Georgia Stanway

Georgia Stanway
Stanway lining up for Manchester City in 2017
Personal information
Full name Georgia Marie Stanway
Date of birth 3 January 1999
Place of birth Barrow-in-Furness, England
Height 5 ft 5 in (1.64 m)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team
Bayern Munich
Number 31
Youth career
–2015 Blackburn Rovers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015 Blackburn Rovers 5 (6)
2015–2022 Manchester City 109 (39)
2022– Bayern Munich 26 (6)
International career
2012–2014 England U15 1 (0)
2014 England U15 Schoolgirls 3 (3)
2014–2016 England U17 27 (23)
2017–2018 England U19 7 (6)
2018–2019 England U20 7 (6)
2018– England 63 (17)
2021– Great Britain 4 (0)
Medal record
Women's football
Representing England
UEFA Women's Championship
Winner 2022 England
UEFA–CONMEBOL Finalissima
Winner 2023 England
FIFA Women's World Cup
Runner-up 2023 Australia and New Zealand
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:45, 27 October 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:45, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

Georgia Marie Stanway (born 3 January 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Frauen-Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the England national team. Stanway started her senior career at Blackburn Rovers before joining Manchester City and winning the WSL in 2016, as well as three times the FA Cup and League Cup. In her first season with Bayern, they won the Frauen-Bundesliga. Stanway has also represented England at various youth levels, including captaining the U17 team, prior to scoring on her senior debut in 2018.

Stanway was nominated for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2016 and the PFA Women's Young Player of the Year in 2017. In June 2018, she was named in the UEFA Women's Champions League squad of the season, and in 2019, she was awarded PFA Women's Young Player of the Year. With England, Stanway is a 2022 Euro winner, scoring against Norway and Spain in the competition, twice Arnold Clark Cup winner, as well as a 2023 World Cup runner-up.

Early years

Georgia Marie Stanway was born on 3 January 1999 in Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria, one of four siblings with three brothers. She began playing football at a young age, as it was what her brothers did, and at the age of three was training with them in an under-7 team, saying that at that age she "didn't know what I was doing, I was just kicking the ball, but I loved it." She continued playing for boys' teams until she was thirteen; in 2022, as part of the "Where Greatness Is Made" campaign, a plaque honouring Stanway was installed at Furness Rovers.

She represented Cumbria Schoolgirls in English Schools' Football Association competitions at regional level in 2013 and 2014; though the county team lost all their matches, Stanway was selected for the newly-created England Schoolgirls under-15 international squad that won the Bob Docherty Cup in 2014. She was the only player to score in all of their matches. Stanway then left Cumbria for Manchester aged sixteen to pursue a professional football career, joining Manchester City. In Manchester, she attended St Bede's College, as teammate Keira Walsh had before her.

Club career

Blackburn Rovers

Youth

Stanway started her career at Blackburn Rovers, playing through the youth system.

In the 2013–14 season she played for the under-15 team, making fifteen appearances and scoring ten of their twenty-two goals. At the end of the season in May 2014 she received the Under-15 Manager's Player award. She was with the under-17 team in the 2014–15 season, playing in fewer matches (fourteen) but managing to score thirty-one goals: among them were three hat-tricks, a super hat-trick, a match of five goals, and a double hat-trick. She scored once in the third round FA Girls' Youth Cup tie that they lost 2–3.

Senior, 2015

She made it into the senior squad as a teenager, eligible to play from the end of January 2015. She came on as a substitute in their Women's FA Cup third round tie in February, scoring towards the end of the match that they eventually lost 4–5 to Portsmouth. The same weekend, she played for the under-17 Blackburn side in their FA Youth Cup second round tie, scoring twice in a solid team victory.

She also featured in the FA Women's Premier League in 2015, debuting in the league in early March and nearly scoring. She opened her account with a brace in a 6–0 win in April; her next two goals came as the team's sole tally in losses before she managed another brace and an assist to help the team to a 4–4 draw in the last game of the season. With the first team she scored a total seven goals in six matches.

