Steph Houghton

Katarina Johnson-thompson’s gold medal success at the World Championships was a personal highlight of the year for me. I was away with England at the time. We were in the physiotherapy room watching all the events when Johnsonthompson won. Everyone in the room was cheering.

She was unbelievable. She is so down to earth and humble and a dedicated professional. She is an inspiration to every other female athlete.

The highlight from my own sporting year has to be captaining England at the World Cup, which was an unbelievable achievement. It was my third World Cup for my country and performing the way we did was special.

Hearing the record-breaking TV viewing figures, with 11 million watching, was a really standout moment of the year. Two million people watched us at the 2012 Olympics, which at the time for women’s football was unbelievable. Also gratifying were the comments we heard when we got home. People were talking about incidents in the game, the minutes when they happened and the players involved. People were getting to know the girls and the squad and what we are about.

Next year promises to be another big one for women’s sport, with the Olympics, but from a football point of view we need bums on seats, we need people to come to watch club games. We are proving at international level that we are able to sell out stadiums.

We are going in the right direction in terms of women’s sport being just sport and people coming to watch a football match rather than a women’s football game. We are making great strides in terms of changing people’s views and their perceptions.