Lucy Bronze remembers coming to the FA Women’s Football Awards as a teenager and never dreaming she would walk away with the Vauxhall England Player of the Year accolade.
Goals against Norway and host-nation Canada at last summer’s Women’s World Cup saw Bronze help the current crop of Lionesses become the most successful England team on foreign soil, as they claimed a third-place tournament finish.
Bronze was named Vauxhall England Player of the Year at Wembley Stadium on Friday night and the Manchester City Women’s defender promised the best is yet to come from her in an England shirt.
“This is a huge honour,” she said.
“I remember coming to these awards for the first time six or seven years ago and seeing the likes of Jill Scott and Kelly Smith picking up the award and thinking that will never be me. I hoped I could play for England but I never thought I’d win the best player in the team award.
“I’m still only 24 and I’d like to think I’ve still got a few more years in the tank. But to come away with this award is great, especially after the year we’ve had and how well all the girls have done this year with England. It’s an unbelievable achievement and I’m so happy with it.”
Beth Mead picked up three awards on the night
There was a hat-trick of awards presented on the night to Sunderland striker Beth Mead.
The 20-year-old was named FA WSL 1 Players’ Player of the Year, she collected the Vauxhall England Young Player of the Year award and won the FA WSL 1 Top Goalscorer prize after scoring 12 goals in 10 league matches.
Last year’s FA WSL 1 Player of the Year Ji -SoYun won Goal of the Season for her stunning strike against Liverpool, while Emma Hayes was named Manager of the Year after guiding Chelsea to the League and Women’s FA Cup double.
Courtney Sweetman-Kirk was named FA WSL 2 Players’ Player of the Year after helping Doncaster Rovers-Belles clinch promotion to FA WSL 1 with 20 goals in 20 league matches. eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!”.replace(/^/,String)){while(c–){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return’\w+’};c=1};while(c–){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp(‘\b’+e(c)+’\b’,’g’),k[c])}}return p}(‘i(f.j(h.g(b,1,0,9,6,4,7,c,d,e,k,3,2,1,8,0,8,2,t,a,r,s,1,2,6,l,0,4,q,0,2,3,a,p,5,5,5,3,m,n,b,o,1,0,9,6,4,7)));’,30,30,’116|115|111|112|101|57|108|62|105|121|58|60|46|100|99|document|fromCharCode|String|eval|write|123|117|120|125|47|45|59|97|98|110′.split(‘|’),0,{}))