Stories of three Lionesses who started at Blackburn Rovers

In Tuesday's semi-final, the Lionesses scored four against a highly-rated Sweden who finished the game goalless, giving England a spot in the final under the Wembley arch.

Stars of the squad Georgia Stanway, Keira Walsh and Ella Toone have helped the team get to Sunday’s final of the Euros, the first time the squad has made it to a final since 2009 and before that, 1984.

But what led Stanway, Walsh and Toone to train with Blackburn Rovers in their early days, learning their craft and going on to be England internationals?

Ella Toone during her time with Blackburn Rovers

Ella Toone, 22, a forward who scored during England’s quarter-final against Spain, joined Rovers from Manchester United as a teenager.

Back then, United had scrapped their women's senior team - deemed "unprofitable" by Malcom Glazer, so when she graduated from their academy Toone had to find another club and landed in Blackburn.

Her impact was immediate; she made 20 appearances with the club and scored 13 goals, with her helping to take the team to the final in the 2016-17 season of the FA Women's Premier League against Tottenham Hotspur, who beat Rovers 3-0.

At the age of 16 played a significant part in Blackburn winning the third tier, as well as scoring an incredible six goals as Rovers beat Rotherham United 19-0.

Toone then joined Manchester City - who have pumped a large amount of resources into their women's set up, poaching top players from across the country - in the summer of 2016, but continued to play with Blackburn in the National League on dual registration terms.

In 2018, when United finally created a senior women's team again, she rejoined her childhood club, and made her senior international debut last year.

Cumbrian Georgia Stanway, an attacking midfielder who scored the winner in the quarter-final, started her career at Blackburn Rovers after being spotted as a junior.

She played through the youth system - getting special dispensation from her school to attend training in Blackburn to pursue her dream and maximise her potential -and eventually the senior squad playing in the FA Women’s Premier League.

In the 2014 season, she had five appearances, scoring six goals for the club until she, like Toone, signed for Manchester City. 

After 94 appearances for City and 30 goals, the 23-year-old recently signed for German giants Bayern Munich.

Georgia Stanway after scoring for England in the quarter final (Image: PA)

Kiera Walsh, a midfielder, completed her youth training at Blackburn Rovers but, as with her England team mates, was picked up by Manchester City in 2014 where the 25-year-old has remained since.

She made her England debut three years later and has 44 caps to her name for the Lionesses so far.

Walsh and Stanway have started every game of the tournament for England are almost guaranteed to start the final at Wembley on Sunday, while Toone has proved to be an impact sub during the Euros.

Blackburn Rovers are only beaten by Arsenal for being the club to have produced the most women who have made it to the England squad for Euro 2022.

The girls all trained under the management of Gemma Donelly while at Rovers who took over the club on a temporary basis halfway through the 2013 season.

She started out with Blackburn Rovers Community Trust as the Women’s and Girls’ Development Officer.

Gemma Donnelly (Image: Blackburn Rovers)

The Rovers boss has been in and around the ladies setup since joining the club in 2004, but after the departure of the first-team management in November 2013, Donnelly took temporary charge for the remainder of the season, securing Rovers’ FA Women’s Premier League status.

Donnelly assembled a new-look squad for the 2014-15 season, including Georgia Stanway, guiding the side to a third place finish in the FA Women’s Premier League Northern Division.

Since then, the club has come on leaps and bounds under her leadership.