Steph Houghton MBE on her Honorary Degree, Football Success and Leeds

Steph Houghton MBE is a retired professional footballer who has absolutely transformed the women’s game throughout her years.

This year, we were lucky enough to welcome Houghton into LUU after she received an Honorary Degree as a Doctor of Law from the University of Leeds.

We joined her in conversation with your Activities and Opportunities Officer, Lydia Shale, and gained some insight into what her life is like as a successful woman in sport.

Houghton is a true leader and role model, becoming captain of the England team at only 26 and massively popularising the women’s game. She is also a huge activist for Motor Neurone Disease (MND) following her husband’s diagnosis in 2018, and has raised both funds and awareness for the disease.

This overwhelming support for multiple important causes and her success in making change is what makes Steph Houghton such an incredible and deserving choice for an Honorary Degree.

In her interview with Lydia Shale, she said she would never have expected to receive the degree, and was incredibly pleased to have eyes on her. Houghton said that having eyes on women in positions of power is vital to create more safe and interactive spaces for them, and felt honoured to be viewed as a role model.

The interview had a majority focus on her vision for the future of football, and the importance of putting women into the heart of the conversation. Houghton discussed future expansion of women’s football, putting more money and more teams into the equation.

They also discussed the possibility of the need for more education and publicity in women’s football, and the ways this can improve the fanbase and the game. The expansion of the women’s game is clearly very important to so many people, and is clearly the only direction for the future.