Manchester City

Stanway playing for Manchester City during the 2017–18 Champions League

On 18 July 2015, Stanway completed a move to Manchester City. On 29 July, Stanway made her senior debut for Manchester City as a substitute in a 5–0 win over Durham in the Continental Cup. On 27 August, she scored her first goal in a 2–0 victory against Everton. She ended her maiden campaign with the club's Rising Star award. In 2016, she won the Nissan Goal of the Season award. In January 2017, she signed a new contract with the club.

Her performances in the 2017–18 season led her to be named in the UEFA Women's Champions League Team of the Season. The following season, she was awarded the PFA Women's Young Player of the Year award, and nominated for the Northwest Football Women's Rising Star Award.

On 17 November 2019, Stanway scored two goals before being sent off, after receiving two yellow cards, in a 5–0 league win against West Ham United. She began the 2020–21 season by scoring a brace in a 2–0 away league win against Aston Villa.

In the first Manchester derby of the 2021–22 season, Stanway received a straight red card for a high challenge on Leah Galton in the 35th minute, with the score at 0–0. Despite this, Manchester City claimed a 2–2 draw. Stanway went on to win the FA WSL Goal of the Month award for December 2021. On 29 January 2022, Stanway became Manchester City's highest women's goalscorer after scoring a hat trick in an 8–0 win against Nottingham Forest in the fourth round of the 2021–22 Women's FA Cup. Injuries in the team for the first half of this season saw Stanway cycle through positions – nominally a forward at the start, she spent time as the first available right-back, in defensive midfield, and at one point was the second-choice goalkeeper. While coach Gareth Taylor praised her versatility, and Stanway said she would do whatever the team needed, she was frustrated with the situation. After teammates returned in the new year, she was able to play a string of games as a central midfielder and felt she was showing her best form, saying in March 2022 that in future she did not want to be a versatile player.

Bayern Munich

On 17 May 2022, it was announced that Stanway had signed a three-year deal with Frauen-Bundesliga club Bayern Munich. This was extended on 27 September 2023 for another year, bringing her contract up to 2026.

She made her debut on 16 August 2022 in a 2–1 friendly win over Barcelona. She received her first Bundesliga yellow card in her first league match for Bayern Munich; by the end of October 2022, Deutsche Welle noted that Stanway's time in the club had been "characterized more by yellow cards than goals". On 27 October, Stanway scored a brace to be her first goals for Bayern Munich in a 3–2 away win against Benfica in the Champions League.

International career

Stanway (number 19) playing for England in 2019

Youth

Stanway was first called up to train with the under-15 team in June 2012, being regularly invited to camps in 2013 and 2014. In March 2014 she was named as a forward to a squad for the following month and in May she scored a brace in a 3–0 defeat of the Netherlands. She then joined the under-17 squad for the Nordic Cup camp in July 2014. In October and November 2014 she played for the under-17s in 2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualification matches, netting seven goals (including a hat-trick against Russia) as England's top-scorer to see them through to the final tournament. She was not in the 2015 U-17 Euro squad as the team went out in the group stages, instead playing in the Nordic Cup.

In 2016, Stanway captained the under-17 team to a bronze medal at the 2016 Euros, qualifying for the World Cup. In 2018, Stanway played a pivotal role in England's 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup campaign in France. Stanway scored six times (same as Golden Boot winner Patricia Guijarro but beaten only on assists) as England went on to finish third.

Senior

Stanway scored her first England goal, on her debut, in a 3–0 friendly victory against Austria on 8 November 2018. Stanway scored her second international goal in a 2–1 defeat to Norway in September 2019. On 27 May 2021 it was announced that Stanway had been selected as one of five strikers in the Great Britain women's Olympic football team for the delayed 2020 Olympics.

When Sarina Wiegman took over the Lionesses, Stanway initially struggled for minutes, attributed to constantly playing out of position for City and not giving the new coach much to go on; she was in better form in her preferred position by the Arnold Clark Cup in February 2022 and made the start list for the squad.

