Olivia Smith (soccer)

About

Olivia Smith (born August 5, 2004) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Women’s Super League club Arsenal and the Canada national team. She was the first £1 million women’s football signing, from Liverpool.

Smith was born in North York, Ontario, but grew up in Whitby. She has described herself as being strongly focused on football from an early age, saying she was watching soccer “as soon as [she] came out of the womb”. She began playing soccer at the age of three, and her father was the coach of the first team she played for.
She has credited her father with shaping her focus, recalling that he would spend hours with her watching sports highlights and football books, later filming her matches, keeping a handwritten record of her goals, assists and touches, and taking her to early-morning training sessions in Brampton even in winter conditions. She first played house league with the Whitby Soccer Club, before playing at the competitive level with Oshawa Kicks SC, Ajax SC, Markham FC and then North Toronto SC. Afterwards, she joined the Ontario Regional Excel (REX) program (later renamed NDC Ontario), before returning to North Toronto…