Millie Bright Women’s World Cup 2023: Everything you need to know about the footballer and former horse rider who grew up in Yorkshire ahead of England vs Spain World Cup final

The Lionesses have sailed through to the World Cup finals hosted in Australia and will be playing against Spain on Sunday, August 20 at 11am.

Millie Bright plays as a defender for Chelsea and the England national team and previously played for Doncaster Belles and Leeds Ladies. She represented England on the under-19 and under-23 national teams.

She was named Vauxhall England Young Player of the Year in 2016 and won three league titles in 2015, 2017-18 and 2019-20 with the Chelsea team, as well as the 2015 and 2017-18 FIFA Women’s Cup.

Early life and career of Millie Bright

The 29-year-old was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire and during her youngest years she was an avid horse rider.

As a baby, she developed pneumonia and as a result spent part of her early childhood in the hospital with asthma.

When she was a child she attended Sheffield Road School and Killamarsh Junior School, then Eckington School. Millie started playing football when she was nine years old and after observing a friend play for Killamarsh Dynamos, a local team in Sheffield, she decided to join.

Sheffield United later picked her to join the academy team until the age of 16 before she moved on to Doncaster Rovers Belles from 2009 to 2015.

Millie Bright’s local football career

Millie was described by the club as “a tall, powerful, athletic striker with a good eye for goal,” and made her Belles debut as a substitute against Watford at the Keepmoat Stadium in August 2009.

She scored her first goal in the following month’s 5-0 FA Women’s Premier League Cup win at Leeds City Vixens and was awarded a contract for the inaugural 2011 season of the FA WSL, making five substitute appearances.

By her own choice, she went on loan to Leeds United in their 2011-12 FA Women’s Premier League season and debuted on her 18th birthday and scored a goal after entering play as a substitute.

Millie returned to Doncaster after she had developed into a regular first team starter.

She signed with Chelsea in December 2014 ahead of the 2015 season; Millie made 14 appearances for Chelsea during the 2015 season and was named Chelsea Players’ Player of the Year by her teammates.

The team qualified for the 2016-17 UEFA Women’s Champions League for the second time in its history.

During the 2016 season, she was a starting defender in 15 games that she played and scored a goal in the team’s 5-0 win against Sunderland.

Millie was Chelsea’s starting left-side defender for the 2017 FA WSL Spring Series and helped lead the defensive line to yield only five goals in all competitions. She scored two goals during attacking set-pieces against Bristol and Arsenal and the team won the Spring Series with a 8-6-1 record.

She signed a new three-year contract with Chelsea in August 2018.

International football career

Along with representing England for various youth national teams such as the under-19 and under-23 national team squads, Millie also represented the country on the senior national team.

She scored a penalty kick goal against the US during the final game of the Nordic Cup in June 2016 and earned her first cap for the senior England national team in September 2016, as a last-minute substitute in a 2-0 win against Belgium.

Millie was cherry-picked to represent England at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup hosted by France in May 2019. She played in two of the three group matches and in the Round of 16, quarter final and semi final.

She was included in the England team which won UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and was allotted 197 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England’s inaugural international.

As part of the ‘Where Greatness Is Made’ campaign, a plaque was introduced in 2022 at the Killamarsh Dynamos club honouring Millie and the work she has done.

Millie was chosen for the squad for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in May 2023 which began in July and following Leah Williamson’s injury, she was named interim captain for the tournament.

On August 16, 2023 during the semi final against Australia, Millie assisted one of the three goals that got England into its first World Cup final.

As part of the ‘Where Greatness Is Made’ campaign, a plaque was introduced in 2022 at the Killamarsh Dynamos club honouring Millie and the work she has done.