I worked in a chippy on matchdays, now I'm an England World Cup finalist

But that wasn't the case for many Lionesses, who spent the earlier stages of their careers working odd jobs as they waited for opportunities.

England and Tottenham centre forward Bethany England in particular spent four years playing for Barnsley's youth team before moving to an all-girls team after being scouted by Sheffield United's women's academy.

She then signed for Doncaster Belles at 16 years old, soon establishing herself in their first team.

But as England was working her way up with the Yorkshire outfit, she was also balancing doing A Levels and doing shifts in a Barnsley chippy.

With shift patterns ranging from 9pm to 5am, England had the task of cleaning up the city centre's night life's food on a regular basis.

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What's even more jaw-dropping is she would often have to work on match days, sometimes having just three hours sleep before heading off to bang in goals for the Belles.

But her hard graft serving up cod and chips paid off big time, with her earning a move to Women's Super League giants Chelsea in 2016 after helping Doncaster to promotion.

"Everyone's journey is different," England said in 2020. "I can't say mine has been easy. It's just been a long old roll, just putting myself out there, trying to prove myself.

"I have always been a grafter. My parents brought me up to never give up and be a worker."

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After netting 99 goals in the WSL for the Blues and being hailed as the best English no.9 during her time there by manager Emma Hayes, England moved to Tottenham for domestic women's transfer record of £250,000 this summer, playing a huge role in helping Spurs swerve relegation.

Down under, the 29-year-old has proved to be a fantastic attacking option for the Lionesses in their run to the World Cup final, coming on against Denmark, China, Nigeria and Colombia.

But regardless of the result, not everyone can say they went from frying fish to World Cup finalist.

Listen to live talkSPORT commentary of the Women's World Cup final between England and Spain at 11am on Sunday