Katie McCabe


Katie Alison McCabe 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. McCabe is the fourth Irish woman to win a UEFA Champions League trophy.
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, three League Cups, and the Champions League. She was also named in the PFA Team of the Year for 2021. During her short loan to Glasgow City in 2017 she also won the SWPL.
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. In 2023, The Guardian has described McCabe as "the undoubted face of Irish women's football" and the Irish Times named her Sportswoman of the Year. She won Irelands 2023 international goal of the year for her olimpico goal against Canada in the 2023 Women's World Cup
In 2023, McCabe made history as the first Irish woman nominated for the renowned women’s Ballon d’Or award. She is the first Irish player nominated since Roy Keane’s nomination in 2000.

Club career

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 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. Despite spending a majority of the season sidelined due to injury she still won the WNL Young Player of the Year award. 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. She clinched the last minute winner for the 2015 WNL cup in extra time, defeating Peamount United 3-2. Her performance in the 2014-15 season landed her a spot on the WNL Team of the Season for the first time.
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 at the end of her loan, new Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro shifted her to the left-full-back position.
In the 2018–19 season, McCabe helped lead Arsenal to the FA WSL title, playing the most minutes of any player in 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.
McCabe scored 5 goals and picked up 12 assists during the 2020–21 FA WSL season as Arsenal finished third. She tied for first in the league for assists and was named in the PFA Team of the Year. In December 2020, she made her 100th appearance for Arsenal in a 4-0 victory over Everton, assisting a Jen Beattie goal from the corner. Later that month, McCabe 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, McCabe signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal.
McCabe won Goal of the 2022–23 Season for her game winning strike against Manchester City. On 20 June 2023, McCabe was announced as the Arsenal Women Player of the Season.
On 29 September 2023, McCabe signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal. She made her 200th appearance for the Gunners against Manchester City on 5 November 2023.
While playing against Chelsea in her 250th game for Arsenal on 26 January 2025, McCabe received a red card for dissent, the second of her career and resulted in a two match ban. McCabe won the club-wide goal of the month for March 2025. On 24 May 2025, McCabe was part of the team that defeated Barcelona 1–0 to claim the 2024–25 UEFA Women's Champions League trophy. She played 1,296 minutes during the entire campaign, breaking the record for amount of minutes played in one UWCL season.

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. This goal won the 2023 Ireland international goal of the year. 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."
McCabe captained the Irish team during the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifiers. Advancing to the playoffs, they took a win over Georgia, with a 6-0 victory in the opening leg. They were eventually knocked out by Wales.
On 28 October 2025, McCabe earned her 100th cap for Ireland in a 2–1 defeat to Belgium, as well as being promoted in the Nations League.

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, who currently plays for Bohemian Under-19 and has previously been included in Ireland Under-16 squads.
She is openly lesbian. In June 2019, McCabe revealed she had been in a relationship with fellow Irish footballer Ruesha Littlejohn since 2016, and that women's football was very accepting of LGBT people. The couple split in May 2023. McCabe is currently in a relationship with Arsenal teammate and Australian international, 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

Club

International

CapDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1104 March 2016GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus1–11–12016 Cyprus Women's Cup
21821 August 2016Rodney Parade, Newport, Wales1–12–1Friendly
31821 August 2016Rodney Parade, Newport, Wales2–12–1Friendly
4226 March 2017Paralimni Stadium, Paralimni, Cyprus1–01–02017 Cyprus Women's Cup
53121 January 2018Estádio de São Miguel, Ponta Delgada, Portugal1–03–1Friendly
63631 August 2018Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland2–04–02019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
73631 August 2018Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland4–04–02019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
8419 April 2019Mapei Stadium, Reggio Emilia, Italy1–01–2Friendly
9433 September 2019Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland2–02–0UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying
10448 October 2019Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland1–03–2UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying
114711 March 2020Stadion pod Malim brdom, Petrovac, Montenegro2–03–0UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying
12501 December 2020Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland1–21–3UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying
135825 November 2021Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland1–11–12023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
145930 November 2021Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland6–011–02023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
155930 November 2021Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland7–011–02023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
166312 April 2022Gamla Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden1–01–12023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
176527 June 2022Tengiz Burjanadze Stadium, Gori, Georgia1–09–02023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
186527 June 2022Tengiz Burjanadze Stadium, Gori, Georgia4–09–02023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
196527 June 2022Tengiz Burjanadze Stadium, Gori, Georgia7–09–02023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
206914 November 2022Marbella Football Center, San Pedro Alcántara, Spain2–04–0Friendly
217526 July 2023Perth Rectangular Stadium, Perth, Australia1–01–22023 FIFA Women's World Cup
227826 September 2023Hidegkuti Nándor Stadion, Budapest, Hungary2–04–02023–24 UEFA Nations League
237927 October 2023Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland1–05–12023–24 UEFA Nations League
247927 October 2023Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland2–15–12023–24 UEFA Nations League
257927 October 2023Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland5–15–12023–24 UEFA Nations League
26825 December 2023Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland4–06–12023–24 UEFA Nations League
279025 October 2024Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia1–04–02025 Women's Euro Qualifying Play-offs
289025 October 2024Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia3–04–02025 Women's Euro Qualifying Play-offs
299129 October 2024Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland3–03–02025 Women's Euro Qualifying Play-offs
309824 October 2025Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland1–04–22025 UEFA Nations League Play-offs
319824 October 2025Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Republic of Ireland3–14–22025 UEFA Nations League Play-offs
-------2025 UEFA Nations League Play-offs-