Nikita Parris

Club career Everton

Parris made her senior-team debut (The FA archives report Parris played 45 minutes on 9 May 2010.) In August 2010, she played her second match during the qualifying tournament for the 2010–11 UEFA Women's Champions League. During a match against Borec on 7 August 2010 she scored a brace, helping Everton to a 10–0 win. Parris played in five matches for Everton during the 2010–11 UEFA Women's Champions League. Following her 2014 performance, she was placed on the shortlist for the 2015 PFA Women's Young Player of the Year, was selected for the WSL Team of the Year, and was named Everton's Player of the Year.

Manchester City (loan) Parris joined Manchester City on a season-long loan in January 2015, reuniting with former teammates Toni Duggan and Jill Scott, who had left Everton two seasons prior, as she thought she needed to play in WSL 1 to contend for a place on the senior England national team. During a match against Liverpool, she scored an equaliser in the 54th minute, another header, this time off of Izzy Christiansen's free-kick. Manchester City finished in second place during the regular season with a record. During the 2016 FA WSL season, she scored one goal in 16 games. On 29 April, her game-winning goal in the 40th minute cemented the team's 2–0 win against Sunderland. City finished in first place during the regular season with a record.

Parris made her UEFA Women's Champions League debut for Manchester City on 6 October 2016 during the team's 2–0 win over Zvezda-2005 Perm in the Round of 32 of the 2016–17 tournament.

During the FA WSL Spring Series in early 2017, she scored three goals in the six games that she played. During the 2017–18 FA WSL season, she was a starting forward in 17 of the 18 games she played and scored 11 goals, She scored her second brace of the season against Liverpool on 11 February to lift Manchester City back into first place. In May, she scored a hat-trick against Yeovil Town. Manchester City finished in second place during the regular season with a record

Parris competed with Manchester City in eight matches of the 2017–18 UEFA Women's Champions League. and Linköpings FC. Parris helped Manchester City reach the semi-finals where they were narrowly defeated 0–1 (aggregate) by eventual champions, Olympique Lyonnais.

In November 2017, Parris signed a new contract with Manchester City through the end of the 2018–19 FA WSL season. During the 2018–19 season, Parris scored 19 goals in 19 games. She was the second-highest scorer in the league for the season, the highest all-time WSL goalscorer, and second in the all-time assists. Parris began her season goal scoring with a brace in Manchester City's 4–0 win against Everton on 20 September. She scored another brace during the team's 7–1 win against West Ham United. At age 24, she became the Women's Super League's all-time top goalscorer on 4 November 2018 after scoring a brace in the team's 3–0 win against Liverpool. Her 37 goals inched ahead of former Chelsea striker Eniola Aluko. She scored her fourth brace of the season during a 3–0 win against Brighton & Hove Albion on 27 January 2019, including a penalty kick in the third minute of the match. Parris notched a hat-trick in the first half of the team's 4–3 win against Reading. Manchester City finished in second place behind Arsenal with a record. earned City a berth to the 2018–19 FA Women's League Cup Final where they defeated Arsenal in penalty kicks after a 0–0 draw and extra time. The same year, she helped Manchester City win the 2018–19 FA Women's Cup in front of 43,264 fans at Wembley Stadium.

Parris competed with Manchester City in the team's two 2018–19 UEFA Women's Champions League Round of 32 matches

On 11 May 2019, Parris announced she would leave City at the end of the 2018–19 season. During her time at Manchester City, Parris made 127 appearances for the club, and scored 62 goals. Her 25 assists ranked second all-time in the league after Karen Carney with 35. In 2019, Parris was voted the Football Writers’ Association Women's Player of the Year. Parris scored her first league goal for the club, on her debut, in a 6–0 win against Marseille on 24 August. Parris' two goals in a 5–0 home win over Montpellier on 23 February were her last of the season Olympique Lyonnais finished first in the league and secured a berth to the 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League. Parris added four goals in six 2019–20 UEFA Women's Champions League appearances, Olympique Lyonnais won the Champions League title for the fifth consecutive time after defeating VfL Wolfsburg 3–1 in the 2020 UEFA Women's Champions League Final. This marked Olympique Lyonnais' seventh Champions League title.

