Khadija Shaw

Khadija Monifa "Bunny" Shaw (born 31 January 1997) is a Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a forward for Women's Super League club Manchester City and captains the Jamaica national team. She is Manchester City's all-time top goalscorer, Jamaica's all-time top goalscorer for both women and men, holds the joint record for most hat tricks in the WSL, and was awarded CONCACAF Player of the Year in 2022.

Shaw previously played for Division 1 club Bordeaux, became top scorer in the 2020–21 season, and was twice awarded Player of the Month. With Manchester City, she is a League Cup winner and was voted Player of the Season for the club as top scorer in the 2022–23 season. For the same season, Shaw was named in the WSL Team of the Year, and twice awarded WSL Player of the Month. The following season, she was named FWA Women's Footballer of the Year.

Early life
Shaw was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica to George Shaw, a shoemaker, and mother Monica, a chicken farmer. She was the youngest of 13 brothers and sisters. Shaw was nicknamed 'Bunny' by her brother Kentardo because of a fondness for carrots at an early age. She attended high school at St. Jago High School.

Shaw began playing football with her older brothers before being taught by her brother Kentardo at age 10. At age 13, Shaw was called up for the Jamaica U15s team for the first time. While representing Jamaica, she received scholarship offers from Navarro College in Texas and Eastern Florida State College. She was then scouted by the University of Tennessee. She graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in communication.

College career
Shaw played her first two years of junior college at Eastern Florida State College, earning NSCAA first-team National Junior College Athletic Association All-America honors in 2016.

In 2017, Shaw transferred to the University of Tennessee. During her time with the Tennessee Volunteers, she was converted from a midfielder to a striker by her coach Brian Pensky. She was named to the All-SEC first team in both her seasons with Tennessee and was awarded SEC Offensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2018. She decided against entering into the NWSL Draft after college in order to look at overseas options in Europe and Asia.

Florida Krush
In 2018, Shaw played for WPSL semi-pro team Florida Krush.

2019–20
On 7 June 2019, D1 Féminine team Bordeaux announced they had signed Shaw on a two-year contract. Khadija made her professional debut on 25 August 2019 with Bordeaux against FC Fleury 91. On her debut game, she scored a brace that led to a 4–1 victory for the home team. She repeated her performance, at an away game this time against Dijon FCO, on her second game. In her first season, she scored 10 goals and made five assists in 15 league matches.

2020–21
Shaw scored four goals in a 6–1 victory over FC Fleury 91 on 10 October 2020. She went on and scored hat-tricks against Dijon FCO and Stade de Reims during the season, with the former happening on 31 October 2020 to help earn them a 5–1 home victory and the later on 23 January 2021 to help Bordeaux to a massive 7–1 victory. Her goal scoring run and general performance earned her the Division 1 Féminine Player of the Month twice in the months of October 2020 and January 2021. She ended her second league season with 22 goals and seven assists in 20 matches winning the as the top goal scorer, beating Marie-Antoinette Katoto by a goal and also earning a place on the Trophées FFF D1 Féminine 2020–2021 Team of the Year. She was nominated for the best player of the season awards for both Trophées UNFP du football and Trophées FFF D1 Féminine, however she was beaten by Kadidiatou Diani for both.

2021–22
On 17 June 2021, Manchester City announced that they had signed Shaw from Bordeaux on a three-year deal. Shaw spend her first season at the club primarily as the second choice striker behind Ellen White. She scored her first hat-trick for the club in a 6–0 FA Cup win against Leicester City. She also featured as the joint topscorer of the 2021–22 FA League Cup. Shaw went on to claim a winners medal as Man City triumphed, defeating Chelsea 3–1 in the League Cup final. She later scored four goals in Man City's 7–2 win over Brighton & Hove Albion in the Super League. She would finish her first season as the team second highest goalscorer with 16 goals.

