'Kelly is more than the next Beckham' - the Lioness shifting the culture

BBC News

4 days ago

With a hop, skip and a thwack, Chloe Kelly scored the winning penalty in the Euro 2025 final - and shifted the culture of English football.Not that this is anything new for Kelly, who over the past three years has been at the centre of the Lionesses' explosion into the public consciousness.In the Euro 2022 final, she scored the winning goal before celebrating by twirling her shirt aloft with sports bra on display. Kelly was praised for empowering women, and embodying how the Lionesses are inspirations for current and future generations of girls.The 2025 final was different. While Kelly was praised for spending time with the mascot at the medal ceremony, chatting with and hugging the young girl, she then turned to the camera after getting her award and mouthed a sweary celebration.Spanish media outlet AS meanwhile was annoyed with Kelly for supposedly mocking keeper Cata Coll after scoring the winning spot-kick. "This is unnecessary, my friend," ran the headline., externalThat is the Lionesses of 2025, spearheaded by Kelly - inspirational yes, but also arrogant in the way of all champions, icons not only for their gender, but also for their immense sporting ability.Kelly is well-known among team-mates for being the personification of the modern Lionesses."She seems to thrive on those moments when the team needs her to pull a performance out of the bag," said England defender Esme Morgan.And that could mark a tonal shift in how the Lionesses are perceived culturally, according Nicola Kemp, editorial director of marketing company Creativebrief."This is a real watershed moment for football marketing," Kemp told BBC Sport. "Kelly has passion and audacity on the pitch, that can be matched with commercial cut through - I expect more investment."Brands want to play in culture, and Kelly is at the centre of this incredible cultural shift in women's football."
Shinpads and power penalties: Kelly is a branding dream
Kelly is a marketer's dream in so many ways. On the pitch, she provided game deciding contributions in all of England's Euro 2025 knock-out matches - her crosses led to both goals against Sweden, she bagged the winner versus Italy, and she assisted Russo's equaliser in the final. And that's before you get to the winning penalty.Off the pitch, she is popular with fans - topping the BBC Sport audience ratings against Sweden and Spain - while she went viral during the quarter-final after TV cameras showed her taping up her shin-pads.One featured her kissing her husband Scott Moore on their wedding day. The other had an image of their pet dogs."Otis and Rolo at the wedding in their little tuxes are on one shinpad and me and Scotty at the wedding are on the other which is really nice - bringing my life off the pitch with me on the pitch," Kelly said before the final."They are my dogs but they are people to me, they are my little boys with me along the journey, and of course Scott who is with me in the ups and downs."It was their wedding anniversary during the Euros. She said roses were provided in her room at the England camp, while they were able to spend a few hours by the Swiss lakes together.That, according to Kemp, is just as important to brands as the penalty Kelly smashed home at 68mph in Basel."It is wonderful to see her on the front of every newspaper, but it is almost bigger than that," she said."It is tempting to say Chloe Kelly is the next David Beckham, but this is more than that - this is an entire new playbook, a new movement."
'We create an impossible stereotype for female footballers'
Kelly is a proud, cocky footballer unafraid to celebrate her tournament-winning penalty with a self-assured shrug to the fans."She has been doing it week in, week out and she's just got this attitude and this confidence that I don't think you can buy," England team mate Lucy Bronze said before the final.Kelly celebrates her London roots, her close family in which she is the youngest of seven siblings, and her love of hip-hop.Speaking to Romesh Ranganathan on Radio 2,, external Kelly said: "I just love listening to music. My mum always had the radio on, then being from west London, I support people from my area like AJ Tracey, I enjoy listening to his music. He's a friend of mine. It's really nice to see west London doing great in the music industry now."Kelly is also unafraid to speak her mind. In February, Sarina Wiegman left Kelly out of her squad for Nations League games against Portugal and Spain. At the time, she had not played any football since mid-December, having fallen out of favour at former club Manchester City.She secured a loan to childhood team Arsenal, having posted emotional messages to social media saying she "wanted to be happy again" while accusing City of planting negative stories about her in the media. The club never commented publicly about Kelly's remarks.Kelly has not been shy about revealing she nearly quit football altogether."I'm really proud looking back on the journey," she said. "It was a tough one to start with. Thinking about giving up the game that we all love is really difficult but sometimes you need to look after your mental health and that was really important to me."After Euro 2022, the Lionesses were held up as the perfect ideal of female sporting achievement. Kemp says the next step, led by Kelly, will be allowing our women's football icons to be imperfect."We create a stereotype that is impossible for women footballers to live up to, that can be quite oppressive from a marketing perspective," she said."They can be both things, be an incredible athlete and incredible personality. Kelly is full of flair, you would not want her in just one area."With a hop, skip and a thwack, the age of the Chloe Kelly is upon us.