state of relative well-being during her previous years with Arsenal, ultimately compelled District Judge Ronald B. Leighton to issue a landmark ruling ordering the former to remove their age limit which was deemed to be against the spirit of competition.
To that end, having officially signed her contract with the club, Alexandra soon made her maiden appearance for Seattle Reign FC on 14 April 2013 where she scored her first-ever goal to deliver a 2-1 win over Chicago Red Stars. However, just a week later, her team suffered a narrow 1-2 loss to Portland Thorns FC but not before Alexandra avenged the loss with a brace in a 2-2 draw against FC Kansas City. Then, on May 4th, she scored yet another brace to instead deliver a 2-1 win over their opponents but not before a series of consecutive losses soon haunted the team throughout much of the month of May and later only came to a halt on June 9th when Seattle Reign FC drew 1-1 against FC Kansas City courtesy of an equalising goal from Alexandra herself. Meanwhile, amidst a parallel goal drought on her part, Alexandra later scored another brace in a 3-1 win over Boston Breakers on July 3rd and afterward her first hat-trick for Seattle Reign FC on August 10th in a 3-1 win over Washington Spirit as her team concluded the season with a 1-2 loss to Portland Thorns FC on the final day which proved not enough to push Seattle Reign FC into the playoffs as they finished in fifth place. Nonetheless, with eleven goals scored, Alexandra came second in the season's top goalscorers list with just one goal behind the top goalscorer Lauren Holiday who scored twelve for FC Kansas City.
In her second and final season, where she was joined by former Arsenal teammate Kim Little, Alexandra started the season off promisingly, scoring a hat-trick in the opening match against Boston Breakers which they won 6-0. Soon afterward, following a goal in a 4-1 win over Washington Spirit, Alexandra then scored a brace in a 4-0 win over Houston Dash which she took some time to follow up on in the form of a goal in a 4-2 win over FC Kansas City on May 14th. Then, on June 1st, she provided a brace in a 5-1 win over Sky Blue FC before promptly following it up with two separate hat-tricks to mark a dominant 6-1 win over Chicago Red Stars and a similarly huge 5-0 victory over Boston Breakers. Meanwhile, she also scored the tiebreaking goal in a 1-0 win over Sky Blue FC on June 28th and on July 12th provided an equalising goal to avoid defeat at the hands of Chicago Red Stars. Then, on August 2nd, she scored a brace to break the 1-1 deadlock against FC Kansas City, a hat-trick in a 7-1 win over Houston Dash on August 2nd, and perhaps most crucially, a brace on the final day against Portland Thorns FC where her two goals both overrode Alex Morgan's lone goal and ensured that Seattle Reign FC concluded the season unbeaten, thereby earning them the nickname of "Invincible Seattle", while also posting a record high of 61 points. Consequently, Alexandra herself then participated in her first and only NWSL Playoffs where after assisting a Megan Rapinoe goal in a 2-1 win over Washington Spirit in the semi-finals she proceeded to score a memorable hat-trick to seal a dramatic 4-2 win over FC Kansas City in the finals, thereby securing her first and only NWSL Championship in addition to the NWSL Shield that Seattle Reign FC won courtesy of having the season's best regular record. Moreover, with a total of twenty-seven goals, Alexandra personally finished as the season's top goalscorer with teammate Kim Little following suit with sixteen goals. In this, despite positive sentiment, Alexandra announced her departure from Seattle Reign FC to later rejoin Arsenal the following year, a sudden decision sparked by the passing of her paternal grandmother who died just several days prior to the final match against Portland Thorns.
Considered to be one of the club's most talented players, with 38 goals in 40 appearances, Alexandra is Seattle Reign FC's fourth-highest all-time goalscorer ahead of Kim Little and is seen as one of the club's most recognisable faces alongside Megan Rapinoe. Even more, Alexandra holds a number of distinctions including being the league's youngest goalscorer while also holding the record for the most hat-tricks scored in a single season (5) and the most goals scored in a single season (27). Moreover, in a testament to her incredible playmaking abilities, Alexandra also currently holds the record for the league's all-time assists with 43 assists.
