Katie McCabe

Katie Alison McCabe (born 21 September 1995) is an Irish professional footballer who plays for English Women's Super League club Arsenal and captains the Republic of Ireland women's national team. Mainly a left back, she can also operate as a left winger and a left midfielder.

As a teenager, McCabe won the Irish Women's National League title twice and the FAI Women's Cup three times with Raheny United before signing with Arsenal in 2015. With Arsenal, she has won the FA Cup in 2016, the 2018–19 WSL, two League Cups, and was named in the PFA Team of the Year for 2021. After earning her first Ireland cap in 2015, she was named the country's captain in 2017, the youngest captain in the history of the team, and named as Ireland Women's Player of the Year in 2021. The Guardian has described her as "the undoubted face of Irish women's football."

Youth career
Growing up, McCabe played on boys' youth teams for Kilnamanagh AFC and Crumlin United F.C. At the age of 10, she joined her first girls' team in Templeogue, playing for both the girls' team and the boys' team until she turned 13. Her favourite player as a child was Damien Duff. During secondary school, she also played Gaelic football and basketball.

Women's National League: 2011–2015
When the Women's National League (WNL) was formed in 2011, McCabe signed with Raheny United. She had previously trained with the club, but league regulations prevented her from signing a contract until she turned 16. She represented the club in the competition's first season. Over the next three seasons she won two league titles and three consecutive FAI Women's Cups with "The Pandas". She also represented the club in the UEFA Women's Champions League.

She missed four months of the 2013–14 season with a broken leg. That year, she had also been recruited by Florida State University to play for the Florida State Seminoles women's soccer team in the United States, but the move collapsed due to her injury.

In 2014–15 McCabe scored 23 WNL goals for Raheny, two behind top scorer Áine O'Gorman of UCD Waves. In November 2014, she scored the opening goal for Raheny in the FAI Women's Cup final, from a 35-yard free kick, winning her second FAI Cup with the club.

For the 2015–16 season, McCabe remained with the club in their new guise as Shelbourne Ladies.

Arsenal: 2015–2017
In December 2015 she signed for London club Arsenal, rejecting competing offers from Glasgow City, Chelsea, and Manchester City.

Glasgow City: 2017 (loan)
After struggling with injuries and a lot of first-team playing time in her first year with Arsenal, she joined Glasgow City on loan in August 2017, for the second half of the Scottish Women's Premier League season. She would help lead Glasgow City to the Scottish title as well as making a handful of appearances in the UEFA Champions League.

Return to Arsenal: 2017–present
Upon returning to Arsenal after the end of her loan, new Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro shifted her to the left-full-back position.

In the 2018–19 season, she helped lead Arsenal to the FA WSL title, playing the most minutes of any player on the squad. On 26 March 2019, she signed an extension with Arsenal. Five days later, in one of the last matches of the year, she scored a crucial game-winning goal against Birmingham, keeping Arsenal one point clear on top of the league table.

She scored 5 goals and picked up 12 assists during the 2020–21 FA WSL season as Arsenal finished in third, tied for first in the league in assists and being named to the PFA Team of the Year. In December 2020, she made her 100th appearance for Arsenal in a 4-0 victory over Everton, picking up an assist from the corner on a goal by Jen Beattie. Later that month, she was involved in a COVID-19-related controversy after posting a picture of herself on a beach in Dubai despite a travel ban for Tier 4 residents in London. She stated that she had gone to Dubai for a business meeting with her agent. She did not receive any disciplinary sanctions from the FA for the controversy.

Ahead of the 2021–22 FA WSL season, she signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal.

On 20 June 2023, she was announced as Arsenal Women Player of the Season. Her winning goal against Manchester City won Goal of the Season.

On 29 September 2023, McCabe signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal after a stellar 2022-23 campaign.

On 5th November 2023, McCabe had her 200th appearance for the Gunners.

International career
At the 2014 UEFA Under-19 Championship, McCabe featured as Ireland won their group, before crashing 4–0 to a Vivianne Miedema-inspired Netherlands in the semi-final.

In March 2015 national coach Susan Ronan gave McCabe a senior debut against Hungary at the 2015 Istria Cup, a 1–1 draw. A quad injury kept McCabe out of Ireland's 3–0 UEFA Euro 2017 qualifying defeat by Spain on 26 November 2015 at Tallaght Stadium, Dublin. At the 2016 Cyprus Cup, McCabe scored her first international goal to secure a 1–1 draw with Italy.

McCabe featured in Ronan's squad for the UEFA Euro qualifying stage, making seven appearances in total. In August 2017, new national team coach Colin Bell appointed 21-year-old McCabe as the Ireland captain, the youngest captain in the history of the team.

In April 2021, she earned her 50th cap for Ireland against Belgium. In September 2021, the FAI announced that it would implement equal pay for its men's and women's national teams, after negotiations led by McCabe and men's captain Séamus Coleman.

McCabe and manager Vera Pauw led Ireland to qualify for the 2023 FIFA World Cup, the first major tournament appearance in the team's history. On 26 July 2023 she scored an Olympico goal in their group stage match against Canada, becoming her country's first-ever goal-scorer at the Women's World Cup. Ireland was ultimately defeated by Canada 2–1, eliminating them from the tournament. McCabe said she was saddened by the result, but added that "this is our first ever major tournament and I know for a fact, given those performances we put in, it won’t be our last."

Personal life
McCabe has 10 siblings, six sisters and four brothers, and was raised in Kilnamanagh. Her siblings include Gary McCabe, who played in the League of Ireland Premier Division from 2007 to 2018, and Lauryn McCabe, currently playing for Bohemian and Ireland Under-16.

She is openly lesbian. In June 2019, McCabe revealed she was in a relationship with fellow footballer Ruesha Littlejohn, and that women's football is very accepting of LGBT people. The couple split in May 2023. McCabe is currently in a relationship with Arsenal teammate, Caitlin Foord.

While playing in the Irish Women's National League, McCabe worked as a grill coordinator at a Nando's restaurant in Tallaght.

Career statistics

 * Scores and results list Republic of Ireland's goals first. Score column indicates score after each McCabe goal.

Honours
Raheny United
 * Women's National League: 2012–13, 2013–14
 * FAI Women's Cup: 2012, 2013, 2014
 * WNL Cup: 2015

Arsenal
 * FA Women's Cup: 2015–16
 * FA Women's Super League: 2018–19
 * FA Women's League Cup: 2017–18, 2022–23, 2023–24

Glasgow City
 * Scottish Women's Premier League: 2017

Individual
 * Arsenal Women Player of the Season: 2020–21, 2022–23
 * Ireland Senior International Women's Player of the Year: 2021, 2023
 * PFA League WSL Team of the Year: 2021
 * WSL Goal of the Month: October 2021, April 2023
 * WSL Player of the Month: October 2021
 * WSL Goal of the Season: 2022-23
 * UEFA Women's Champions League Team of the Season: 2022-23
 * PFA WSL Fans Player of the Month: October 2023
 * Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year: 2023