Born June 29, 1993, Kirby was born and raised in Reading with her brother Jamie and parents Denise and Steve. Inspired by watching her brother play, Kirby started playing soccer when she was little. Her ethnicity is English, as both her parents were British.
Kirby played at school, in the street and in the garden whenever she had the chance. Her mother, Denise, predicted in a birthday card when she was a young girl that she would go to a World Cup because she was her biggest supporter.
Sadly, Fran’s mother suffered an unexpected brain hemorrhage when she was 14 years old. The same illness claimed his life later. Following the death of her mother, she fell into a deep depression two years later.
Kirby played against boys while attending Caversham Park and Chiltern Edge Primary School in Sonning Common. She enrolled at Reading academy aged 7 and at 16 she made her senior debut.
The Chelsea footballer was a member of the England Under-23 squad early in her career. In June 2014, she became the first WSL 2 member to be called up to the senior squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Belarus and Ukraine.
Although she was listed on the substitutes’ bench for the match against Belarus, she did not participate. In an exhibition match at Victoria Park in Hartlepool in August 2014 against Sweden, she scored the second goal to make her senior international debut.
At the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia, Kirby was described as an “outstanding player” for the gold medal-winning British team. She later represented the UK at the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
