Chloe Kelly branded ‘cocky' by furious Spanish but Lionesses hero lands huge pay day

Telegraph

5 days ago

Her celebrations were branded 'cocky' and 'unnecessary' by a section of the Spanish press bitter at the world champions' shock European Championship final defeat. But Chloe Kelly will be paying scant attention to such critics as her winning penalty secured 'national treasure' status and likely millions in sponsorship deals as one of British sport's most marketable women.
Experts anticipate expected earnings to double to £4m a year and an honour from the King appears likely too. After her winning penalty against Spain, Telegraph Sport details how the party has only just begun for the Lionesses' penalty heroine.
What was Kelly's message after she struck the deciding penalty?
After smashing home the crucial decider, Kelly appeared to initially fix her eyes on goalkeeper Cata Coll with a blank face as she wheeled away before joyous England scenes erupted. Spanish outlet Diario AS claimed Kelly 'unnecessarily' diverted her path after smashing the ball past Coll. 'This is unnecessary,' a video caption said. 'Kelly's cocky gesture to Cata Coll after scoring the decisive penalty. The England specialist changed her run during her penalty celebration to get past the goalkeeper she had just beaten.'
Offence taken in Spain at her antics, however, appears to have been misplaced. Rather than rubbing salt into Spanish wounds, she said later she was instead making a point about overcoming her own doubters. The Arsenal forward had been left out of the England squad in January after spending the first half of the 2024-25 season on the bench for Manchester City but she had every reason to be feeling satisfied now. 'Champions League final – won that – and now a Euros final – won that,' she said in a post-match press conference. 'So thank you everyone that wrote me off, I'm very grateful.'
🗣 "I was cool, I was composed and I knew I'd hit the back of the net!" ⚽💥
Chloe Kelly delivered once again for England 😮‍💨 #WEuro2025 #BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/QwtKULGvSv
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 27, 2025
Kelly's smile later was as wide as anyone's in Switzerland. She had been swaggering throughout the subsequent joyous scenes shouting 'f------ come on' at the camera immediately after being congratulated by the Prince of Wales and handed her medal by Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, and then skipping round the pitch while chanting 'the first time was so nice, we had to do it twice!'.
How did others react?
Unlike the Spanish, England fans have not been able to get enough of Kelly's self-assured celebrations after her latest super-sub performance, having already chipped in with match-winning goals at the last Euros as well as this summer's semi-final and a match-winning performance in this year's quarter-final. Lisa Parfitt, co-founder of the sports marketing agency the Space Between, described how Kelly's comments on the night showed how the Lionesses 'really embody very relatable roles'. Kelly, she said: 'Had a very clear message, 'this is what's happened to me, and so don't let that happen to you'.'
It is the 'authentic' behaviours of 'relatable' figures like Kelly that give the Lionesses such broad brand appeal, Parfitt, a leading women's sport expert, explains. The brands are just as excited as the fans by Kelly's charisma. Google Pixel, Pepsi and M&S are amongst leading partners for the team because of the 'bottom-line impact' of athletes such as Kelly who bring 'visibility and awareness' in 'everything that they really stand for' Parfitt adds.
What will this mean for her bank balance?
Kelly will be the most in-demand sporting star in British sport this week – and will be soon 'out-sprinting' 800m Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson in earnings, other experts say.
Like the rest of the England squad, she will each receive £87,000 in bonuses and fees from Uefa prize money. However, extra endorsements will be worth millions.
'Chloe Kelly's management agency will need to be employing extra people to manage the phones this week,' Marcel Knobil, of BrandGuru and founder of Superbrands, told Telegraph Sport. 'Kelly has already managed to earn a top-10 place within sponsorship earnings amongst English female footballers, thanks to partnerships with the likes of Land Rover and Calvin Klein earning her in the region of £2m annually. However, on the back of her magnificent achievements, I can easily see her close to doubling her earnings and matching the likes of Leah Williamson with net earnings of around £4m.'
Kelly has some way to match the figure generated by Emma Raducanu following her 2021 US Open tennis triumph. 'She'll probably be out-sprinting Keely Hodgkinson in earnings, but I can't imagine her reaching the huge amounts that popular tennis players earn such as the estimated £9m Emma Raducana will take home this year.'
Will she be honoured?
Kelly is all-but-certain to receive an honour – either an MBE or OBE – after previously missing out on one after the 2022 triumph, sources say. She will also be certain to be shortlisted along with Hannah Hampton for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year as one of the main rivals to Masters golf winner Rory McIlroy. Kelly is unlikely to be alone amongst Lionesses to receive their gongs at Buckingham Palace. UK Government officials are set to make contact with counterparts in the Netherlands over the coming weeks to secure approval to hand head coach, Sarina Wiegman, an honorary damehood. With some England players receiving MBEs or OBEs after first winning the Euros in 2022 and reaching the 2023 World Cup final, the likes of Kelly, Alessia Russo, Ella Toone, Alex Greenwood and Jess Carter did not.
Successive government clampdowns on 'blanket' sporting honours have played a part in some of those star names being kept waiting. Only 41 athletes who took part in Paris 2024 were honoured in the New Year, despite Team GB and Paralympics GB winning 189 medals (63 gold) across both Games. That number is close to half the 78 Olympians and Paralympians awarded an MBE, OBE, CBE, knighthood or damehood three years ago after 188 medals (63 gold) were brought home from Tokyo 2020. There was a previous clampdown when the Conservatives were in power amid concerns too many sporting honours had been issued under the last Labour government, most notably to all members of England's 2003 Rugby World Cup and 2005 Ashes-winning teams.
How will the other Lionesses' benefit?
A widespread bounce in business for the Lionesses – and for the growth of women's football in England – is guaranteed. Parfitt described how the leading players – Kelly included – are fast reaching 'national treasure' status, but she added that there is also now a 'bottom line' justification for a wider player range than ever attracting big branding deals.
'You're probably looking at not shy of about 20 million women's football fans in the population now – it was 17 million at the last count ... it's representing a really massive audience scale, and that's really where the opportunity lies for the Lionesses.'
Players in the squad after back-to-back success are now proven as 'particularly unique' assets for business, added Parfitt, who is in close contact with player agents and figures in the game. 'They have such a broad demographic appeal,' she added. 'When you're talking about, you know, the weekend, you're talking about age bands, people watching from four to 104 – they have this unique cross-generational reach.'
Parfitt says the legacy of this tournament for England will be 'a much-broader share of the commercial returns across players and teams'.
'Coming out of 2022, you have people like Jill Scott, Leah Williamson and Chloe Kelly,' she said. 'Whereas this time, I think you've got a broader number of players, and that's great for brands. That's more players that you can work with, different people that you can kind of choose to work with as a brand. And I think the reason why they're going to do very well is that it works for the bottom line for these businesses: they sell things.'