England Women (2010 - 2019)
In 2011, shortly after having led Arsenal to a continental treble that year, a fifteen-year-old Alexandra was subsequently included in the England U19 squad by head coach Mo Marley where her apparent talent could immediately be put to good use. However, having failed to qualify for the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship that year in Italy, Alexandra only made her debut the following year when England successfully qualified for the 2012 edition in Turkey. To that end, on 2 July 2012, Alexandra made her maiden appearance in a group stage match against Sweden where she scored her first two goals for England to mark a 2-1 win over their opponents. Then, on July 5th, Alexandra scored her first-ever hat-trick although this proved not enough to avoid a narrow 3-4 loss to Spain which Alexandra promptly avenged by scoring twice in the final match against Serbia to mark a 2-0 win as the only England player to have scored in the group stage. In the end, by virtue of goal difference, England were prevented from advancing to the knockout stages by second-placed Sweden whose slightly superior goal difference allowed them to qualify together with Spain. Regardless, with a total of seven goals, Alexandra did finish the tournament as its top goalscorer and was largely met with praises for her solo effort as England's only goalscorer in the tournament.
Despite the setback, Alexandra would feature once again in the successive 2013 edition in Wales. In this, despite failing to score in two of the three group stage matches, Alexandra did otherwise score a lone goal in the final match against Denmark which England won 4-0 to mark a perfect record and therefore advance to the knockout stages. However, despite providing an assist in a 4-0 win over Finland in the semi-finals, Alexandra failed to make a difference in England's 0-2 loss to France in the finals. Meanwhile, in the following 2014 edition, her last with England as a youth player, Alexandra only scored once in the tournament, namely in a 3-2 win over Spain where in spite of her hat-trick England ultimately failed to advance beyond the group stages. In general, her overall performance, coupled with her status, soon made her a subject of interest among football pundits and supporters with talks of Alexandra, much like her famous half-brother, being a potential key to delivering England Women's first major title.
Around a month after her appearance at the 2014 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, Alexandra further competed at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Canada. In this, she proved a consequential figure in the group stages, scoring a hat-trick against Korea and a brace against Nigeria respectively. Then, in the ensuing knockout stages, Alexandra continued her goalscoring feats with another hat-trick in a 6-1 win over France in the quarter-finals, followed by a brace in a 3-0 win over Germany in the semi-finals, and a final hat-trick in a 5-2 win over Nigeria in the finals to claim England's first-ever title, a milestone that was achieved just weeks after Alexandra's own grandmother, the late Queen Lauren, had passed away on August 12th of that year with her funeral taking place on the day right before the final. Later on, in a candid recollection of the tournament, Alexandra revealed that she "cried for quite some time" right before the August 13th fixture against Nigeria to which head coach Mo Marley initially considered starting another player in the place of Alexandra who instead insisted on starting the match herself and even later went on to score the winning goal against Nigeria. Meanwhile, with a total of thirteen goals, Alexandra herself finished as the tournament's top scorer while also surpassing the previous record of eleven goals set by Canada's Christine Sinclair in 2002.
Shortly after her return to football, then-England Women manager Mark Sampson, aware of the royal's recent growing talent and past performance, was said to have proposed for the nineteen-year-old Alexandra to finally join the senior team, an offer that was initially met with some hesitation given that such a decision would have added further burden onto the princess in light of her recent recovery. However, aware of the upcoming 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup that year in Canada and hoping to emulate her brother's recent World Cup glories just a decade prior, Alexandra opted to accept Sampson's offer. Then, following her father's abdication in 2017, it was later agreed by the then newly-appointed manager and former footballer Phil Neville that she would remain with the team until the end of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France, and that she would afterward retire regardless of the tournament's ultimate outcome to fully assume her awaiting regnal duties which she had temporarily put on hold in light of her growing football career. Regarding this, she later said, "Initially, it was quite sad and disappointing to learn that I've only got a few years left with the national team but at the same time, it also drove me to do my absolute best with the remaining time that I have so that in the end, I'll only be enjoying what I've done in the past and not otherwise regretting it and thinking that I could've done more".
