Arsenal’s Beth Mead Wins 2022 BBC Women’s Footballer Of The Year Award

The top scorer and player of the tournament at UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, Arsenal’s Beth Mead has won the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year Award after a public vote on the BBC website placed her ahead of Chelsea striker Sam Kerr, in second place, and Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas in third.

Established in 2015, the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year Award is given to the best women’s player in the calendar year. Six finalists are shortlisted by an unnamed group of women’s soccer experts before a winner is selected in a public vote of fans from all over the world. Mead finished ahead of the top scorer in the Barclays Women’s Super League, Australia’s Sam Kerr who finished in second place, the Ballon D’Or winner, Alexia Putellas in third place, Germany’s Alexandra Popp, who like Mead also scored six goals at UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, and Wendie Renard, the captain of France and the Champions League winners, Olympique Lyonnais.

On receiving the award from England’s record goalscorer Ellen White, Mead spoke of the how she has been inspired by her mum, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2021. “I think right now of the strength that my mum off the pitch has given me,” she said. “It’s been a difficult year for my family, and for her individually, so she has been incredible. I’ve just been playing football while she’s been battling one of the hardest diseases that is known to anyone, so my biggest motivation is just my mum.”

Mead succeeds her current partner and Arsenal team-mate Vivianne Miedema who won the award last year. British-based players have dominated the eight editions of the award since it was introduced in 2015 with Nigerian Asisat Oshoala winning it while playing in the Women’s Super League. She was succeeded by Scotland’s Kim Little, a current team-mate of Mead at Arsenal. England’s Lucy Bronze won the award in 2018 and 2020.

Mead has enjoyed a glorious year playing for the Lionesses, who won their first-ever international trophy this summer defeating Germany at Wembley Stadium in the UEFA Women’s Euro Final. Mead was the top scorer in the finals and voted as the Player of the Tournament. Her six goals in July meant she had scored 20 international goals in the 2021/22 season, smashing a 61-year old England record held by the legendary Jimmy Greaves, who scored 13 international goals during the 1961/62 campaign.

This season, she has picked up where she left off in the summer, with three goals and three assists in the opening matches of the Barclays Women’s Super League and two goals in Arsenal’s 5-1 annihilation of European champions Lyon on their own ground. Her club boss, Jonas Eidevall heaped praise on her last month. “Looking back, she of course had a very strong season, both at club and international level. I think she has started this season in a very good way as well, which shows that it’s not form, it’s consistency. It’s her ability to perform at this level, which is so important, to have players like that.”

“I know the goals and assists that Beth Mead provides, they are absolutely world-class, but I also see other things in her as a person and as a player that are so valuable for us. When you see her reactions when we are losing the ball or there are second-ball situations, for me, she is the fastest player that I’ve ever had the privilege to coach.”

“As a person, it’s the energy that Beth provides. It’s one thing when you have success and you get carried away with your success. She does not. For me, Beth Mead provides exactly the same energy and motivation into the squad as she did when I came in July last year. For all the success she has had during that period, it hasn’t changed anything. She’s still as hard-working, she’s still as humble, she’s still as much of a great person to have in the squad as before and that is also a characteristic which I put a lot of value to.”

It’s an opinion shared by England captain and Arsenal team-mate Leah Williamson who added “I’ve known Beth for a long time, since she was young. I’ve looked up to her, playing alongside her for Arsenal and England has been a pleasure. She’s got a big heart, she’s very sociable, always trying to make everyone laugh, and keep the mood lifted regardless of what she’s going through as a person.”

Currently in a relationship with Miedema, Mead has recently spoken about her concern over the men’s World Cup being played in Qatar, a country which explicitly prohibits consensual same-sex sexual acts between men. Speaking on the BBC Woman’s Hour last week, Mead said, “from the minute it was announced, I thought it’s not the best idea. Obviously, the way they think and how they go is the complete opposite to what I believe and respect. Although, I’m cheering for the boys who are going to play football there, I still don’t think it’s the right place but unfortunately money talks. . . It’s not an ideal situation. It’s not something I will be backing or promoting, at all.”