2022–23
Shaw had her breakout year in her second season with the club as she established herself as the first choice striker following Ellen White's retirement. On 12 March 2023, Shaw scored a brace in a 2–1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion taking her tally to an incredible 26 goals in 22 games with seven WSL games to go, becoming Manchester City's highest-scoring women's player in a single season and breaking Nikita Parris' record of 24 goals in the 2018–19 season. On 5 May 2023, Shaw was named as the 2022 CONCACAF Female Player of the Year, becoming the first Caribbean player in history to win the award. On 27 May, Shaw scored her 50th club goal as she scored twice in a 3–2 victory over Everton in their final Women's Super League game of the season. At the end of the 2022–23 season, she scored 31 goals in 30 games in all competitions for Manchester City and was named the club's player of the season. She missed out on the Super League Golden Boot by two goals to Rachel Daly, after leading the top scorer charts for majority of the season. Shaw's goal against Arsenal on 2 April 2023 was voted the club's Goal of the Season. She was further named in the 2023 PFA WSL Team of the Year and nominated as one of 30 candidates for the Ballon d'Or. On 30 May 2023, Shaw signed a two-year contract extension, that would keep her at the club until 2026.

2023–24
On 26 November 2023, Shaw scored a first-half hat trick against Tottenham in a 7–0 victory against the club, followed by another hat trick against Everton on 17 December to become the WSL top scorer with 9 goals in 9 appearances. She was awarded WSL Player of the Month for December 2023. On 21 January 2024, Shaw scored her third hat trick of the 2023–24 season against Liverpool, to become joint-top hat trick scorer in the league, alongside Arsenal's Vivianne Miedema with five hat tricks. Shaw scored in the 1–0 victory against Chelsea, bringing Manchester City level in points with Chelsea on top of the league. She scored first in the 2–1 win over Everton on 2 March 2024, placing Manchester City at the top of the league. On 23 March 2024, Shaw became Manchester City's all time goalscorer after netting her 68th goal in 81 appearances for the club in a 3–1 win over derby rivals Manchester United. On 3 May, she was named FWA Women's Footballer of the Year. She earned Super League Player of the Season.

International career
Shaw has played internationally at the U-15, U-17, U-20, and senior levels for Jamaica, debuting for the former aged 14.

Shaw made her senior international debut on 23 August 2015, scoring twice in a 6–0 victory over the Dominican Republic in an Olympic qualifying game. In 2019, Shaw was part of the Jamaica team that qualified for the 2019 World Cup. In doing so, they became the first Caribbean nation to ever qualify for a Women's World Cup. She would again lead her country to the 2023 World Cup, where they reached the Round of 16; this was the first time either the women's or men's national team had progressed into a World Cup knockout stage.

International

 * Scores and results list Jamaica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Shaw goal.

Honours
Manchester City
 * FA Women's League Cup: 2021–22
 * Women's FA Cup runner-up: 2021–22

Jamaica


 * CONCACAF Women's Championship third place: 2018, 2022

Individual


 * CONCACAF Female Player of the Year: 2022, runner-up: 2018
 * CONCACAF W Championship Best XI: 2022
 * CONCACAF Women's Best XI: 2018
 * Division 1 Féminine top scorer: 2020–2021
 * Division 1 Féminine Player of the Month: October 2020, January 2021
 * Trophées FFF D1 Féminine – Team of the Year: 2020–2021
 * WSL Player of the Month: October 2022, March 2023, December 2023
 * WSL Goal of the Month: January 2024
 * WSL Player of the Season: 2023–24
 * WSL Golden Boot: 2023–24
 * PFA WSL Fans' Player of the Month: January 2022
 * Manchester City Player of the Season: 2022–23
 * Manchester City Goal of the Season: 2022–23
 * PFA Team of the Year: 2022–23 FA WSL
 * FWA Women's Footballer of the Year: 2023–24
 * Women's Football Awards Player of the Year: 2024

Orders
 * Baton Order of Distinction Jamaica.jpg rank of Commander (CD): Order of Distinction: 2020

Awards and recognition
In 2018, Shaw was named The Guardian Footballer of the Year, an award given to a footballer "who has done something truly remarkable, whether by overcoming adversity, helping others or setting a sporting example by acting with exceptional honesty."