On 13 February 2015, Alexandra made her international debut for England in a friendly match against the United States where she scored her first goal for the national team in the 49th minute to equalise with the Americans whose initial 1-0 lead had come from a 25th-minute goal by striker Alex Morgan. Then, around a month later, Alexandra was featured as a regular starter for the national team at the 2015 Cyprus Women's Cup where a brace from her at the 86th minute in the group stage match against the Netherlands proved vital in breaking the initial 1-1 deadlock, thereby allowing England to progress to the finals where they proceeded to defeat Canada 3-0 with another of Alexandra's brace adding to a late 67th-minute goal by striker Lianne Sanderson to complete the 3-0 rout. Meanwhile, in the two subsequent friendly matches against China and Canada respectively, Alexandra scored a brace in both fixtures to guarantee a victory on both occasions, with her brace in the match against Canada proving vital for a successful England comeback against their opponents who initially led 1-0 thanks to an initial 23rd-minute goal by midfielder Sophie Schmidt. Not long afterward, Alexandra subsequently participated in her first major tournament in the form of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, an experience she later described as both "thrilling" and "nerve-wracking". Soon enough, in the group stages, after missing an initial opportunity to score during a 0-1 defeat to France, Alexandra went on to score her first and only hat-trick in the tournament to give her side a dominant 5-1 win over Mexico which was followed by a 2-1 win over Colombia that saw them successfully qualify for the knockout stages which England began by recording a 3-1 victory over Norway in the round of 16, followed by a 4-1 win over hosts Canada in the quarter-finals, and a dramatic 3-2 win over defending champions Japan in the semi-finals where after a 92nd-minute own goal by defender Laura Bassett momentarily saw Japan take the lead, a 93rd-minute tiebreaking goal from Alexandra allowed England to reach the finals for the first time ever, a realisation that she later admitted having brought her to tears upon learning of it. In the ensuing final match at BC Place in Vancouver, Canada, a brace by Fara Williams and a goal from Katie Chapman with assistance from Alexandra herself saw England dramatically defeat the United States, the two-time champions, 3-2 to win their first-ever title. Later on, Alexandra was later named the tournament's Best Young Player, particularly for her "inspiring performance" during England's semi-finals triumph against Japan who later lost 0-2 to Germany in the third place play-off match to ultimately settle for fourth place.
Following their historic success at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, England also qualified for the UEFA Women's Euro 2017. In this, Alexandra herself started off promisingly, scoring a brace in an 8-0 demolition of Scotland and a hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Portugal in the group stages. Then, having easily qualified for the knockout stages, Alexandra scored another brace in a 2-0 win over France in the quarter-finals and a memorable hat-trick in a 3-3 draw against the Netherlands in the semi-finals where a 93rd-minute own goal from defender Millie Bright resulted in a penalty shootout that England ultimately won 4-2 to advance to the finals for the first time ever in which goals from Alexandra, Fran Kirby, Millie Bright, and Lucy Bronze saw England mark a dominant 4-0 win over Denmark to claim their first European title just two years after their maiden World Cup glory. In that same year, England also came marginally close to winning the 2017 SheBelieves Cup but ultimately fell short in doing so after France narrowly prevailed to win the tournament outright by just one point ahead. However, in the following 2018 edition, a superior goal difference to that of the United States crucially allowed England to win the tournament for the first time ever especially after their previous immediate attempt had fallen short. Meanwhile, despite the back-to-back success, the England women's national team briefly became the center of controversy when then-manager Mark Sampson, amidst allegations and reports of verbal abuse by the former against England international Eniola Aluko, was dismissed from his position by The Football Association who then appointed former England international and men's World Cup winner Phil Neville as the Lionesses' new head coach.
