Katie McCabe


Katie McCabe is an Irish international footballer who plays for English club Arsenal. She made her debut for the Republic of Ireland women's national football team in March 2015.

Club career

McCabe was playing for Raheny United when the Women's National League was formed in 2011 and 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. McCabe missed four months of the 2013–14 season with a broken leg. In 2014–15 McCabe scored 23 WNL goals for Raheny, two behind top scorer Áine O'Gorman of UCD Waves.
For the 2015–16 season, McCabe remained with the club in their new guise as Shelbourne Ladies. In December 2015 she signed for London club Arsenal Ladies, rejecting competing offers from Glasgow City, Chelsea and Manchester City.
McCabe joined Glasgow City on loan in August 2017, for the second half of the Scottish Women's Premier League season.

International career

At the 2014 UEFA Women's 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 Women's 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 Women's 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.

Personal life

Katie is the younger sister of Gary McCabe, who is also a footballer. In 2014 McCabe was recruited by Florida State University to play for the Florida State Seminoles women's soccer team, but the move collapsed when she broke her leg. She is openly lesbian. In June 2019, she revealed that she has been in a relationship for three years with fellow player Ruesha Littlejohn, and that women's association football is very accepting of LGBT people.

Honours

;Raheny United
;Arsenal