Fran Kirby

“I want to pave the path as much as possible for the younger girls coming through.”

“A lot of people recognise me now, especially the younger generations, definitely. But it's not that common.”

“We're trying to win a World Cup for our country, and I think everyone who supports football can get behind that.”

“Especially in front of my dad, I don't like being weak. I don't like crying in front of my dad because I don't want to make him cry.”

“We want to be the face of women's football, to encourage young girls to play. If I have to be recognised in the streets to encourage them, I'm happy to do that.”

“I joined the international stage quite late. I didn't do many of the youth age groups, so to come into the senior team and to be offered a Nike deal - a very, very low Nike deal to start with - but I was jumping up to bite the woman's hand off to sign the piece of paper.”

“Obviously when I was younger, when I was three years old, I used to kick a football around in the park or in the garden. I've got loads of videos, pictures of me doing it.”

“I want to make sure I'm a role model for young girls and play the best I can for my team and my country.”

“I want to make my family proud as much as possible.”

“When my mum passed away, I was very young, and I became very introverted and very quiet. I became very anxious about what people thought about me.”

“Ultimately, we need to grow the women's game. That's the biggest issue; it always has been. Then you can talk about equal pay and everything else.”

“Every time I score, I celebrate like the kid I was playing in the park.”

“I've come out of myself as a person at Chelsea and expressed myself on and off the pitch.”

“I've accepted now that it's okay not to be okay. It is okay to be upset, and it is okay to need to talk to someone.”

“That's what all of us want, why we're getting involved in so many campaigns - we want to leave football in a better place than when we came into it.”

“I just remember playing in my school and then getting invited to go along to train with a development squad at Reading. My first training session, the manager said, 'You have to come and play with the academy girls,' so that would probably be my first footballing memory.”

“Women's sport is growing, becoming powerful, and we want to continue to raise that platform for the young girls at home.”

“For me, I want to put football in the best possible way: where the girls play professionally, get the sponsorships they deserve, and set themselves up after football so that they're not struggling and asking themselves what they're going to do.”

“Everything I do is to make mum proud. I'm sure I've done that.”

“I'm very secretive about my feelings, very shy.”