In 2019, her final year with England, Alexandra would come to see one last major success with the women's national team, namely at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. From the start, a dominant performance in the group stages against Scotland, Argentina, and Japan saw England easily progress to the round of 16 where Alexandra's contribution of two goals for her side in the match helped seal a huge 5-0 victory over Cameroon, thereby allowing them to then meet Norway in the quarter-finals where they also defeated their opponents by a similarly large 6-0 margin with Alexandra herself scoring a hat-trick in the 68th minute. Then, in the ensuing semi-finals, in an exact repeat of their previous encounter, a brace from Alexandra at the 83rd minute saw England seal a dramatic 3-2 victory over the United States to progress to the finals for the second consecutive time. In the ensuing final match at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, a hat-trick from Alexandra in the 53rd minute, coupled with goals from Beth Mead and Abbie McManus respectively in the second half saw England achieve a dominant 5-1 win over the Netherlands to clinch their second World Cup title in a row while the Dutch managed to only reply once via a 75th-minute consolation goal from Daniëlle van de Donk. Meanwhile, the United States, who came second in the previous edition, later finished third via a narrow 4-3 win over Sweden in which both Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe scored twice to edge the Swedes in the final minutes. Consequently, the Lionesses' back-to-back victory saw them become the second nation after Germany to have won two consecutive FIFA Women's World Cups.
In the end, despite her sustained success with England and with rumours claiming that she might potentially forgo her rights of succession to the throne in order to remain with the England women's national team for the near future, Alexandra, as was intended beforehand, announced her retirement from professional football at the end of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, which was then followed by a "semi-modest" farewell event at the St George's Park National Football Centre involving both her England and Arsenal teammates. Meanwhile, despite her abrupt retirement and short-lived career, Alexandra holds a record of 84 goals in 71 appearances for the England women's national team, making her their leading all-time goalscorer, a status that her half-brother William Smith also enjoys as the all-time leading goalscorer for the England men's national team with 160 goals in 124 appearances. Moreover, despite her limited number of appearances, she is also the all-time goalscorer in the UEFA Women's Championship with 12 goals and the second-highest all-time goalscorer in the World Cup (men or women) with 21 goals behind half-brother William Smith. In both respects, she is followed jointly by Germany's Birgit Prinz and Inka Grings in the former and by Brazil's Marta in the latter.
In a 2022 interview with Sky Sports held shortly after England's back-to-back victory at the UEFA Women's Euro 2022, when asked whether she "personally regrets" forgoing the rest of her growing football career in order to better concentrate on her duties as queen, Alexandra responded with an affirmative "no", stating, "I certainly don't regret the time I spent at England at all, even if it's just four years long, which some might see as a rather short period of time because in the end, I made a lot of good friends during that time, and not to mention, in just four years, we were able to win two World Cups in a row, along with at least one Women's Euro tournament along the way. Essentially, what matters is not the amount of time you spent on something, but rather what you achieved or done, irrespective of the amount of time spent". She later added, "Looking back, if I were to not have won even a single competition back then when I had that four-year chance, then I would have absolutely regretted retiring so abruptly because it obviously meant that whatever potential I had, I never fully reached it and it was otherwise completely wasted despite the chances that I had". In addition, besides the overwhelming support from her family, Alexandra also cited football as one of the main driving forces behind her successful recovery from her near-fatal depressive episode, stating, "The fact that within just a year after my grandmother's death, I was then just joyfully and proudly holding a World Cup trophy in my arms in front of millions of people definitely changed the way I looked at life from that moment onwards and gave the years after she was no longer alive a whole new meaning and perspective for me to keep moving on and live my life to the fullest. For me, my grandmother's passing was not the end of my journey and there's actually more of it waiting for me down the road".
In October 2019, shortly after her retirement came into effect, Alexandra was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame, with The Football Association chairman Greg Clarke heralding the royal as "one of England's brightest talents in women's football" and "a lifelong icon for young girls across England looking to get into football". During much of her playing years, given her pre-existing wealth as a royal, Alexandra personally opted to receive no salary at all from her club thereby relieving them of considerable financial burden which, in turn, later allowed them to sign promising and talented strikers such as Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema to form an effective and lethal attacking trio that included Alexandra herself. Regarding this, she said, "Frankly, with what I had, it was the least that I could do for a club that I feel truly happy and thankful. In the end, players like Vivianne and Beth came along and by all accounts, everyone is happy with it".
