I’ve been watching the nail biting group stages of the this year’s Euro’s 2025. It’s been high drama so far – England’s Lionesses lost the first match to France 2-1 (after a Russo goal was declared offside by a sliver of an inch), the first championship defending side to lose the opening match at the subsequent tournament. So that was a big blow to begin with, but then the team rallied in spectacular form and went on to defeat the Netherlands 4-0, and then play a Home Countries match against Wales, where England won 6-1 to advance out of the group stages.
“This was about showing who we are […] we fought from the very first minute until the very last” – Stanway on England’s victory over the Netherlands following the defeat against France.
As the Lionesses are through to the quarter-finals of the Euros 2025, and are set to play Sweden on Thursday night, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at a player from just down the road: Georgia Stanway. Stanway plays in midfield for the Lionesses, and is known for her quick runs, aggressive tackles (which sometimes get her into trouble!), and – when she gets the opportunity – some spectacular sharp shooting.
Stanway was born in Barrow-In-Furness in 1999, and began her football career young. She was one of four siblings, with three brothers, started playing football because that was what they did, at age 3 training with JP (her older brother) in an under-7 team.
“I don’t think [parents] realised what I was like and that I was going to kick a few shins and cause a few problems.” – Georgia Stanway
She continued playing for Furness Rovers Boys team until she was 13, as well as also playing county cricket for Cumbria at under-13 and under-17 level. She’s said that she came from a sporty family, and it was taken for granted that she would play some kind of sport, whatever it was, but that it was football that she fell in love with.
She was then selected for the newly created England Schoolgirls under-15 international squad, and was the only player to score in all of their matches, as well as joining Blackburn’s centre of excellence after badgering her parents to take her. This was a 145 mile around trip that was made at least three times a week. Stanway talks about how grateful she is to her parents for doing this for her, as it was such a time commitment from them as they both worked full time.
At club level, age 16 and after taking her GCSE’s, Georgia signed to Manchester City and moved to Manchester, staying with a host family. She stayed with City for seven years, but most recently she has signed to Bayern-Munich, where she will stay until at least 2026.
In International Football, in June 2022 she was included in the England squad which went on to win the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, scoring the winner in England’s 2-1 win over Spain in the quarter finals. Stanway played 89 minutes in the final with Germany, which saw England win 2-1 after extra time. She was selected for the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 squad, despite suffering a knee injury in the previous season, which limited her minutes leading up to the tournament.
Women’s football has been going from strength to strength, bringing in ever larger crowds and (thankfully) larger pay packets for the players. It’s nowhere near on parity with men’s football as yet, but as the profile of the women’s game continues to grow (the current tournament is being aired on BBC 1&2 and ITV 1, something that would have been unheard of even five years ago), hopefully these talented ladies, Georgia from Cumbria included, will get the profile and remuneration they deserve. As for me, I’ll be avidly watching the game on Thursday night against Sweden, and hoping that we can do the double and walk away with the title in a few matches time!
If you liked this article and would like to receive more updates, please subscribe for free below to get weekly updates on fabulous things to do, people, places, events, and hidden secrets from around the North!