Who is Beth Mead? Everything you need to know

In the space of 12 months, few footballers can match the rapid turnaround Beth Mead enjoyed between 2021 and 2022.

Despite being a key player for a number of seasons at Arsenal, Mead was a surprise omission from the Team GB squad at the Tokyo Olympics.

Only a year later, she was the toast of England, becoming a top scorer as the Lionesses became European Champions for the very first time. Let’s take a look at Beth Mead’s story so far…

Beth Mead: Her career so far

Like fellow England internationals Jordan Nobbs, Steph Houghton and Jill Scott, Mead began her career with Sunderland, although she was born a little further south in Whitby, North Yorkshire.

Originally at Middlesbrough’s academy, Mead was scouted after scoring a hat-trick against Sunderland in the space of seven minutes.

In her very first season at Sunderland, Mead, playing as a forward scored 23 goals in 23 games – a sign of things to come. She would end the 2015 season with 12 goals, becoming the youngest ever winner of the WSL golden boot.

As Mead later revealed to FourFourTwo, her goalscoring prowess was helped with daily advice from Jermaine Defoe, during his spell with the Sunderland men’s side. With the two teams sharing a canteen, daily conversations between the two would help Mead’s development further.

Regarded as one of the Black Cats best ever players, Mead would move to Arsenal in 2017. Her spell in North London would see Mead move away from purely being a central striker, instead playing wide in a front three.

At the end of her first full season, Mead won the League Cup and was named England’s Young Player of the Year, having won her first cap against Wales in April 2018.

Mead, who is number 28 in FourFourTwo's best current players list became an England regular in 2019, helping the Lionesses to a first SheBelieves Cup title, with goals against Brazil and Japan.

By the time the World Cup rolled around later that year in France, manager Phil Neville considered Mead a vital player.

Although England were knocked out in the semi-finals by old powerhouse the USA, Mead was excellent throughout, making multiple assists and was later named England Player of the Year. In 2019 Mead claimed her first WSL title as Arsenal finished seven points clear of Manchester City.

Despite another strong season in 2020/21, Mead was left out of the Team GB squad for that summer’s Olympic Games. The British side eventually went out in the quarter-finals.

But the disappointment of that would fuel her superb response the next season. In devastating form for Arsenal, Mead scored 12 goals and was the top assist provider in the league.

This time there were no doubts over Mead’s involvement in the summer international tournament. The forward started every game of England’s sensation run to Euros glory on home soil, scoring six goals along the way to win the Golden Boot.

Accolade after accolade would quickly follow. Mead won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year and was the first female footballer to do so. She also claimed the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year and England Player of the Year.

The best year of her career on the pitch would also eventually prove the toughest one off it. In October 2022, Mead revealed her mother June’s terminal ovarian cancer diagnosis, June sadly passing away three months later.

Having been in the form of her life, Mead then suffered a ruptured ACL against Manchester United in November 2022. Coincidentally, her partner and then-teammate Vivianne Miedema picked up the same injury.

The injury would of course mean missing the 2023 World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand, awful timing that left many wondering what difference Mead might have made.

It took 11 months, but Mead would eventually return for Arsenal, fittingly in a 2-1 win over Aston Villa in the WSL.