Parris scored her first goal of the 2020–21 Division 1 Féminine season in a 3–0 win against Reims on 11 September 2020. During a match against Soyaux on 13 November, she scored a double to lift Olympique Lyonnais to a 5–1 win. She scored 4 goals in 26 minutes against Issy lifting Olympique Lyonnais to a 9–0 win in December. Parris scored a double against Paris FC on 22 January 2021 increasing her goal tally of the season to eleven.

Arsenal Following two seasons with Olympique Lyonnais, Parris returned to the Super League, signing with Arsenal for a club-record fee on 2 July 2021. She scored her first goal for the club on her 18 August debut versus Okzhetpes in the Champions League. She scored her 50th goal in the WSL in the match against Aston Villa on 1 May 2022.

Manchester United

On 6 August 2022, Parris was confirmed to have signed for WSL club Manchester United.

In November 2023, after scoring 6 goals across 6 games, including a hat trick against Everton in the 2023–24 League Cup, Parris was voted Manchester United's Player of the Month with 64% of the fan vote. as United's top scorer for the season with 13 goals in 16 games, including 6 WSL goals and 5 League Cup goals. In May 2024, Parris was a part of the Man United squad that beat Tottenham 4–0 in the 2024 Women's FA Cup final.

Brighton & Hove Albion On 13 September 2024, Parris joined fellow WSL side Brighton & Hove Albion. On 5 October, she scored her first goal for Brighton against Aston Villa in a 4–2 league win.

On 22 July 2025, it was announced that Parris had left Brighton following the expiry of her contract.

London City Lionesses On the 26th of July 2025, newly promoted WSL club London City Lionesses announced that they had signed Parris on a two year contract. On 14 September 2025, Parris scored her first goal for the Lionesses in a 5–1 loss to her former club Manchester United.

International career England Youth Parris represented England from under-17 to under-23 age groups, scoring over 20 goals at youth level.

In 2012 U-19 Championship qualification, Parris scored the winning goal against Finland and a hat trick against Wales, helping England under-19s qualify for the final tournament. In April 2013, for 2013 U-19 Championship qualification, she scored against Hungary and Norway, followed by goals against Wales and Denmark in the final tournament in August 2013, with the under-19s becoming runners-up in the competition, as well as qualifying for the 2014 U-20 World Cup. Parris then represented the England under-20s at the U-20 World Cup, scoring the opening goal against Nigeria in a 2–1 defeat, as well as represented England U23 against Sweden and Norway in preparation in June 2014.

In 2015, she was described as an integral part of Mo Marley's under-23 squad, with the U23 manager confident she would reach the senior team, describing her as "a really, really good talented player", and that "hopefully a senior England squad call-up beckons for her".

Senior

On 4 June 2016, Parris made her senior international debut for England as a substitute in England's Euro 2017 qualifying victory over Serbia. She registered one assist as England won 7–0. Three days later, Parris once again came off the bench in the reverse fixture, this time scoring twice as England repeated the 7–0 scoreline.

On 27 July 2017, Parris scored her first goal in a major tournament, netting the winner in England's 2–1 final group stage win against Portugal at Euro 2017. Parris and her England teammates pointedly ran to celebrate with coach Mark Sampson after her goal in their next match against Russia. At the time Sampson was facing various allegations of unfair treatment and discrimination towards teammate Eniola Aluko. Aluko stated, "For the most together team in the world tonight's "message" only shows a level of disrespect that represents division and selfish action" and later spotlighted the lack of diversity in English women's football. Sampson was fired the day after the Russia game but later won a "significant" settlement when he brought an unfair dismissal case against The FA. In June 2020, against the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement, Parris changed her mind about the situation and apologised to Aluko in an open letter. She called the celebration with coach Sampson a "thoughtless action" that showed ignorance as well as a lack of empathy and understanding.

England finished at the top of Group D after being undefeated in all three matches. After England defeated France 1–0 in the quarter-final, the team was defeated 3–0 in the semi-final by eventual champion the Netherlands.

