Four years ago, Michelle Agyemang was a ballgirl at Wembley stadium, witnessing the Lionesses’ rule the pitch in a 4-0 victory against Northern Ireland. Now, at just 19 years old, she no longer finds herself retrieving balls that have veered out of play, but is an integral part of the team she once admired from the sidelines.
The forward, who football fans hope will be showing off her on-pitch magic on Sunday as the Lionesses’ face off against Spain in the Euros 2025 final, began her journey to the top of the sport in her Essex home town of South Ockendon.
It all started at Brandon Groves AFC in 2011, where a five-year-old Agyemang took her first steps into the sport. She was talented, determined and, at the time, the only girl at the club, which has run in the area for 29 years. She played there for two seasons before being picked up by the Arsenal Academy.
Colin Burnham, a coach at the club, called her success “fantastic”. He told ITV News: “She’s an inspiration to some of the youngsters we’ve got here at the moment. It’s nice to say that from grassroots level you can still go somewhere with football.”
He said “the players and the kids” will be watching the final where, they hope, celebration will be abound. “Hopefully she’ll come and visit us so we can celebrate personally with her,” he said.
Another club representative said it felt “amazing knowing we have a Lioness playing in the Euros”, adding they were “proud to say Michelle started at our club”.
In April, she was called upon to join the Lionesses’ after Alessia Russo suffered an injury. This is when her journey to the top of the sport really took off. She scored three goals in her first four England caps, including equalisers in the last two Euros matches.
Her talents are not only athletic. She is also studying business management at King’s College London, as part of its sport and wellness programme. She was “brought up on gospel music” and is a keen piano-player. So keen, in fact, that after England’s win against Sweden, she had it brought over.
“The kitman brought it over in a van. It’s calm and relaxing,” she said. “Lotte [Wubben-Moy, her Arsenal and England teammate] asked me to play for her – she came to my room and I played a few things for her, which was nice.”
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It isn’t only fellow teammates lining up to sing Agyemang’s praises. Jason Carey, headteacher at Southend High School for Girls, where the footballer was a student, said: “We are incredibly proud of Michelle. To see a former Southend High School for Girls student reach the highest levels of international sport is something truly special. Her dedication, resilience and pursuit of excellence were evident even during her time with us.
“Those qualities have clearly carried through in her sporting career. She remains an inspiration to current and future students, especially young women in sport. We can’t wait now for the final.”
As Sunday approaches, home town glory is heating up in South Ockendon. In the Knight of Aveley pub, posters are plastered on the wall calling on locals to “get down and cheer on Michelle”, who they called their “very own South Ockendon girl”.