AFC Wimbledon’s Ashleigh Goddard won Wayne Rooney’s Street Striker before launching her pro career… but Londoner had to learn how to walk again after a freak accident in match left her with life-altering injuries

Ashleigh Goddard won the second season of Wayne Rooney’s street striker but journey into professional football suffered a major setback after a freak accident.

The iconic Sky show, which aired over a decade ago, saw Rooney lead a nationwide search to find the country’s best young footballer. 

Goddard beat off strong competition to triumph before earning a scholarship to play at a college in Chicago.

She spent four years at DePaul University in Chicago, captaining the team for two of them before beginning her professional career with FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark.

Goddard returned to England to join Crystal Palace and had hopes of helping the team gain promotion to the Women’s Super League.

However, her life took a sudden turn for the worst after a freak incident during a match

Explaining the incident that changed her life, she told the BBC: ‘I went to receive the ball from a throw-in and I think her forearm hit me in the back of the head or the neck and I was unconscious for a few seconds.’

She suffered from headaches in the weeks that followed and a scan would reveal that she had a brain arteriovenous malformation, an issue which affects the blood vessels which connect the veins and arteries.

Further scans then revealed that the issue had developed into a potentially life-threatening brain aneurysm and she would need surgery.

Goddard had to relearn to walk after suffering a stroke but returned to the pitch in six months

‘They said it would burst at some point in my lifetime,’ Goddard said. ‘They couldn’t say if it would be tomorrow or in 20 years, but that I needed treatment. 

‘They said it would be either fatal or that it would cause a life-changing disability.’

Goddard eventually went under the knife to fix the problem in 2021. but was then met with another life-altering complication.

She continued: ‘I woke up and I couldn’t move my left side, I was paralysed.

Goddard joined AFC Wimbledon in the summer after 19 months with the London Bees

‘I couldn’t talk, my face had dropped, my arm couldn’t do the most basic of movements. They told me something was wrong but I would have never guessed a stroke.

‘It was the worst thing other than dying that could have happened.’

Goddard had to relearn to walk after suffering the stroke but was miraculously back playing for London Bees just six months later.

She added: ‘I had to learn to walk again, I had to learn how to use a knife and fork again and when it came to football I had to learn it all again.

‘I did thousands of reps of each type of pass and each touch and eventually things just started to get easier.’

The 31-year-old continues to inspire and joined AFC Wimbledon in the summer.