Foundation of Ballon d'Or Féminin
Beginning in 1956, in an annual event hosted by France Football, the Ballon d'Or award has routinely been given to male footballers deemed to have best performed in a given year and which has since been won by a host of players with former United States and England international William Smith currently holding the record for most awards won with eleven in total while Englishman Stanley Matthews is the inaugural recipient of the award, having first won it in 1956. In contrast, due to longstanding restrictions imposed on and social norms regarding women's football across Europe, women's football never really became established in the decades following the Second World War and a corresponding award for female footballers therefore did not exist. However, in 2015, shortly after helping the England women's national team to their maiden FIFA Women's World Cup title, Alexandra, given the gravity of such a feat, publicly questioned the lack of a women's equivalent to the prestigious Ballon d'Or award especially given that the tournament itself had at least officially begun in 1991.
Eventually, an initially fringe idea that soon secured support from the likes of men's football icons William Smith, David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Zinedine Zidane as well as several established female footballers including Christine Sinclair, Mia Hamm, and Michelle Akers, and even French President François Hollande compelled France Football to introduce the Ballon d'Or Féminin with its inaugural edition set to be awarded jointly with the men's Ballon d'Or that same year. To that end, on 6 January 2016, having won a domestic treble that year with Arsenal as well as having crucially helped England to their first FIFA Women's World Cup title, Alexandra soon won a huge majority of the votes to become the award's inaugural recipient (as well as the youngest at just nineteen), defeating compatriot Eniola Aluko and German Célia Šašić, while her half-brother William Smith simultaneously picked up his ninth Ballon d'Or award in one of the few instances where both awards are simultaneously won by a pair of siblings. In addition, she is currently just one of three English players to have won the award alongside Beth Mead who won it in 2022 and Lucy Bronze who won the following edition.
In the years since, during which Alexandra herself later won it twice more in 2017 and 2019, the award has been won by five different recipients with the most recent winner being England's Lucy Bronze while Norway's Ada Hegerberg, who last won it in 2018, is just one of two players alongside Alexandra to have won it more than once during which an interesting pattern emerged whereby both players won the award right after the other. During a 2022 interview with The Guardian shortly after her partner Beth Mead won her first Ballon d'Or Féminin award, Alexandra described her decision to pressure France Football into introducing the award as "one of the proudest things I have ever done in my life", stating, "Ultimately, it is not solely about me but about women's football and its emerging players as a whole who now have the chance to be recognised with the same prestige that their male counterparts had for decades". Meanwhile, in 2018, in line with the creation of the Kopa Trophy meant for the best performing male player under the age of twenty-one, the corresponding Alexandra Trophy was also created with French player Selma Bacha of Division 1 Féminine club Lyon chosen as the inaugural winner. In 2023, shortly after England Women achieved a historic third consecutive Women's World Cup title, an equally successful lobbying campaign resulted in the creation of the Angerer Trophy, the women's equivalent to the Yashin Trophy and which was named after German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer who famously kept a clean sheet throughout the entire course of her country's victorious campaign at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. Almost immediately, for her role in England's historic milestone, Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps was chosen as the inaugural winner, having also won the Golden Glove and The Best FIFA Women's Goalkeeper awards as well.
Retirement (2019 - Present)
For her subsequent August 2019 coronation, Alexandra personally invited her former Arsenal teammates as well as members of the England women's national team, all of whom were later featured with the Queen in a group photograph in front of the St George's Park National Football Centre, the base for all of England's national sports team, including both the men's and the women's football teams. Meanwhile, on 2 December 2019, Alexandra herself received her third Ballon d'Or Féminin award, the most so far, for her success at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. In addition to that, she was also honoured with a second BBC Women's Footballer of the Year award which followed that of a previous one awarded to her in 2015, making her the joint-highest winner of the award alongside compatriot Lucy Bronze who along with the former and fellow compatriots Beth Mead and Mary Earps make up the award's four recipients so far to have hailed from England.
