Liv Cooke
Liv Cooke (born 20 April 1999) is a British professional football freestyler, current five-time world record holder, and former freestyle world champion. She is a BBC Sport presenter and UEFA ambassador, who has previously been awarded the Parliamentary Rising Star and Woman of the Future awards. Although best known for her freestyle football, social media videos, and television presenting, Cooke is also the founder of Liv Cooke Properties Ltd and co-founder of Winning Wealth Ltd. Biography. Cooke started playing football at a young age having grown up with her two older brothers, Jack and Sam. At  the age of 10 she joined Preston North End F.C. whilst also playing in Woodlea Junior School's football team. Cooke went on to study at Balshaw's Church of England High School, where she captained the girls' football team, and signed for the Blackburn Rovers F.C. Centre of Excellence at the age of 14. One year later, Cooke was side-lined by a recurring back injury and discovered freestyle football videos online. She began to learn the basics in her back garden and stopped playing football in 2015 to focus on freestyle. In 2016, at the age of 17 , Cooke left Runshaw College early to pursue a career as a professional football freestyler. Since becoming a professional freestyler, Cooke has diversified her career through social media and TV, ambassadorial roles, and founding several companies. Philosophy. Cooke has gone on record to talk about how the 'modern day influencer' is not necessarily a healthy role model for young people. Cooke has spoken on her belief that there should not be shortcuts to success and that hard work, manifestation and forced confidence are the keys to her career success. In an interview with journalist Drew Diamond, Cooke stated that in her  belief that the best and most talented in any field are not the people who go on to win but that mental strength is what creates champions. Career. In 2015, Cooke performed freestyle publicly for the first time at St Andrews Infant School in her local town of Leyland, Lancashire. This was quickly followed by her first professional event, where she performed at a Blackburn Rovers half-time show at Ewood Park. Since then, Cooke has become the youngest ever professional football freestyler, performing at events across the globe and working with a number of major organisations. Her work has  included performing at Qatar’s national sports day, becoming an ambassador for the UEFA ‘We Play Strong’ initiative designed to get more girls into football, and touring Australia to inspire children to get active. Commercially, Cooke has featured in a Channel 4 TV commercial, a number of Adidas commercials, and a LIDL advert. In addition, she has appeared on a number of TV shows including Match of the Day, Soccer AM, BBC and Fox Soccer News. Liv made her competitive freestyle debut in London in August 2016 at the Red Bull Street Style World Finals, where she placed 6th and  was the youngest qualifier. Later that year, Cooke qualified for the 2016 World Football Freestyle Championships in Melbourne. She finished second, making her the youngest ever finalist. Cooke broke her foot in the final, which ruled her out for several months. She returned to training in April 2017. In August 2017, Cooke qualified for the 2017 Super Ball open football freestyle championships in Prague. Once there, she won all of her battles to become the world football freestyle champion and the youngest in history to ever take the title. In 2018, Cooke became an ambassador for UEFA Women's Football , launching her own social media-based series 'Play Anywhere'. In 2019, Cooke became a global ambassador for UEFA Euro 2020. In September 2019, Cooke signed as a BBC Sport presenter. This role includes hosting the new MOTDx show, along with presenting features on Match of the Day. In September 2021 Cooke had to pull out of the Soccer Aid line-up due to contracting Covid-19. As of September 2021, Cooke was confirmed as the highest earning female athlete TikTok creator. On Saturday 2nd October 2021, Cooke appeared on CBBC show Saturday Mash Up, where she was gunged with 20 buckets  of slime after losing out in a vote against singer Nathan Evans. W1N. In May 2016, Cooke founded Girls ATW, which went on to become the world's leading female football freestyle agency. Although successful, Cooke folded the company in 2017 as she focused on training for the World Championships. Cooke subsequently re-branded in 2019 as W1N, which Cooke now uses as a platform for innovation; she designs, produces, and distributes freestyle-specific footballs and other gadgets to assist with freestyle football on the move, with all profits re-invested into supporting grassroots football. Liv Cooke Properties Ltd.. In  October 2019 Cooke founded Liv Cooke Properties Ltd., a company focused on residential real estate developments and investments.