The moment I told my mum I wanted to stop football - and how life changed

England captain Leah Williamson tells presenter Kelly Somers about her journey in football - and life away from the game.

The moment I told my mum I wanted to stop football - and how life changed

[The Football Interview with Kelly Somers]

28 February 2026

*The Football Interview is a new series in which the biggest names in sport and entertainment join host Kelly Somers for bold and in-depth conversations about the nation's favourite sport. *

We'll explore mindset and motivation, and talk about defining moments, career highs and personal reflections. The Football Interview brings you the person behind the player.

*Interviews will drop on weekends across BBC iPlayer, YouTube, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website. This week's interview will be broadcast on BBC One from 23:50 BST on Saturday, 28 February. *

Leah Williamson has won almost everything there is to win in women's football.

Twice a European champion as England captain, she has also lifted every trophy available to her during a 20-year career with Arsenal - including the Champions League and inaugural Women's Champions Cup.

Now she wants the World Cup.

In a wide-ranging interview, Williamson tells Kelly Somers she considered turning her back on football as a teenager before a conversation with her mum convinced her to stick with it. She also talks about her love of fashion and how music helps her switch off from the pressures of the day job.

'It changed the landscape of football' - Williamson on Euro 2022

Kelly Somers: Leah, nice to see you - thank you for your time. Let's start with football. I want to know the first time you played football, your first memories and also - because of something you've just said to me off camera - how good were you?

Leah Williamson: The first time I ever played football, my memory was at gymnastics. I must have been five or six. We were just waiting for our parents at the end to pick us up and the coach was a football fan, so we just got out a soft ball. My first proper memory is playing for my local team, but my mum says it was painful.

Kelly: Because you weren't very good?!

Leah: Yeah. She's like: 'You go and support your kids, but at the same time, it wasn't thrilling to watch. It's not like I was holding out that you were going to be a footballer.'

Kelly: When you were little, though, it probably wasn't something that she would have envisaged for her daughter anyway, was it?

Leah: No, definitely not. Especially because she couldn't have played football - she had to pretend to be a boy, so she's thinking, 'all right, we'll just see how far this goes'. I used to toe-punt it. I couldn't kick the ball properly until I was 10 or something.

Kelly: That gives every parent of young children hope, listening to that!

Leah: Yeah, there's no stress.

Kelly: What was the name of your first team? What can you remember of it?

Leah: Scots Youth FC. I was the only girl, but I was very well protected within my team. Still... with other teams, it wasn't great.

Kelly: They targeted you, do you think, because you were the girl?

Leah: It was more parents... like: 'Don't let her do that to you, she's a girl.'

Kelly: I wonder what they're saying now. Those parents are probably like: 'I remember her.'

Leah: If I saw them, they'd probably be like: 'Oh, we used to play together.' I'd be like: 'No, you used to give me a hard time.'

Kelly: Was there a point where you thought, 'OK, I could make this. This is actually something that could be a career'? I imagine - going back to being a girl as well - it probably isn't something that's thought about quite as much...

Leah: I had a conversation with my mum when I was about 15 and I said: 'I'm probably going to stop now.' She was like: 'All right, you tell them then.' I was too scared...

Kelly: Did you actually, genuinely think...

Leah: Yeah, we had a conversation out there in the car park and I was just like: 'I'm tired, you're tired, we're travelling a lot, it costs a lot of money and I'm not sure... it's a bit of a gamble, it's not professional.'

My dad always said I'd be able to earn a wage one day. I don't know where he had that idea from, but he was very much like, 'keep going, follow your dreams' kind of thing, whereas I was a bit more pragmatic, I'd say. I'm a bit of a worrier and, also, I wasn't the loudest footballer, I wouldn't say. A couple of my team-mates would get chats from the first team and that wasn't really coming my way, so I was just being a bit realistic, like: 'Maybe it's not for me.' But I stuck it out.

Kelly: It's a good job you did really, isn't it?

Leah: I'm happy I did. But, yeah, I'd say once I got into the first team, I was still a bit like, 'all right, let's see what happens' and then I decided I didn't want to go to university. I think that's then why I fully committed. Then on my 18th birthday, I signed my professional contract. The other option for a lot of us was going to America and going to get a scholarship.

Kelly: Did you consider that?

Leah: Yeah - like Bend It Like Beckham... I'm watching that as a kid and thinking, 'yeah, I want to do that'. So, that was a consideration and then the game here just picked up, picked up, and I thought, 'I don't want to leave this - this is too exciting to not be a part of for me'.

Kelly: Has there been a turning point? Like a moment where - other than that conversation you had with your mum - if it hadn't happened, maybe all of the success wouldn't have followed?

Leah: The 2015 World Cup. Like, the prep camps - you'd normally bring in a bigger squad and you'd have these reserve players playing with you. I'd been playing for Arsenal and I'd done a season... so I'd turned a few heads, let's say.

Kelly: People knew who you were?

Leah: Yeah - and I got a call from the manager. It was Mark Sampson at the time. I'd just got injured, but he called me to say: 'I was going to bring you into the prep camp, but don't worry about your injury - hopefully there will be a next time.' It didn't happen for me then. I came back and it happened again. I'm not sure if I'd just missed my opportunity. I think that moment in my head... then I realised how much I cared about it. Instead of just letting things happen to me, I was like: 'No, I'm going to try.' And then the England call-up came and I think that was when I was like: 'This is like a career thing now.'

Leah Williamson - The Football Interview

Watch on iPlayerListen on Sounds

Kelly: I was trying to second guess your answer for this, but I think it's impossible. If you could relive one match from your career, what would it be? We speak to a lot of people for this and they've got some good matches, but your list of good matches is up there.

Leah: Yeah, it's up there. I wouldn't relive the Champions League final! I was in a lot of pain from start to finish - emotionally, physically. It was very warm, I was on the verge of sunstroke... I was not in a good place.

Kelly: Just relive the celebrations if you want...

Leah: Yeah, like the rest of it and the big picture - great. The game I would go back to is 2022 [the Euros final]. From the minute we walked out of the tunnel, I just... it was like playing a game where you just know you're going to win. Obviously I understand that there was a chance we weren't going to win, but everything about it just was like, 'no, we're going to win today'. It was really enjoyable from the minute it started. It was only when they scored that I thought...

Kelly: 'This isn't the plan...'

Leah: 'That is not what I thought was going to happen.' Extra time... just everything about it... Wembley, 90,000 people… insane. Insane.

Kelly: And probably the impact after... did you realise quite what you'd done?

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