Despite the somewhat limited time spent and early retirement from women's football at the young age of twenty-three, Alexandra has since come to be well-regarded by her former teammates, with Arsenal defender and England captain Leah Williamson, who debuted for her club around the same time as the former's return, describing the royal as a "very wholesome and fun teammate to play with" while also revealing that her very first encounter with the royal on their first match for Arsenal together left her "pretty much stunned" by the former's easygoing character, stating, "To some extent, I initially believed that all these royalty people are just very snobbish and uptight people but in our very first encounter she acted pretty much like any other normal girl you see everyday". Similarly, retired England international Ellen White has also particularly praised Alexandra's "teamwork spirit" during their time together in the national team, stating that the two "generally got along very well" and that in necessary situations the royal proved to be a valuable and important teammate with whom White often worked in tandem leading England's attack. Moreover, Phil Neville, who managed the England women's national team from 2018 to 2021 and oversaw their victory at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, described the royal as a "very hardworking, selfless, and talented player not afraid to realise her errors and immediately correct them when necessary", adding, "In the eyes of many, when I was the manager, I was essentially talking to my country's own queen and head of state as a commoner but the reality is that both of us understood that when it comes to football, titles and statuses don't matter and what ultimately matters is the team's success that everyone, regardless of any differences, should work together at their hardest to achieve it". Meanwhile, Vivianne Miedema, a teammate of hers at Arsenal but otherwise an opponent on the international level representing the Netherlands, described her as "one of the most brilliant teammates and one of the most formidable opponents I have ever met".
Since her retirement from professional football, Alexandra has continued to be an active and vocal figure for women's football, an issue which she has come to champion since her retirement in 2019. Most notably, following the England women's national team's victory at the UEFA Women's Euro 2022, the Queen subsequently reiterated her call for further attention and investment into women's football as a whole, stating, "If winning a single major tournament is all it takes for women's football in England to receive all the media coverage and attention, then they have done so for years now and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, hopefully with renewed interest and attention it so deserves". In addition to this, Alexandra also emerged as a vocal critic of the unsuccessful European Super League project, which she once described as "the rich man's football and one that is both soulless and meritless at its core". Moreover, despite the project reportedly planning to include a women's league alongside the men's, Alexandra herself opined that "regardless of the gender equality pretense behind it, it would be an absolute shame if female footballers are also roped into this disaster of a plan, one that is concocted by a group of greedy businessmen with little to no passion or interest in football itself". Similarly, Culture Secretary Chloe Smith also voiced her public disapproval of the project in conjunction with Prime Minister David Cameron, stating that the European Super League would "kill football as we know it for both men and women". More recently, together with former teammates Leah Williamson and Lotte Wubben-Moy, the Queen vocally called for the British government to both guarantee and expand access to sports, including football, for girls at schools, owing to the longstanding systemic imbalance between boys and girls in terms of access towards sports.
Style of Play
Former Arsenal Women manager Joe Montemurro on Alexandra's speed and versatility
Blessed by an explosive pace, coupled with a relatively short stature and combined with adept dribbling and crossing abilities, Alexandra initially started off as a winger in her early years at Arsenal in support of fellow teammate Ellen White who otherwise mostly served as the principal forward for her team. In this, despite not necessarily playing in her dream position of a center-forward, her rapid pace and adept crosses made her a highly proficient winger with a knack for facing opposition full-backs head-on while also cutting inside into the penalty area. In addition, although naturally left-footed, Alexandra is nonetheless generally adept with either leg and has been deployed on either flank. However, as she later shifted more to the center as a striker or even an attacking midfielder, Alexandra then came to be known more for her creativity in engineering goalscoring chances through a combination of excellent positioning, adept dribbling, and masterful passing. Known for her elaborate and precise crossing abilities, Alexandra cited former England international David Beckham as her main inspiration.