On 2 March 2019, Parris scored against the United States in a 2–2 draw at the 2019 SheBelieves Cup, a tournament England won for the first time. Her six goals ranked first in 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification (UEFA) and helped secure a spot at the tournament later that year.

In 2019, Parris' spot on the England roster at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was announced by David Beckham. Parris scored her first World Cup goal and England's first in the 2019 World Cup during their opening group game, a penalty in a 2–1 win over Scotland. She was named FIFA's Player of the Match. Parris also took a penalty in England's next game, the fourth consecutive World Cup match England had won a penalty in, but had it saved by Argentina goalkeeper Vanina Correa. England won 1–0. After Parris missed her second penalty in a 3–0 win over Norway in the quarter-final, England manager Phil Neville added: "She's missed two penalties and they have both been really good saves. She'll take the next one. She is our best penalty taker." However, when England were awarded yet another penalty in their 2–1 semi-final defeat by the United States, Neville demoted Parris from penalty-taking duties in favour of the captain Steph Houghton. Houghton's poorly-struck penalty was saved and England went on to finish the tournament in fourth place. On 28 August, Parris revived her penalty form by rescuing a 3–3 draw against Belgium in an international friendly. This was followed, five days later, by an assist for Georgia Stanway's opener in a 2–1 defeat to Norway.

In June 2022 Parris was included in the England squad which won the UEFA Women's Euro 2022.

Parris was allotted 196 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England's inaugural international.

After a strong start to the season for Brighton & Hove Albion, Parris was called up for the upcoming Nations League matches, making a return to the squad following a two year absence.

On 26 February 2025, Parris came on as a substitute in their Nations League match against Spain. This marked her first match for England since 15 November 2022.

Great Britain On 27 May 2021, Parris was called up for her first Olympic Games, being selected for the Great Britain team for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Parris scored in a pre-tournament friendly against New Zealand, with the match ending 3–0. She appeared in all four of Great Britain's tournament games.

Career statistics Club

International + Appearances and goals by year

Coupe de France: 2019–20 Trophée des Championnes: 2019 UEFA Women's Champions League: 2019–20

Manchester United Women's FA Cup: 2023–24; runner-up: 2022–23

England u19 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship runner-up: 2013 SheBelieves Cup: 2019 Arnold Clark Cup: 2022

Individual Everton Player of the Year: 2014 Freedom of the City of London (announced 1 August 2022) Women's Super League: all-time leading scorer from 2018 to 2020

Style of play

"International football’s a much quicker environment. You have to move the ball quicker and make decisions quicker. I’ve stretched myself and I make decisions very quickly now. You can’t overthink when chances come, you’ve got to take them. But I’ve also got more maturity, more composure in the final third. I’m calmer in front of goal. When I was younger, I was so fixed on scoring I’d snatch at chances. I’d forgotten about the process you need to go through before you shoot. Now I know that if you get that process right, scoring’s the easy part." — Nikita Parris, June 2018 Described by teammates as "down to earth" with "exceptional gifts framed by a fierce determination and a maturity", Parris is known for her wit, ability to learn quickly, and fast-moving feet.

Former England manager Phil Neville noted in 2019 that Parris is "world class". The Telegraph described her as "an exhilarating footballer, a pain to face on the pitch" and her style of play as "fast and clinical".

Gaffer described her greatest attribute as foresight and credited her for her "grounded, thoughtful and hungry" leadership qualities.

Personal life Parris is a younger sister of boxer Natasha Jonas. She is a practising Catholic and a former altar girl.

In 2020, Parris founded the NP17 Football Academy, which offers sports qualifications to students in Liverpool. The academy, based at The City of Liverpool College, is supported by international sportswear company Puma, which donates sports equipment. Other partners include the Liverpool City Council and the City of Liverpool College.

Parris is sponsored by multi-national finance company Visa and Puma. In June 2019, she was featured in a promotional video for Visa and the 2019 World Cup. Parris has been featured along with her national teammates in the EA Sports' FIFA video game series since FIFA 17, a year after women players were included in the game for the first time.

In June 2019, a large mural of Parris was unveiled on Liverpool's London Road. The same year, a Parris mural by Honduran artist Javier Espinal and local youth was unveiled at the Metropolitan Methodist Centre in Toxteth.