Erica Parkinson sits down with the GIRLACTICO team

It’s always an exciting moment when young players break into the senior England squad, but few have captured our intrigue quite like Erica Parkinson.

Most England internationals follow a familiar script: academy football, youth national teams, a breakthrough in the WSL, and then eventually, a senior call-up.

Erica Parkinson didn't.

The 18-year-old midfielder spent her childhood playing football in Singapore and Portugal alongside boys, before joining Valadares Gaia at 15, where she’s played senior football for years now. Her journey has unfolded thousands of miles away from England, where our attention is usually fixed on the young prospects progressing through the academies.

Which is why, when Sarina Wiegman's name flashed up on her phone from an unknown number back in March, it caught even Parkinson by surprise.

Just a few months after receiving her first England Under-23 call-up, the teenager found herself packing her bags to train alongside European champions and some of the biggest names in football.

Now, Parkinson reflects on the surreal moment she received the call, the senior players who helped her settle in, her unconventional journey, and her big ambitions for club and country.

The Call That Changed Everything

It’s always a nice surprise when you see a young player receive their first senior England call-up, but no one was quite as shocked by the squad announcement back in March than Parkinson herself.

“I was walking home by the beach with one of my best friends when I got a call from an unknown number. I thought ‘this is a bit strange’, but it’s from the United Kingdom so why not pick it up,” She recalls.

“Then when I heard the voice on the other side saying: ‘Hi Erica, it’s Sarina’, honestly I was just in shock, it was a surreal moment for me.”

Having her best friend there to celebrate with her made the moment all the more special, but it was her family she was most excited to share the news with.

“Right away I called my parents and they were overjoyed. They were at a meeting with my club so they were all together to hear the news and they had a celebratory drink. 

“I called my brother straight after as well because he also plays football, so he understands what it means, which is very nice to share.”

Even after hearing from Wiegman and sharing the news with all her loved ones, it still didn’t feel entirely real to Parkinson.

“It did take a while to sink in! As soon as I got the call-up, obviously I was overjoyed.

“But for me to actually realise that in the next week I was going to go on camp and get to play with these world-class players, that only came two or three days before I was going to fly off!”

Her Unconventional Journey to the Top

Parkinson’s route to the England setup doesn’t follow the usual blueprint, and she knows it.

Born in Singapore to a Japanese mother and English father, she grew up playing football almost entirely with boys. At 10-years-old, she moved to Portugal, where that same environment continued to shape her development.

“I played most of my football growing up with boys,” she says. “Even after moving to Portugal, I played with them until I was about 15.”

It was the challenge of playing alongside boys that laid the foundation for Parkinson to become the exciting and dynamic midfielder she is now.

“It really shaped me as a player, in terms of speed and technical ability. 

“As the boys started to get older, they got really physical and I had to find a way to move around that and combat it with other skills, which helped develop my technical abilities even more.”

That pathway eventually led to her current club Valadares Gaia, where she made her senior debut at just 15-years-old.

“They had a lot of trust in me, which I really appreciated.

“As a girl who had never played women's football to come straight into a first division team in Portugal, the coach is taking a risk.

“It's been an absolutely great three years and progression for me, I think it was one of the best ways I could have entered into women's football. 

“Even from a young age I was getting a lot of minutes, so I gained a lot of experience, which I'm really grateful for.”

Learning From the Lionesses

Stepping into the senior England set-up brought a different kind of experience, both on the pitch and off.

“It was a great feeling, I was just full of gratitude,” She says with a smile.

“To be in a position where I got to learn and experience something that young girls and young footballers have always dreamed of, and just being really present in the moment and trying to soak in as much as I could from the experience.” 

For Parkinson, having so many of the players she had always idolised and looked up to suddenly become her teammates was like a dream come true.

“Sometimes you're a bit starstruck when you're on the training pitch with some of the best players in the world.

“Lucy Bronze is an inspiration to me. The drive and determination that she has is something that really motivated me when I was younger.

“More position-specific, Georgia Stanway and Jess Park, especially in the last two or three years, are players that I've looked up to and wanted to try and be more like on the pitch.”

Just 17-years-old at the time, Parkinson was naturally unsure of what to expect being amongst some of the most experienced and successful players in women’s football, but the Lionesses immediately made her feel at home.

“When I walked in on the first day, Leah Williamson took me under her wing and told me all the little unspoken rules about camp. 

“Georgia Stanway, Hannah Hampton, Esme Morgan, and Jess Carter – I’m naming all these names, but honestly, all of them were really, really sweet people.”

But it was a piece of advice from one of England’s most senior players that particularly stuck with her.

“I had a nice chat with Alex Greenwood about the different phases of being a footballer, and one thing she said stuck out to me. 

“She said from the outside the England camp looks like a really scary environment, but the more you can just be comfortable and be confident within it, the better you're going to do and the more you're going to enjoy it. 

“That stayed with me, because I'm playing with world-class players but it doesn't mean that I can't still just be myself and enjoy being present there.”

Dreams of the WSL and Making it to the 2027 World Cup

Even after breaking into the senior England environment, Parkinson is already looking ahead, with the experience only strengthening her ambitions.

Playing in the WSL is firmly on her radar, but she’s in no rush to force the move.

“I have a lot of friends in the WSL and that’ll definitely be one of my goals in the future to play there when the time is right.

“I’m not set on a certain team, but the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City, and Manchester United, probably those three.”

What the senior England call-up did, however, was sharpen her perspective on what it takes to get to the top and stay there.

“[Getting called up] was definitely a big motivator for me, being in and around the environment and seeing the standard at which these games are held,” she explains. “For me, that’s very much a driving force in my training and in my next season.

“You have to dream big, [the 2027 World Cup] is definitely something I have my eyes set on, it would be an amazing experience to get onto that plane.”

But at just 18-years-old, Parkinson knows the opportunities will come in time for her with plenty of hard work.

“The outcomes aren’t always in your control. You can only control what you do, how you train, how you progress. 

“Working hard every day, setting goals, being ambitious, that’s what I’m focused on. And I’m going to work my hardest to try and achieve it.”

Growing with PUMA

For a young player like Parkinson who plays at such a high level, feeling confident and comfortable on the pitch is key.

PUMA boots are her choice for that reason, giving her the comfort and stability to play with freedom and express herself on the pitch.

From starting her journey into senior women’s football at Valadares, to working up the England age groups, to receiving her first senior international call-up, PUMA boots have been a crucial part of Erica’s journey throughout. 

“What stood out to me was PUMA’s prioritisation of women’s football and gear fully fit for women.

“That’s something really important to me, especially with all the research going into injury prevention, training schedules, and load management.” 

One of Parkinson’s favourite pairs of PUMA Boots is the FUTURE 8 ULTIMATE FG, which she’s worn both in Portugal and with the young Lionesses.

“The colorway is something really important to me, I like a nice flashy boot with a pop of color. 

“I think PUMA always manage to get that right in terms of their designs, which is something I like to have as a midfielder who wants to show off skills.”

Her boot of choice for her first senior England camp was the FUTURE 9 MATCH FUSION FG/AG

“They have a good balance of stability, but also allow it to be quite flexible, which is important for a creative player who has very quick changes of direction and skills.

“Injury prevention, the detail that they've put into it, and how they've managed to fit it for a woman, is something that brings me a lot of security. 

“It gives me a lot of confidence wearing PUMA boots on the pitch.”