Chloe Kelly's journey from London's football cages to an era-defining winner at Wembley

There is no image more iconic in the canon of English women's football than Chloe Kelly's celebration following her winner in the Euro 2022 final.

Having poked the ball past German goalkeeper Merle Frohms in the final at Wembley, Kelly began to take off. And when she realised the goal was going to stand, she took full flight.

Using the Wembley turf as a runway, she ran around in sheer ecstasy, waving her shirt above her head in a propeller-like fashion, and if it wasn’t for Jill Scott throwing her arms around her to celebrate, she may have actually left the ground.

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That show of unfiltered jubilation made the front and back pages of the newspapers, dominated social media, and made her an overnight star.

But the 27-year-old knows the importance of remaining grounded and credits her footballing upbringing in the cages of Ealing with her five older brothers - Jack, Daniel, Ryan, Jamie and Martin - for making her the player she is today as she looks to do it all again with the Lionesses this summer.

Fighter in a cage

Kelly's football education was forged in the football cages of London that have also given rise to other stars such as Jadon Sancho, Eberechi Eze, and Wilfried Zaha.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Kelly recalls: “It was really competitive. I was always treated like one of them and not differently. Even my brothers' friends would be the same.

“When we see each other now, we have that mutual respect because they helped me get to where I am today. I really appreciate everything they have done for me."

“You had to hold your own against the boys, against players that didn’t respect you when you first walked in there,” she told the Evening Standard. “They definitely do as soon as you leave.”

Loftus lift-off

Kelly wasn’t destined to play in cages forever, and her journey towards professional football began at Queens Park Rangers under the guidance of Steve Quashie at the age of eight and her talent was immediately evident.

On her time at the club, Quashie told the FA website: “I still look at her as being young, sweet Chloe, she is just an older, sweeter Chloe now, but she was always enthusiastic and passionate about QPR.

“She loved the club and came from a strong QPR family, her family were supportive of the club and were just keen to get their daughter involved.

“She attended our girls' development programme as a young eight-year-old and showed her talent then.

“We looked at her and thought she moved the ball well, lovely receiving skills, good technique, good passing, high skill levels.

“I remember the first league game was against Spurs and it was very tight for the first five minutes and then some of our exceptional players started to really show their talent and Chloe was one of them.

“We ended up winning that game comfortably. But that game was the start of our journey at QPR and really confirmed what we thought around her talents.”

Kelly was the only member of Sarina Wiegman’s victorious Euro 2022 squad that started at a current FA Women’s National League club.

Having impressed in West London, Kelly moved to Arsenal’s Centre of Excellence to seek further opportunities, despite the travel involved.

Kelly said: “Arsenal was the other side of London.

"I travelled two hours in a round trip to training but that was the sacrifice I had to make.

“My parents didn't drive so I had to get the train from school. I'd get home at about 10.30-11pm and go back to school the next day!"

Quashie knew Kelly was destined to leave QPR and left with the support of the club.

He said: “I was pleased to see her move on but at the same time, I was sad to see a player of such quality leave the football club.

“She had to move on for personal development because that team was so strong, it needed to be challenged.

“She had our blessing and her dad called me and explained that Chloe had to move on for her career progression.”

Time for Toffees

Aged just 17, Kelly made her Arsenal first team debut in 2015 against Watford and scored after 22 minutes of the Women’s League Cup encounter.

However, Kelly struggled to cement her place in the Arsenal team and after two loan spells at Everton, made the permanent switch to Merseyside in January 2018.

Ten months after moving to the North West, Kelly made her first senior appearance for England in a 3-0 win over Austria in Vienna.

A first senior cap came after representing England at U17, U19 and U20 level and winning a bronze medal at the U20 Women’s World Cup in August 2018, alongside future Lionesses team-mates Lauren Hemp, Georgia Stanway and Alessia Russo.

The forward's breakthrough season turned out to be her last at Everton.

Kelly netted nine times in 11 Women’s Super League games in 2019/20 and after rejecting a new deal at the Toffees, joined Manchester City that summer.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant impact on fixtures, Kelly has the quirky achievement of winning the 2019/20 Women’s FA Cup with Manchester City in November 2020, despite having officially played for Everton during the 2019/20 campaign.

Kelly’s first season in Manchester was going from strength to strength until she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), ruling her out of the rest of the season, the start of the next and the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

She said: “It was tough, but you learn a lot about yourself in those moments, and it’s an opportunity to get better in the gym and learn about your body – where you can push your body to.

“I don’t really think about [body image], to be honest. I train to be a better athlete. I train my body to perform, not to look good but looking good is always a bonus.

“I think being able to perform at the highest level [involves] making sure I’m eating right, drinking right and sleeping well, as well as making sure I’m doing all my recovery possible to perform on the pitch.”

From cages to Wembley

Kelly battled back from her injury setback and duly made Sarina Wiegman’s Euro 2022 squad and reflects upon the impact her goal, and more importantly, her celebration had on girls looking for role-models.

She said: “In the moment, I didn’t realise - but I think it was very powerful. I just celebrated the goal at Wembley as I would when I was a kid playing in the cages.

“It just reminded me of those moments, and I was being myself in that moment. For me, I didn’t realise how much it would do for women but it’s very special that it did.”

“I’ve seen a lot of players and tags on Instagram of players doing the celebration - a Newcastle women’s player did it,” continued Kelly.

“I think it is great to see the impact we have had.

“That celebration for me was just a spontaneous moment and to see it influence so many people is great.

“To be able to be that person for young females today - it’s very special to me because I once looked up to the likes of Kelly Smith and Jill Scott.”

Kelly explained the lack of role-models while growing up made the dream of becoming a professional footballer seem distant.

She added: “It was always a dream to play football. But believing in that dream was quite difficult because there were no professional female players.

“There was never someone I could look up to as being a professional footballer. Only a man. When I turned 18, to be a professional football player was a dream come true.”

She continued to come up trumps at decisive moments for the Lionesses at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia, smashing in the winning penalty in the shoot-out victory over Nigeria in the last 16.

Just as in the Euros the year before, Kelly’s role was that of a substitute and she came off the bench at half-time of England’s first ever World Cup final but couldn’t influence the outcome this time as Spain won 1-0 in Sydney.

Glorious Gunners return

The first half of the 2024/25 proved to be a troubled one for Kelly as she found herself out of favour under manager Gareth Taylor, with her lack of match action putting her place in the Lionesses squad under threat.

She eventually moved back to Arsenal on loan in January and that change proved to be an inspired one for both player and club.

Not long after, she was left out by Wiegman for the start of England’s Nations League campaign, only for an injury to Beth Mead to lead to a recall and a 50th international cap as Spain were this time beaten 1-0 at Wembley.

Kelly’s confidence returned with the Gunners, to the point where she started in their stunning 1-0 win over hot favourites Barcelona in the final of the Women’s Champions League.

Now approaching her best again, having signed a permanent contract with the Gunners, the player who sent a nation into raptures three years ago is primed and ready to hopefully make the difference once more as England embark on their Euros title defence.

Now approaching her best again, having signed a permanent contract with the Gunners, the player who sent a nation into raptures three years ago is primed and ready to hopefully make the difference once more as England embark on their Euros title defence.