Meet the Jamaican star set to rock the World Cup

Shaw’s outstanding year with Manchester City saw her score 20 times in 22 appearances which led to her signing a two-year contract extension which will keep her at City until 2026.

Shaw’s rise to prominence in the women’s game has her set to be one of the stars at the upcoming World Cup with Jamaica drawn in a tough group alongside France and Brazil.

Shaw though believes the underdog tag sits well with Jamaica as they head into the tournament ready to cause an upset or two with the star striker eager to prove her team is good enough to qualify out of the group.

“We believe our best is good enough at the end of the day. We have goals, we want to come out of the group stages,” Shaw told DW.

Under the tutelage of head coach Lorne Donaldson Jamaica has transformed their playing style into one that looks to keep possession as well as to attack with a verve and confidence utilising the pace and power of Shaw.

Shaw’s rise to the top of the women’s professional game has not been without its challenges. She lost three brothers to gang violence and one to a car accident while she was growing up in Jamaica. Her mother also carried preconceived ideas and doubts about Shaw’s love and drive to be a professional footballer especially when the national team was disbanded in 2010.

Her path may have been very different if not for the intervention of the daughter of music legend Bob Marley, Cedella Marley, who helped attract sponsors as well as organising fundraising events to revive the national team.

While Jamaica’s national set up was getting a facelift, Shaw was busy impressing scouts with her performances in the nation’s youth team.

She was given a scholarship at Eastern Florida state college before she gained the attention of the University of Tennessee.

Shaw admits she is one of the lucky ones and without these opportunities she would most likely still be in Jamaica.

“If someone from overseas hadn’t seen me and mentioned me, I’d probably still be in Jamaica,” Shaw told DW.

Shaw’s opportunity to showcase her ability to an even wider audience presented itself at the Women’s World Cup in France in 2019, with French club Bordeaux snapping up her services immediately afterwards.

She repaid the club’s faith and belief in her by scoring 32 goals in 35 games for Bordeaux across two seasons. Those eye-catching performances earnt Shaw a move to Manchester City in 2021 where she has continued her blistering goal scoring ratio.

Shaw’s success though has not resulted in any real change back in Jamaica when it comes to women’s football and the pathways created for aspiring female footballers.

Shaw remains one of the few players on the national team who was born in Jamaica, with a vast majority of the squad born either in USA or the United Kingdom.

However, Shaw remains at the forefront of a shake-up and the striker’s ability to affect change within the Jamaican Football Federation through her growing public profile is one she has embraced and accepted.

“I always try to empower others and embrace the opportunities, and encourage everyone in the Caribbean,” Shaw told DW.

Shaw will be hoping her own individual efforts, as well as the Jamaican team’s performances, will inspire young girls back home as she pushes for real change within the Jamaican Football Federation when it comes to the key questions of support and funding.

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