Ava Kuyken

Ava Kuyken (born 15 June 2001) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Reading in the English Women's Championship. An Arsenal Academy graduate, Kuyken made her 1st team debut age 16 for the 1st team. She went on to make ten appearances for the Gunners, winning the FA WSL title and Continental Cup medals across the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons.

Ava Kuyken
Personal information
Full name Ava Kuyken
Date of birth (2001-06-15) 15 June 2001[1]
Place of birth England
Height 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Reading
Youth career
Arsenal
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2019–2021 Florida Gators 27 (1)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2019 Arsenal 10[1] (0)
2021–2022 Bristol City 15 (0)
2022–2023 Hibernian 18 (0)
2023– Reading 0 (0)
International career‡
2017–2018 England U17 9 (0)
2019– England U19 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15:59, 2 December 2018 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 January 2020

Club career

Arsenal Women Football Club

Kuyken made her competitive debut for Arsenal Women on 16 November 2017 against Watford in the Continental Cup as a substitute in the 80th minute, coming on for Heather O'Reilly. She made her Women's Super League debut on 7 February 2018 against Liverpool as a substitute in the 87th minute, coming on for Jordan Nobbs.[2] She was a regular named squad player throughout the 2017–18 season, when Arsenal won the Continental Cup, progressed to the final of the FA Cup and finished 3rd in the Women's Super League. She made four appearances in her first year with the 1st team.[3]

2018–19 saw another year with the Arsenal Women, alongside competing her A-Level studies at Cherwell School in Oxford. She made her first full debut on 5 December aged 17 with a 5,0 win against Charlton Athletic WFC in the Continental Cup. She made her full debut in the WSL[4] on 27 January 2019 against Reading WFC, in a game they won 3–0.[5] She was a regular named squad member throughout the season making, making 12 appearances in the WSL (7), 3 in the Continental Cup and 2 in the FA Cup. They won the 2018/2019 WSL League[6] and progressed to the Continental Cup Final losing to Manchester City in penalties.[7] She was named as youth player of the year in a round of the year by the Daily Cannon.[8] Alongside her first team duties Kuyken played with the Arsenal U21 squad. This included the FA Cup, which they won 4–0 against Manchester United.[9]

University of Florida

In August 2019, she took up a college scholarship with the Florida Gators, who compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Southeastern Conference.[10] As a freshman, Kuyken was a regular player, being one of only 19 freshman who have started regularly in the program's 25 year history.[11] She made 27 appearances for the Gators and scored one goal.

Bristol City Women

Kuyken played for Bristol City in the FA Women's Championship in the 2021–2022 season,[12] making 19 appearances for the Robins with 15 of those outings coming in the FA Women’s Championship.

Hibernian

In 2022–23, Kuyken played in the Scottish League with Hibernian.[13] She made 26 first team appearances for the club, scoring once.

Reading

In July 2023, Kuyken signed for Reading, returning to English football.[14] At the start of August, Kuyken was ruled out of the 2023–24 season after rupturing her ACL.[15]

International career

England

Kuyken was selected and played consistently for England through the U15, U16, U17, U18 and U19s youth teams. In 2017–18 the England U17 squad qualified via the elite rounds to the FIFA European finals in Lithuania. Kuyken made full appearances against Spain, Finland and Germany. They progressed to the semi-final, where they were knocked out by Germany. In 2019 with the U18s she played in a friendly games, including against Canada and Scotland. In 2019/2020, she was selected for the UEFA Women's U19 Championship Euros 1st qualifying round in Belarus.[16] They beat Cyprus 8–0 and Belarus 3–0.

Kuyken has dual UK-USA nationality.

References
  1. "England – A.Kuyken". Soccerway. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  2. "Liverpool Ladies 0–3 Arsenal Ladies". BBC Sport. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  3. Jamet, Sylvain (15 May 2018). "Arsenal Player of the Season top 3 plus youth PotS picked". Daily Cannon. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  4. "Florida Opens Season with 3–2 OT Win at Florida Atlantic". Florida Gators. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  5. "FA Women's Super League (Sky Sports)". SkySports. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  6. Wrack, Suzanne (29 April 2019). "Dutch magic and the Montemurro effect: the story of Arsenal's WSL title | Suzanne Wrack". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  7. Association, The Football. "Man City beat Arsenal on penalties to win Continental League Cup". www.thefa.com. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  8. Jamet, Sylvain (19 May 2019). "Top 5 Arsenal women players of the year". Daily Cannon. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  9. "U-16s and U-21s enjoying FA Cup success". www.arsenal.com. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  10. Hurley, Lee (25 November 2018). "Ava Kuyken to leave Arsenal for Florida Gators".
  11. "Florida Opens Season with 3–2 OT Win at Florida Atlantic".
  12. "✍️ Kuyken is a Robin".
  13. Dawson, Jack (4 February 2023). "Hibs midfielder Ava Kuyken aiming for titles as they prepare for Glasgow Women". Edinburgh Evening News.
  14. "Welcome, Ava | Another new face joins the Royals". Reading. 31 July 2023.
  15. "AVA KUYKEN RULED OUT FOR THE SEASON". readingfc.co.uk. Reading F.C. 10 August 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  16. "England squad named for UEFA Women's U19 Championship first qualifying round".
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