Churcher’s College student Tilly Thomas selected for England U16 Football Team

15-year-old Tilly Thomas, a Year 10 student at Churcher’s College and Southampton FC player, has recently been called up to a national England Women’s football team. 

Tilly is primarily a midfield player but is pretty versatile having also played in attacking and defensive positions for Southampton FC. Tilly has been on standby to go to an England U16s Nordics tournament in July involving Finland, Sweden and The Netherlands.

Tilly started playing football aged six and has progressed steadily since then. She currently has a Player Agreement for the Southampton FC Women’s U16 for the 2019/20 season. She has been with the Premier League club for the last two years, starting with the U14 team. 

Tilly has been on a series of England Regional Performance Camps with girls from other clubs and more recently on a National Youth Development Phase Multi Age Group Camp. These regional and national camps are steps on the Football Association’s defined Talent Pathway towards representing England in a selected squad.

As a Southampton FC Women’s U16 player Tilly is committed to training for six hours a week in addition to matches on Saturdays both home and away in League and FA Youth Cup games against both girls and boys’ teams, including Arsenal, Chelsea, Reading, Oxford, Brighton, Wolves, Birmingham, Charlton and Gillingham.

“It’s my ambition to help Southampton FC get to the Women’s Super League – the top division of women’s national football,” explains Tilly. “I also want to play for England in the 2023 or 2027 Women’s World Cup, I’ll be working hard to achieve that!”