Considered to be one of the best dribblers in the world, Alexandra is highly regarded by many for her ability to easily get past opponents when in possession of the ball via either the elaborate Cruyff turn maneuver or a simple nutmeg with her low center of gravity and strong pair of legs allowing her to easily shift herself and the ball itself into a different spot almost instantly thereby making her a rather difficult player to mark or even dispossess. In addition, Alexandra is also well-known for her quick and precise crosses which proved very useful in setting up attacks from the sides especially given her tendency to occasionally play out wide before drifting inside with the ball akin to an inside forward. Although traditionally left-footed, Alexandra is known to be able to operate effectively on either side in spite of her usually being positioned on the right from where she would mostly cut inwards using her strong foot.
Known for being a primarily deep-lying forward in the style of Johan Cruyff, William Smith, and Harry Kane, Alexandra is highly regarded for her excellent positioning and expansive vision with her movements and positioning often serving to draw opposition center-backs away from their usual positions while also creating chances deep within the midfield area via excellent link-up play with her teammates. In this, a high work-rate saw Alexandra always being on the move around the middle of the pitch keeping an eye on the ball while also scouting potential teammates with whom to form an attacking sequence. In this, Alexandra cited the positioning and off-the-ball movements of Bayern Munich forward Thomas Müller whose widely-renowned tactical intelligence and overall awareness were cited by her as the inspiration behind her own playing style. Nonetheless, aside from her tactical ingenuity, Alexandra is equally known for her goalscoring prowess, being the top all-time goalscorer for Arsenal Women and the Women's Super League, and her simultaneous capability in creating goalscoring opportunities for either herself or her teammates, with former Arsenal Women head coach Joe Montemurro describing Alexandra as "the quintessential all-rounder striker desired by elite teams capable of doing almost everything required" while Arsenal legend Thierry Henry hailed her as an "ingenious creator" and a "consistent goalscoring machine". Similarly, Vivianne Miedema, with whom she established an effective attacking partnership, has also heaped much praise on Alexandra, describing the latter as "highly dependable" and "extremely cooperative", adding, "At times, it does feel like whether consciously or not the two of us just have some sort of a telepathic connection between us since in most cases we both knew exactly where to be, when to move, and most importantly whether a goal was possible from a certain position". Fittingly, the duo, who often alternated between themselves the roles of number 10 and number 9, have been popularly compared to the likes of Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema and Manchester United's William Smith and Wayne Rooney.
Separately, Alexandra has also been noted for her "exemplary sense of professionalism", a trait that she revealed in an interview with ESPN to have been "deeply instilled" in her at a young age by her half-brother, a successful professional footballer himself, adding that the latter also told her that "regardless of how good you are, even if naturally, you would be absolutely nothing and would not get anywhere without a tiny bit of discipline in yourself". Similarly, Alexandra's consistently high work rate has also been a subject of praise, with former Arsenal Women manager Joe Montemurro once stating, "When you consider the fact that as her country's queen, she's also beholden with all these other tasks and duties that she has outside of football, it's just unbelievable and amazing really that she's just consistently putting this much effort in football with little signs of stopping". Similarly, former Arsenal teammate Vivianne Miedema described Alexandra as "the most hardworking and dedicated teammate and striker I've ever seen", adding that "if she (Alexandra) was expected to score goals in a particular match, it is more than likely that she will do and will absolutely not stop in doing so until the time is up".
While not necessarily known to have shared or inherited her half-brother's infamous militaristic leadership style (hence his nickname "The General"), Alexandra has nonetheless received much praise for her great sense of teamwork which, coupled with her general friendliness towards her teammates, helped establish her as a reliable and proficient team player and who particularly excelled in that regard, especially during important matches. Accordingly, by her own admission, Alexandra described herself as "not necessarily someone who can easily and just effortlessly take charge of a huge team in an instant but who, under the right circumstances, can work well with others in times of need". Meanwhile, in a 2019 interview, former Lionesses captain Steph Houghton said, "Of course, throughout the time she was there she was never actually captain in an official sense but if necessary I would say I trust her somewhat as a team captain because in a way she just has that sense of unbroken togetherness that easily brings a disjointed team together".