Bishop’s Stortford’s Kathryn Ashcroft celebrating England’s women’s walking football team winning World Nations Cup in Spain

Bishop’s Stortford’s Kathryn Ashcroft is celebrating leading England’s hugely successful women’s walking football team to their biggest triumph to date.

The player-manager was at the helm as the national team were victorious at the World Nations Cup in Torreveja, Spain.

England went through the tournament unbeaten, with their six-game winning streak culminating in beating France 1-0 in the final.

Ashcroft, 50, has been part of the England squad ever since it was formed following trials in 2019. She was the original captain before becoming player-manager three years ago.

She now has 32 international caps and had already been part of numerous successes at major tournaments, including two in Morocco, one in Italy and three in France, prior to the team lifting the World Nations Cup.

Ashcroft lives at Hockerill Anglo-European College with wife Lisa, who is a teacher and boarding deputy at the Dunmow Road school.

She is originally from Norwich and came to Stortford to be with Lisa - the couple got married just over a year ago - after Lisa landed the Hockerill job having previously been teaching and living in Dubai.

Ashcroft, who is a customer expert for insurance company Aviva, started playing football at the age of five with the boys in the school playground. She joined Norwich’s 11-a-side women’s team at 14, but stopped playing four years later before returning to the sport aged 41.

The England women’s walking football squad she is now part of has 12 members and they play six-a-side matches. The players have high-level experience in the women’s game having represented the likes of Aston Villa, Everton, Liverpool, Northampton and Chesham.

Their World Nations Cup adventure began with an opening ceremony before they beat Australia 5-0.

They also beat Japan 4-0, Wales 6-0 and the Czech Republic 3-1 before seeing off Spain 1-0 in the semi-finals.

England then overcame France in the final to get their hands on the silverware.

“This was our biggest, best and most prestigious competition we have won so far,” said Ashcroft.

“It showed the incredible growth of the sport and it was a great experience playing teams from Japan and Australia.”