YOU ASK THE QUESTIONS Interview Chris Flanagan

“I’m a right-back – when someone called me to say that I had won PFA Player of the Year, I thought, ‘You’ve called the wrong person!’”

No female player in British footballing history can boast an honours list quite like Lucy Bronze’s – and that list only grew longer in 2023.

In her first season with Barcelona, Bronze bagged the seventh domestic league title of her career with a fourth different club, following triumphs at Liverpool, Manchester City and Lyon. Weeks later came a fourth Champions League crown, adding to the haul she’d secured while playing in France.

Then, in August, she helped England to reach their first ever World Cup final, having been a key figure throughout what has undoubtedly been the Lionesses’ greatest era, as part of the team that also celebrated European Championship glory in 2022. And she won FIFA’s Women’s Player of the Year award in 2020. Not bad for a full-back – especially one who had to wait until she was nearly 22 for Hope Powell to give her an international debut, just as she was contemplating a switch to the Portuguese national team.

Bronze passed 100 caps for England last year and was up to 116 by this November, with time to add plenty more. Today, the 32-year-old is in her Barcelona apartment, preparing for her latest Liga F fixture – but first, she’s ready to answer your questions about her remarkable career…

So, your middle name is Tough...?

Amy Watts, Harrogate It’s actually my mum’s maiden name. My dad is Portuguese and in Portugal you take both family names, so my full name is Lucia Roberta Tough Bronze. My mum was Diane Tough. It’s a family trait – all the women in my family are very... strong-minded, shall we say? [Smiles] My younger sister and I have inherited it: Tough by name, tough by nature. I’ve had to live up to the name!

You grew up on the Northumberland island of Lindisfarne – how was it?

Holly Dean, Carlisle The English side of my family are from there. My grandma’s grandma was the caretaker of Lindisfarne Castle. I was close to being born there – the nurses at the hospital said, “We’ll come in a helicopter when you give birth” but my mum said, “Absolutely no chance am I going to be in a helicopter, about to give birth!” [Laughs] So I wasn’t born on the island, but I spent my first years there before moving to the mainland when my brother and I needed a new school with a few more people in it.

Is it true that your coach tried to get the rules changed so you could play boys’ football beyond the age of 11?

Kaitlyn Mason, Worksop Yeah! I played with my brother and the local teams, but when I turned 11 the FA said, “She can’t play any more”. My coach – Ray Smith – and my auntie and my mum wanted to fight to change the rule, which existed because they didn’t want me to get hurt.

Everyone said, “It’s not Lucy who’s going to get hurt – it’s the little boys!” [Laughs] My aunt took me to a game once and a boy on the other team was laughing, saying, “They’ve got a girl on their team”. Coincidentally, I then happened to tackle him quite hard in the game! He was crying – I think it was his ego, as well as the tackle…

I didn’t have a local girls’ team, so my parents drove me an hour each way to find the closest team. Ray was the first one who said, “You need to make sure she keeps playing – one day she’ll play for England”. I was 11!

How tempting was the offer to play for Portugal when you were younger?

Jason Thomson, Huntingdon When I was 16, they asked my parents if I’d like to play for Portugal. I didn’t get picked for England for quite a while, which is surprising to some people. I told my parents, “If I get to 22 and still haven’t been picked, I want to play international football” – although I wanted to play for England, I would’ve been just as honoured to play for Portugal. Then I got picked for England four months before my 22nd birthday, because there were four injuries, and I stayed in the squad after that. I probably would’ve played for Portugal if that hadn’t happened.