Arsenal's Leah Williamson has been named the new permanent captain of the England women's soccer team by head coach Sarina Wiegman. The 25-year-old replaces the injured Steph Houghton who had led the Lionesses for seven years.
For Williamson, who first wore the captain's armband last September during two Women's World Cup qualifiers against North Macedonia and Luxembourg, it is a culmination of a rise through the ranks in which she had also captained the u17, u19 and u20 England teams.
Manchester City's Houghton was named captain by Mark Sampson in 2014 and led the Lionesses through the most successive period in their international history reaching three successive tournament semi-finals. She was also been the face of the team as women's soccer went through a revolution in coverage and sponsorship in the past decade.
Houghton had sat alongside Wiegman at her first pre-game press conference last year after the new coach had told the media she would not be naming her permanent captain until after first getting to know the players. Houghton was told she would retain the armband for September's matches but was forced to pull out of the games after injuring her achilles in the squad's final training session. She returned to action last month but suffered a setback which kept her out of last month's Arnold Clark Cup.
Speaking to Sky Sports before her injury, Houghton commented on the speculation around the captaincy, "regardless of whether I have an armband or not, I'll still be the same leader that I'll always be for the girls. . . I respect whatever decision (Sarina) makes and no matter what, you'll get the same person on and off the pitch, with or without the armband."
Williamson's nomination means Houghton will miss out on the opportunity to lead her country on home soil during next summer's UEFA Women's Euros in England. It would also have been her fourth major tournament as captain, equaling the record set by England's longest-serving female captain, Faye White, who led the Lionesses for ten years. During her seven years wearing the armband, Houghton has captained England on more than 70 occasions, only legendary men's team captains, Billy Wright and Bobby Moore, have ever led the senior team in more matches.
Speaking today, Williamson said "Steph Houghton is one of this country’s all-time greats and to follow in her footsteps - and all of those special names who have led the team in the past - means so much. Although I will be wearing the armband, I know we have a squad full of leaders who share my pride and passion in playing for our country. Whether I am captain or not, I will never take anything for granted and will always do my best for England every time I pull on the shirt."
Like White, Williamson was first appointed England captain at the age of 24. Unlike White, Williamson is not the captain of her club side, a position held by former Scottish international Kim Little. In that regard, Williamson's elevation bears resemblance to the appointment of David Beckham, never the captain at Manchester United or Real Madrid, to lead the England men's team in 2000.
Like Beckham, the eloquent Williamson has been schooled in dealing with the media responsibilities that go hand-in-hand with the England captaincy from a young age. As an 18-year-old, she came to national attention when she had to retake a critical last-minute penalty kick five days after the original match following a technical error by the referee. Following days of appeals, protests and media scrutiny, Williamson could have chosen to pass the responsibility to another player but demonstrated her leadership qualities by putting herself forward once more and scoring to earn the England u19 team a place in the European Championship finals. "I didn't really want to give the pressure to anyone else", she told me in 2017. "the attention was crazy. The way I see it, it was just a penalty, one kick of a ball. I just had to get the job done."
In contrast, Williamson impressed Wiegman by demonstrating her ability to delegate when captaining England against North Macedonia in September. One of two nominated penalty-takers, Williamson instead allowed striker Ellen White to score from the spot. "I left it to Leah", said Wiegman after the game. "I left it to Leah and her, they decided, which was a very good choice and showed very good leadership, so I was really pleased with that."
Speaking to me last year, Manchester United's Ella Toone told me she was impressed with Leah's leadership qualities during the October games. "She was a great captain. She's a talker on the pitch but she's really chilled as well, that's what you need, the right balance. Leah's just Leah. She had an amazing camp as well and I'm really happy for her that she got to captain England and hopefully she goes on to play a lot more games for England because she's such an amazing talent and such a great person as well, on and off the pitch. She just made me feel really at ease and made me feel like I could just enjoy the moment and play my way."
Born in 1997, Williamson is among the first generation of women's soccer players to look up to female, rather than male, role models in the game. Now, the captain of her country, she understands how important it is for girls to have women as the professional soccer players they want to emulate. "To have women to look up to, it doesn't mean they can't look up to men, but I think it's really important for young girls because it proves that they could be where I'm standing right now. Whereas, before my time, when there wasn't women to look up to, girls were looking up to male footballers but it was never a reality that they would be able to be a footballer whereas now there is proof that that can happen. So yeah, I think it's really important for young girls to be able to have role models that are women."
