Alex Greenwood

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Alex Greenwood (born 7 September 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays for Women's Super League club Manchester City and the England national team. Primarily a left-sided defender, she plays as both a centre-back and a left-back. Greenwood is noted for her tackling, positional play and passing. She is a set-piece exponent, especially when a left-footed player is needed, who often takes penalties, free kicks and corners.

Greenwood has previously played for Olympique Lyonnais in the French Division 1 Féminine as well as English clubs Manchester United, Liverpool, Notts County and Everton where she began her career. She has played for the England national football team since 2014 and was named the FA Women's Young Player of the Year in 2012. In the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, she was one of the outstanding players of the tournament as England reached the final.
Greenwood made her 100th Manchester City appearance in a Super league game against Chelsea on the 8th October 2023, she subsequently was shown a red card in this game for a ‘second bookable offence’.

Club career

Everton (2010–2014)
Bootle-born Greenwood joined Everton at the age of six, initially through weekly training sessions at the club's former youth academy site at Netherton and she then progressed through the club's Centre of Excellence from the age of eight to sign a professional contract with the club. On 5 August 2010, a month before her 17th birthday, she made her first team debut in a 2010–11 UEFA Women's Champions League qualification round match against Faroese club KÍ. Everton won 6–0 win. Two days later, in the same competition, Greenwood scored a penalty in the 80th minute as Everton defeated Macedonian team FK Borec 10–0.

Everton's longstanding left-back Rachel Unitt signed for Birmingham City after 2011 FA WSL, the inaugural season of WSL, and Greenwood replaced her for 2012 FA WSL. During the season, she played for England's under-19 team at the 2012 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship in Turkey. In November, she was named FA Young Player of the Year at The Football Association Women's Football Awards.

Greenwood played in Everton's 2–0 defeat by Arsenal in the 2013–14 FA Women's Cup final. Despite reaching the cup final, Everton were relegated at the end of 2014 FA WSL. Greenwood requested a transfer to protect her national team place ahead of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. Ahead of 2015 FA WSL, she signed for Notts County on a two-year contract for an undisclosed transfer fee. The move disappointed Everton who wanted Greenwood to leave on loan and come back if they were promoted again.

Notts County (2015) and Liverpool (2016–2017)
Greenwood spent only one season, 2015 FA WSL, with Notts County and she did take part in the 2015 World Cup. In January 2016, she joined Liverpool. She scored in each of the three seasons spanning her two-year spell with Liverpool. Her first goal was a penalty against Sunderland. At the end of 2017–18 FA WSL, having made 44 appearances and scored six goals, Liverpool released her.

Manchester United (2018–2019)

On 13 July 2018, it was announced that Greenwood was joining Manchester United and would captain the team in its inaugural season. She made her competitive debut for them in a 1–0 League Cup victory over her former club Liverpool on 19 August.

On 20 September, she made her Championship debut in a 3–0 win against Sheffield United. On 18 November, she scored her first goal for Manchester United with a penalty spot in a 5–0 away win at Crystal Palace. Under her leadership, Manchester United won the Championship and gained promotion to the FA WSL in their debut season.

Olympique Lyonnais (2019–2020)
On 4 August 2019, Manchester United announced they had agreed a deal for the transfer of Greenwood to French Division 1 Féminine team Olympique Lyonnais, 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.

On 30 August 2020, Greenwood made her first Champions League appearance since 2010, entering as a stoppage time substitute for Eugénie Le Sommer as Lyon beat Wolfsburg 3–1 in the final. 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 (2020–)
On 9 September 2020, Greenwood returned to England, signing a three-year contract with Manchester City following the expiration of her Lyon contract. One of her first games was the 2019–20 Women's FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium on 1 November 2020. City defeated Everton 3–1.

In the second match of the 2023–24 Women's Super League season, when Manchester City Women met Chelsea Women at the Joie Stadium, Greenwood received two yellow cards and was sent off in the 38th minute by referee Emily Heaslip. The first card was for a foul but the second was for time-wasting after Greenwood spent 26 seconds taking a free kick. Before the start of the season, referees had been ordered to clamp down on time-wasting but Heaslip's decision was controversial and invoked comments such as "ridiculous" and "shocking".

