Former Manchester United captain receives MBE

Recognition in football can sometimes feel delayed, especially when the game moves as quickly as it does now.

One week it is all about the next fixture, the next transfer link, the next contract call. The week after that, another cycle has already started.

That is why honours like this tend to land differently. They are not really about one performance, one trophy or one headline.

They are about the body of work, the years put in, and the weight a player has carried across different stages of the game.

For Manchester United supporters, Alex Greenwood remains part of an important chapter in the club’s modern story.

She was not just another player passing through. She was the first captain of the rebuilt Manchester United Women side, the figure trusted to lead the team through that opening campaign and into the Women’s Super League.

That made her central to a period that still carries real importance at Old Trafford now.

And today, that wider career has been recognised in a more formal way.

ITV have reported that Alex Greenwood received her MBE at Windsor Castle on Wednesday 11th March 2026, with the Prince of Wales presenting the honour for her services to football.

The Manchester City and England defender was honoured after being named in the New Year Honours list earlier this year.

It is a fitting next step in what has been an outstanding career.

Greenwood has gone from being one of the key figures in United Women’s first season back to becoming one of the most respected defenders in the English game, while also continuing to build her standing at international level with the Lionesses.

Greedwood’s won 107 caps for England, having reached her century during the country’s Euro 2025 triumph in Switzerland.

They also state that she has helped drive Manchester City to the top of the Women’s Super League this season under her captaincy.

For United, though, there is still a particular relevance here. Greenwood’s time at the club was short, but it mattered.

She helped give the project shape, leadership and credibility at a stage when the women’s side needed exactly that.

Promotion in that first season was the early platform, and Greenwood was right at the centre of it.

That is why this sort of recognition still feels like a United story too.

Her career has moved on, and successfully so, but her place in the club’s recent history is secure.