At the tail end of the most competitive season in the history of the Women’s Super
League (WSL) – the premier women’s football league in the world – Jamaican soccer
superstar Khadija “Bunny” Shaw has almost single-handedly shot Manchester City into
contention for the title.
At only 26 years old, her record-breaking performances have
many tipped her to be the best striker in women’s football for some time, and in March
she was named Barclays Women’s Super League Player of the Month.
Born and raised in Spanish Town, Jamaica, Shaw left home to attend Eastern Florida
State College where she earned NSCAA first-team National Junior College Athletic
Association All-America honors in 2016.
Shaw’s prolific form in front of the goal is nothing new. Before plying her trade in
England, the Reggae Girl regularly found the net for the French club FC Girondins de
Bordeaux. During the 2020/2021 season in the D1 Arkema Division 1 Feminine, Shaw
finished joint top goalscorer, but was pipped for the golden boot by Marie-Antoinette
Katoto who played for the French powerhouse Paris Saint-Germain.
In fact, Shaw’s form at Bordeaux was enough for many to consider her one of the best
strikers in the world. A return of 34 goals in 36 matches already puts you in the top
echelon, but in her short stint at Manchester City Women thus far, she has put together
a mind-breaking 43 goals in 52 matches. In the WSL alone, she made 16 goals in 17
matches. Her total goal involvements (goals combined with assists) have her at 20 in 17
matches. She is single-handedly responsible for more than half of Manchester City’s
goals. She’s recently broke the Manchester City Women’s scoring record in a single
season, firing the relative newcomer into an improbable title race with established
powerhouses Chelsea and Arsenal.
Shaw also holds the record as Jamaica’s all-time goal scorer and spearheaded the
famous 2019 campaign where the Reggae Girlz qualified for the Women’s World Cup
without a single training camp in preparation.
Just last year, the Girlz secured automatic qualification to the 2023 World Cup through
an emphatic performance against neighbors Haiti and advancing to the semi-finals of
the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship. Thanks to that 2019 group, and reinforced by
this class of 2023, grassroots Jamaican women’s football has had new life breathed into
it.
There are still ways to go for soccer to be a viable career path for Jamaican women, but
with each record broken and each goal scored, Khadija Shaw is demanding that the
world sit up and pay attention to these women balling out.
 - the premier women’s){kind=link}