Karen Carney MBE

Karen is the lead female analyst and pundit for men's and women's football on Sky Sports and ITV. Last winter she was in Qatar at the FIFA World Cup 2022 as the lead female pundit with ITV, where she made history as part of the first all female line-up analysing a men's football game. Most recently she was part of the Women's World Cup 2023 coverage team for ITV, including the nail-biter final.

In the Autumn of 2022, Karen was announced as the newly appointed Chair of the Future of Women's Football Review for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, looking into ways the Government can nurture and expand the game in the UK. The report has since been released in Summer 2023 and received widespread praise as a huge catalyst for positive change in the sport.

With 144 caps Karen Carney is England’s third-most capped player having made her international debut in 2005 at 17. As a former player for both England's Lionesses and Chelsea Ladies FC, Karen's expertise and experience playing at the very highest level of women's football at a Champions League final and competing at four World Cups and four European Championships. She also played for Team GB at the London Olympics in 2012.

Karen's most recent participation was at the 2019 World Cup in France where she announced her retirement from playing which has led Karen to become a much sought-after broadcaster.

After beginning her broadcast career covering all football with the BBC and BT Sport, she is now across Sky Sports Football output as their lead pundit for the Barclays FA Women’s Super League, and part of the matchday team for the Premier League and the EFL. From providing expert studio analysis in the UK, Karen hopped across the pond, delivering nationwide commentary on the UEFA Champions League for CBS in America.

Awarded an MBE in the 2017 New Year's Honours List for her services to football which was followed in 2021 with an induction into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame, where judges voted unanimously to include her “in recognition of her outstanding football career, her involvement in advancing women’s football and her overall contribution to the game on and off the field”.

She made her senior debut for England aged 17, against Italy in 2005. Her success was only just beginning when later that year she became an integral part of the team at the UEFA Women's Euro 2005, scoring a last-minute, game-winning goal in the win over Finland. At club level, Karen played for Arsenal FC, Birmingham City FC (becoming the first woman inducted into the club's hall of fame), and Chelsea Ladies FC. She also took her football skills stateside playing a season in the USA with the Chicago Red Stars where her roommate was Megan Rapinoe.