KHADIJA SHAW has recently made waves for Manchester City in the 2023/2024 season.
The top player has won a golden boot for her remarkable prowess. Here’s what we know about her.
Khadija Monifa Shaw is a Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a forward for Manchester City.
Shaw, however, is also known by her nickname “Bunny”.
The football star was given the endearing name by her brother Kentardo because of a fondness for carrots at an early age.
Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, she was the youngest of 13 brothers and sisters.
The Women’s Super League player also happens to be the captain of the Jamaican national team.
On top of that, she is Manchester City’s all-time top goalscorer, as well as Jamaica’s all-time top goalscorer for both women and men.
At just 14, “Bunny” was already playing for Jamaica’s under-15, under-17, and under-20 teams.
During a game in Florida representing her country, she was scouted, leading to scholarships at Navarro College in Texas and Eastern Florida State College.
Eventually, she ended up at the University of Tennessee.
The Jamaican striker scored 21 goals in just 18 WSL appearances, outpacing all other players in the English top flight.
In doing so, she became the first Manchester City player to win the award in the club’s decade-long WSL history.
Shaw’s incredible consistency saw her average a goal every 66 minutes, with a scoring rate of 1.36 goals per 90 minutes.
At the end of the 2022–23 season, she made history by scoring 31 goals in 30 games in all competitions for Manchester City.
In April 2024, Manchester City confirmed that Shaw sustained a foot injury during their 5-0 win over West Ham United.
Shaw’s unrivalled goal tally across 2023/24 has earned her the Barclays Women’s Super League Golden Boot.
Unsurprisingly, the 27-year-old was named player of the year at the 2024 Women’s Football Awards.
She apparently received a resounding 53 per cent of the vote for the Football Writers’ Association Women’s Footballer of the Year.
It has taken a lot of sacrifice and sleepless nights, but you just have to take it step-by-step, otherwise things will crumble.
Khadija Shaw
Accepting the award, she said: “I am very proud and privileged to have received this award and to be recognised in this way is a special honour.”
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.
In May 2019, Shaw graduated with a communications degree from the University of Tennessee, marking a significant achievement in her life.
When she received her diploma, the Jamaica forward couldn’t contain her “infectious” smile, repeating the words, “I did well. I did well.”
For those familiar with her journey, this was a profound understatement.
Shaw completed her degree while helping Jamaica qualify for their first World Cup, all while overcoming immense personal tragedy.
She lost three brothers and a nephew to gang violence in her native country, as well as another brother in a car accident.
Sometimes you have to pull yourself together and my family played a big part in that. We have been through it all.
Khadija Shaw
A second nephew was electrocuted on a football pitch.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Shaw said: “It has taken a lot of sacrifice and sleepless nights, but you just have to take it step-by-step, otherwise things will crumble.
“Sometimes you have things replaying in your mind, and you start thinking: ‘I don’t know if I can do this anymore, I don’t know if I want to do this anymore’.
“But if I stopped, would they be happy? If they were alive would they want me to stop? Are you going to let that define you as a person?”
While studying and playing football in Florida, Shaw lost her nephews, and understandably, she felt the urge to quit and return home.
She said: “Soccer is a way for me to forget a lot of things.
“It was a big risk leaving home and leaving my family, but sometimes you have to take chances and see how far it leads you.
“In the environment I was in, I knew I had to do something to help myself and my family.
“I lost four brothers and two nephews, and it was just… tough, especially at a young age seeing all this stuff happening around you.
“Sometimes you have to pull yourself together and my family played a big part in that. We have been through it all.”
The football star said that violence wasn’t limited to Jamaica because it happened “everywhere”, and it was important to make the best of the situation.
She added: “That’s what helped us get through it. You have a lot of negative thoughts but if you let them overthrow the positives, I would have stopped a long time ago.”
Born to George, a shoemaker, and Monica, a chicken farmer, Shaw came into the world just a year before Jamaica’s men’s team qualified for their first World Cup in 1998.
During summer holidays as a child, she would help her father with his business.
Shaw was eager to play football with her older brothers, but her mother initially discouraged her, thinking the sport was too rough.
However, when her brother Kentardo began coaching her at age 10, her exceptional speed, power, and skill quickly caught attention.
The Jamaican federation soon noticed her talent, and her mother changed her mind.
Around this time, Kentardo also gave her the nickname “Bunny,” which stuck.