International career

Greenwood captained England at youth level and played at the 2012 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship. Senior national team coach Mark Sampson selected her for the 2014 Cyprus Cup, where she made her debut against Italy on 5 March 2014. She scored her first goal for England in September 2014 in a 10–0 win against Montenegro.

At the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, youngest member of the squad Greenwood shared England's left-back duties with Claire Rafferty. She won a bronze medal when the team beat Germany in the third place play-off. Although she was the youngest member of the squad, Greenwood was England's best left-footed exponent in dead-ball situations.

In 2019, Greenwood was part of the England team that won the SheBelieves Cup in the United States. Later that year, Greenwood was selected as part of England's World Cup squad. As part of England's social-media facing squad announcement, her name was announced by singer Olly Murs. On 23 June, Greenwood scored England's third goal in the 3–0 round of 16 win against Cameroon as England went on to finish fourth.

Greenwood was a member of the England squad that won UEFA Women's Euro 2022. She was allotted 184 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England's inaugural international. Greenwood first captained England during an Arnold Clark Cup 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.

On 31 May 2023, Greenwood was included in the squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup taking place in Australia and New Zealand in July and August that year. Wearing the number 5 shirt, Greenwood played on the left side of England's back three with Jess Carter (right) and Millie Bright (centre). She played in all seven of England's matches and has been recognised as one of the most outstanding players in the tournament. Writing for BBC Sport, former international Karen Bardsley said Greenwood was "tremendous" both in defence and in possession of the ball. Praising Greenwood's positional play, her tackling and above all her defence-splitting passes, Bardsley rated Greenwood and Amanda Ilestedt as the tournament's two best centre backs. England reached the final but lost 1–0 to Spain. Play was held up for several minutes in the second half after Greenwood suffered a deep cut below her right eyebrow; she continued after lengthy treatment with her head bandaged.

Personal life
Greenwood was born and grew up in Bootle and attended St Monica's RC Primary School, Bootle. She joined Everton aged six, initially for weekly training sessions at the club's former youth academy site at Netherton, whilst playing for local junior teams and then progressed through the club's Centre of Excellence from the age of eight to sign her first professional contract with the club. Greenwood was brought up supporting Merseyside rivals Liverpool and admired Jamie Carragher and Rachel Unitt. She also attended Savio Salesian College in Bootle. Greenwood is in a relationship with ex-professional footballer Jack O'Connell. 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.

As part of the "Where Greatness Is Made" campaign, a plaque honouring Greenwood was installed at Northfield Sports Association in Bootle in September 2022. In October 2022, Greenwood was honoured with the creation by artist John Culshaw of a mural, at 320 Stanley Road, in the centre of her home town of Bootle which is within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, to commemorate her part in Euro 2022. Greenwood commented: "It’s really important for me to be able to send a message to young girls in my area that anything is possible".

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours
Manchester United
FA Women's Championship: 2018–19

Olympique Lyonnais
Trophée des Championnes: 2019
Division 1 Féminine: 2019–20
Coupe de France: 2019–20
UEFA Women's Champions League: 2019–20

Manchester City
Women's FA Cup: 2019–20
FA WSL Cup: 2021–22

England

FIFA Women's World Cup runner-up: 2023; third place: 2015
UEFA Women's Championship: 2022
Women's Finalissima: 2023
Cyprus Cup: 2015
SheBelieves Cup: 2019
Arnold Clark Cup: 2022, 2023

Individual
FA Young Player of the Year: 2012
PFA WSL Team of the Year: 2015–16, 2021–22, 2022–23
Freedom of the City of London (announced 1 August 2022)
Freedom of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton: 19 October 2023

References

External links

Profile - Personal website
Profile at the Olympique Lyonnais website

1993 births
Living people
Footballers from Bootle
English women's footballers
Women's association football defenders
Everton F.C. (women) players
Notts County L.F.C. players
Liverpool F.C. Women players
Manchester United W.F.C. players
Olympique Lyonnais Féminin players
Manchester City W.F.C. players
Women's Super League players
Division 1 Féminine players
England women's youth international footballers
England women's under-23 international footballers
England women's international footballers
2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players
UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players
2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players
UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players
2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players
UEFA Women's Championship-winning players
English expatriate women's footballers
English expatriate sportspeople in France
Expatriate women's footballers in France