Courtney Alexandra Sweetman-Kirk (born 16 November 1990) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a forward for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in the FA Women's Championship. She has previously played for FA WSL clubs

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, Everton,

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

and

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

as well as

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

and

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in the FA Women's Premier League. Sweetman-Kirk has represented England at under-23 level.

Club career

Lincoln / Notts County, 2013–2014

Sweetman-Kirk signed with FA WSL 1 club, Lincoln Ladies in July 2013. During her first season with the club, she made seven appearances and scored one goal during a 2–0 win over Chelsea L.F.C. Notts County finished in sixth place during the regular season with a .

Doncaster Rovers Belles, 2015–2017

In July 2014, Sweetman-Kirk signed with FA WSL 2 club,

Doncaster Rovers Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an England, English women's association football, women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's admin ...

. She scored 20 goals in 20 matches during the 2015 FA WSL 2 season, helping lift the team to FA WSL 1 the following year. She was subsequently named FA WSL 2 Players' Player of the Year. During a match against Everton in August 2015, Sweetman-Kirk scored a hat trick after subbing in during the second half of the match when Everton was up 2–0. Her hat trick resulted in a 3–2 win. In 2016, she signed a full-time professional contract with Doncaster, only to suffer a broken leg in a pre-season friendly. Although Doncaster were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

in her absence, in the subsequent

FA WSL Spring Series The FA WSL Spring Series was an interim edition of the FA WSL between the sixth and seventh full seasons. The Spring Series ran from February to May 2017 to bridge the gap from the 2016 FA WSL season which ran from March to September as a summer t ...

resurgent Sweetman-Kirk scored nine goals in nine games to finish as WSL 2 top goalscorer.

Everton, 2017–2018

Everton signed Sweetman-Kirk from Doncaster after their promotion to the

WSL 1 The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

, on a two-year contract and paying an undisclosed fee. She was Everton's top-goalscorer in her first season with nine goals in all competitions

Liverpool, 2018–2020

Sweetman-Kirk transferred to local rivals

in July 2018. On 23 May 2020, while the league was still suspended indefinitely during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Sweetman-Kirk announced she had left the club following the expiration of her contract earlier in the month.

International

Sweetman-Kirk made her debut for the England under-23 national team in June 2013. Her five goals during the tournament (including a hat trick against Ireland) helped Great Britain win the

2013 World University Games The 2013 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXVII Summer Universiade (russian: XXVII Летняя Универсиада), was held in the city of Kazan, Russia, the most northerly city ever to host a Summer Universiade. Over 10,400 un ...

in Russia.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Coventry City * Birmingham FA County Cup: 2013

Individual

* FA WSL 2 Players' Player of the Year: 2015 * FA WSL 2 Spring Series Top Goalscorer: 2015

Sky

Sweetman-Kirk has been an occasional match reporter for ''

Soccer Saturday ''Gillette Labs Soccer Saturday'' is a weekly television programme broadcast on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland during the football season. The programme updates viewers on the progress of association football games in the United ...

'' on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sweetman-Kirk, Courtney 1990 births Living people English women's footballers Women's association football forwards Women's Super League players Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. players Liverpool F.C. Women players Footballers from Leicester Alumni of Nottingham Trent University England women's under-23 international footballers FA Women's National League players Coventry United W.F.C. players Everton F.C. (women) players Notts County L.F.C. players Women's Championship (England) players Leicester City W.F.C. players Universiade gold medalists for Great Britain Universiade medalists in football Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade Sheffield United W.F.C. players