I went from dwelling on 8p noodles to the highest of girls’s soccer, says LUCY BRONZE

Lucy Bronze MBE is considered one of the best female footballers of all time. The right-back has won five Champions League titles – a record for an English player – and four Women’s Super League titles for teams including Barcelona, Liverpool, Lyon and Manchester City, writes Lee Boyce.

She has also won the European Championships twice with England in 2022 and 2025 – in the latter, Lucy scored in the quarter finals as the Lionesses came back against Sweden, and afterwards revealed she played the entire tournament with a fractured tibia.

The 34-year-old lives in Surrey and currently plays for Chelsea. She has been capped for England 144 times, putting her third on the all-time list.

What did your parents teach you about money?

My mum, Diane is a retired maths teacher, and dad, Joaquim, is obsessed with saving money – he’s always finding the cheapest way to fly back to Portugal.

We spent a lot of time in Portugal when we were younger and don’t come from much money at all. I grew up in a one-bed flat above a corner shop with my older brother Jorge, and by the time we were teenagers we had a nice little three-bed house in the North East, with my younger sister Sophie.

They taught me everything about looking after my money. When I was young, we had a lot of help from family. I would have chosen accountancy as a profession, if football hadn’t worked out.

Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?

I went to Leeds Beckett University and I had student loans. But I used my first pay cheque playing for England to pay them off.

At uni, I lived on 8p packet noodles and was in a six-bedroom house – one of the rooms was the living room, and I had that at one point. I worked part-time at Domino’s to make ends meet.

I remember my first car – a little red Vauxhall Corsa. I picked the one in the showroom they were trying to get rid of – I got a finance deal on it, £190 per month.

What was the best year of your financial life?

The past five or six years have been good, and I make more money now than I did ten years ago.

But for me, the first time I felt good was when I paid off my car, student loans and bought my first house – a three-bed in Manchester.

Being able to buy my first house from playing football and getting rid of all my debt felt like financial freedom. From there, I decided it didn’t matter how much money I got paid, it’s all a bonus. I can take care of myself.

I no longer had to worry about taking out more loans or asking family for money. That was huge.

As the game has grown over the years, I’ve earned more money.

The most expensive thing you have bought for fun?

Other than property, it’s watches. I loved Rolexes from a young age. I told myself, if I ever win the Champions League, I’ll buy myself a Rolex, because I’ll have the bonus. When I did win it with Lyon in 2018, friends said: ‘Well, where’s your Rolex?’

By the time I got it, I’d won my second Champions League!

What has been your biggest money mistake?

One of the hardest things about being a footballer is renting so many different places, so as soon as I came back to England [Lucy joined Chelsea from Barcelona in 2024], I decided to buy somewhere.

I’ve also helped family. My sister is eight years younger than me, and I helped her pay for a house.

It’s financially great for her, but not for me. I wouldn’t call it a mistake, though. She’s my little sister so I wanted to help – and she now has some financial freedom that I didn’t have at her age.

Best money decision you have made?

Property – but also finding a good financial adviser.

For a long time I kept my money in savings because I was so scared of finding a financial adviser. Being able to understand investments, to a certain extent, has been the best thing I’ve ever done, and it’s something that I tried to advise so many of the younger footballers to do.

I found my adviser through an agent recommendation.

It’s so important you understand what money is, what it can do for you, and how to take care of it.

Everyone says to me that I live the same as I did ten years ago, but I don’t need anything else.

I know that I’m in a position that, if I need something, I can get it and I can help people.

I go on holiday, have somewhere to live and can look after my family – that’s good enough.

Do you have a pension?

Clubs set up pensions automatically, and my adviser has collated all of them into one.

It’s difficult playing abroad, and one hurdle that is never spoken about is the taxes.

This includes how many days you’re allowed to come back to the UK without a tax change, and how to move your money across at certain times.

It’s quite boring: ‘Hey, you’ve joined Barcelona – now, let me tell you about the taxes!’

And you’re half asleep thinking, I need to spend less than 90 days in England. I didn’t like that I had to count the days.

I also get paid playing for England, which adds extra complexities. At the beginning, I was like, oh my god, why have I come abroad!

What is your number one financial priority?

To be comfortable enough to be able to retire on my own terms. [Lucy is reportedly on £200,000 per year and has previously stated she’s in the ‘lucky 1 per cent of Women’s Super League players’ who can live off their wages for the rest of their lives.]

Football is a short career. I’ll be retiring in the next few years, not in my 60s. I want to be financially secure enough that I’m not scrambling around for a job.

What will you do after football?

I like the governance side of the game – the decision-making and having a voice.

The women’s game is still in its infancy and there’s not always the right people listening or voices being heard. Having the career I’ve had, I’ve got so much to give. I enjoy helping other people and I love football, so for me, it’s a no-brainer to be involved in some way to help the game.

• Lucy partnered with Barclays Bank as part of Number Confidence Week.

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