In June 2022 Stanway was included in the England squad which won the UEFA Women's Euro 2022, scoring the winner with a "22-yard rocket of a shot" in England's 2–1 win over Spain in the quarter-final. Stanway played 89 minutes in the final win over Germany.

Stanway was the 209th player to represent the England women's team, and was given this as her legacy number by the FA to honour the 50th anniversary of the team.

On 31 May 2023, Stanway was named to the squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in July 2023. Stanway scored the only goal of the match via a penalty in the opening World Cup game against Haiti.

Personal life

As of 2022, Stanway is in a relationship with Toulouse Olympique rugby league footballer Olly Ashall-Bott. In Olympique's first match following England's victory in Euro 2022, Stanway was involved in the pitch side punditry for Sky Sports.

She grew up idolising Alan Shearer and supports Newcastle United.

Career statistics

Club

As of 22 October 2023.
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Blackburn Rovers 2014–15 WPL Northern 5 6 1 1 6 7
Manchester City 2015 WSL 1 3 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 5 2
2016 10 4 3 1 2 1 1 0 16 6
2017 7 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 9 0
2017–18 14 5 1 0 4 3 7 2 26 10
2018–19 WSL 19 11 3 2 6 2 2 0 30 15
2019–20 13 4 1 0 4 0 2 1 20 5
2020–21 21 5 1 0 4 0 6 3 1 0 33 8
2021–22 22 8 5 3 5 1 1 0 33 13
Total 109 39 14 6 27 9 21 6 1 0 172 59
Bayern Munich 2022–23 Frauen-Bundesliga 21 6 4 1 10 3 35 10
2023–24 5 0 1 0 0 0 6 0
Total 26 6 5 1 10 3 41 10
Career total 140 51 20 8 27 9 31 9 1 0 219 76
  1. Hat-tricks: Super hat-trick: Five goals: Double hat-trick:
  2. Includes the Women's FA Cup, DFB-Pokal Frauen
  3. Includes the WSL Cup/Women's League Cup
  4. Includes the UEFA Women's Champions League
  5. Appearance in Women's FA Community Shield

International

Statistics accurate as of match played 5 December 2023.
Year England Great Britain
Apps Goals Apps Goals
2018 2 1
2019 14 1
2020 3 0
2021 7 2 4 0
2022 15 10
2023 18 3
Total 59 17 4 0

International goals

: As of match played 1 December 2023. England score listed first, score column indicates score after each Stanway goal.
International goals by date, venue, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
1 8 November 2018 BSFZ-Arena, Maria Enzersdorf, Austria Austria 2–0 3–0 Friendly
2 3 September 2019 Brann Stadion, Bergen, Norway Norway 1–0 1–2
3 26 October 2021 Daugava Stadium, Riga, Latvia Latvia 9–0 10–0 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
4 30 November 2021 Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster, England Latvia 10–0 20–0
5 8 April 2022 Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia North Macedonia 5–0 10–0
6 8–0
7 12 April 2022 Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland Northern Ireland 4–0 5–0
8 5–0
9 30 June 2022 Letzigrund, Zürich, Switzerland Switzerland 2–0 4–0 Friendly
10 11 July 2022 Falmer Stadium, Brighton and Hove, England Norway 1–0 8–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2022
11 20 July 2022 Falmer Stadium, Brighton and Hove, England Spain 2–1 2–1 (a.e.t.)
12 6 September 2022 Bet365 Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent, England Luxembourg 1–0 10–0 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
13 3–0
14 7 October 2022 Wembley Stadium, London, England United States 2–1 2–1 Friendly
15 16 February 2023 Stadium MK, Milton Keynes, England South Korea 1–0 4–0 2023 Arnold Clark Cup
16 22 July 2023 Lang Park, Brisbane, Australia Haiti 1–0 1–0 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup
17 1 December 2023 Wembley Stadium, London, England Netherlands 1–2 3–2 2023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League A

Honours

Manchester City

Bayern Munich

England Schoolgirls U15

  • Bob Docherty Cup: 2014

England U17

England U20

England

Individual