Alex Scott meets Olivia Smith to Eat & Yap about Canada, Jamaica and more

In BBC Sport’s new Eat & Yap series, Alex Scott meets some of the best Women’s Super League players to share the food they love and grew up eating, and talk about life on and off the pitch.

Watch the interview in full now on BBC iPlayer

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Olivia Smith will forever be the women’s game’s first seven-figure player.

Aged 15, she won her first senior Canada cap while playing college football in her homeland.

Aged 18, she signed her first professional contract with Portuguese club Sporting, announcing her arrival with a goal and an assist on her debut.

Aged 19, she moved to the Women’s Super League (WSL) to play for fallen giants Liverpool, starring on the right wing as the two-time champions avoided relegation back to the second tier.

In July 2025, European champions Arsenal broke the broke the world record to bring 20-year-old Smith to north London.

In the first episode of Eat & Yap the Arsenal and Canada superstar sat down with Alex Scott to tuck into some tasty dishes that reflect her life growing up in Canada and her Caribbean roots, while revealing her footballing idols, a love of Yorkshire puddings and much more.

Alex Scott: So I was told I have to bring maple syrup.

Olivia Smith: Yeah, you’re a gem. Maple syrup. Lovely. First of all, I always have, for example, pancakes before a match. I just like pancakes and I always need to have maple syrup. Honestly, I eat this with everything.

Alex: When was the last time you were actually at home in Canada?

Olivia: Oh – probably in the summer, as I spent my Christmas here.

Alex: What do you think of home? Can you build a picture for me of what life was like for you growing up back home?

Olivia: I have a younger sister, so we grew up together. My family were all kind of goofballs I would say. So just playing games a lot, we’re always outside, we have dogs as well. So I’ve grown up with dogs and just go to the park, play football, play with the dogs. That’s kind of like what a typical day would look like.

Alex: So your sister plays football?

Olivia: Yeah.

Alex: What position does she play?

Olivia: Midfielder, winger, striker.

Alex: So does she look up to you and want to follow in your footsteps?

Olivia: I hope so, but she claims she’s better than me!

Alex: Does she literally watch your games and say «You should have been doing this» or «You should have scored that goal»?

Olivia: Yes – she sends me snapchats of my game and says «Why did you do that?» I’m like, well, «What would you have done?»

Alex: What did she think when you made your move to Arsenal?

Olivia: She was so excited. I mean she also looks up to a team like Arsenal, she loves watching me play so then for me to get the opportunity and really be a role model for her playing with girls like Alessia [Russo] and Leah [Williamson], it’s amazing. She’s really excited for me.

Alex: Who do you look up to back in Canada?

Olivia: Christine Sinclair. She’s a huge legend in the game of course, and also Marta. Then I love watching the men’s game as well, so I was always looking up to Neymar, Ronaldinho, Messi, players like that.

Alex: What did your family make of you playing football?

Olivia: I think my dad really grew me into football and he kind of paved the way for me. He made so many sacrifices for me to be where I am today. I also wanted it and he could see that.

Alex: How would your family and friends describe you?

Olivia: Oh, ambitious, crazy… just attacking-minded. My dad always described me whenever I’d play as I’d just take the ball off my own team-mates to go score a goal!

Alex: What was it like for you to make that transition when you finally moved away from Canada playing football?

Olivia: It was quite tough, although I had been away from home for a bit before that. But going to Portugal, for example, it’s a whole new world. Different language, different style of football. So having to learn that really on my own was quite tough. But the support system that I had around me was great, so I was able to adapt, I’d say, quite quickly, which is nice.

And then, obviously, coming over to England, then that’s a whole other environment, style of play, different kinds of people. And obviously it just takes a little bit [of time] to get comfortable. Once you make friends and you’re happy, it makes a world of difference on the pitch and off the pitch.

Alex: What would you say is the biggest thing you’ve learned about yourself?

Olivia: I would say I always thought I was quite independent, but coming here and my ability to make relationships with people on my team and outside of football as well, it has really helped me to acclimatise to what life is like here.

Alex: So we need to explain your background. The Jamaican food – your dad – Jamaican roots, right? And I learned your mum has Chilean and Peruvian roots. What was dinner like at home?

Olivia: Dinner looks different pretty much every day and especially when my grandparents would come by to cook. That’s when you know it’s on top. So we’d have jerk chicken and my grandpa would make oxtail and my grandmother would make something called seco.

Alex: What’s seco?

Olivia: It’s like a [Peruvian] meat stew and rice, and it’s in a green sauce – it’s really nice.

Alex: And your grandads played football?

Olivia: Yeah both of them.

Alex: So when they come round, were there football matches? Were you watching them?

Olivia: I was always playing with them when we went on vacation to the Dominican – we always found a pitch and then we would play pick-up games with random people. My grandparents would join, I would join, my dad and my sister – it was always fun.

Alex: What’s your typical day off looking like?

Olivia: It depends on the day and how I feel, but I do pretty much like to stay at home. I like to watch movies, binge watch, I also play video games as well. So, yeah, games, probably a little bit of shopping because I love to shop.

Alex: Right. So if you’re not playing football, you are..?

Olivia: Watching a movie.

Alex: If one song could be playing when you score a goal, what would it be?

Olivia: I’m going to go with A Milli [by Lil Wayne] because I have that on my pre-match playlists. I think every game.

Alex: The last thing you wrote in your phone notes was?

Olivia: Oh. A bunch of numbers. I was playing an escape room game, so I needed to write down all these numbers so I could put it into a code.

Alex: Since moving to England, what’s one thing that you’re just like «I absolutely love this»?

Olivia: I fell in love with Yorkshire puddings and a Sunday dinner. It’s my favourite thing – I absolutely love them now.

Alex: Not many people love Yorkshire puddings.

Olivia: Well, initially I wasn’t sure. I was very hesitant because I had in my mind, like gravy on bread. And when I tried it for the first time I thought – how do you even describe Yorkshire puddings?

Alex: Let’s think about when we’re looking ahead to the season, what are your goals and ambitions?

Olivia: Ultimately, I want to become a better version of myself as a player. I know there’s a lot of things I need to develop on, and being at Arsenal that will definitely help me. And ultimately I want to win things.

Alex: Do you feel that you’ve settled in and the reasons that made you want to come to the club are starting to open up to you?

Olivia: Yeah, 100%. I think the first couple of months it was a lot to really take in, but the girls have been amazing making me feel comfortable.

Alex: Talk me through that first day when you arrived at Arsenal.

Olivia: I was absolutely terrified, yeah, because every time we played Arsenal it was just a massive game. Obviously you never know what the environment is like from the outside, and I didn’t know what to expect. And walking in, it was the complete opposite of what I thought it would be – everyone was just so welcoming.

Alex: Who’s the MVP, the person that if they weren’t there tomorrow you’d be thinking «this feels strange»?

Olivia: Less [Russo] really. She just has that personality and that vibe that you can feel at the training ground. It’s just very comfortable and you can speak to her about anything. She’s just very sweet.

Alex: Renee [Slegers] has just signed a new three-year contract. In terms of the other managers that you’ve played for, how is she different?

Olivia: She’s just very ambitious and I feel like that goes for all around the club. Her values match [the club] and match the players as well, so I think that’s just a really great thing to have, and also stability – knowing that she’s going to be here for the next three years. To have a female empower us – I think that’s her big thing as well, that she wants the players to feel empowered and use our voices – which every time that I’ve spoken to her I’m like, yeah, that’s impressive.

Alex: Do you know about my history with Renee? I used to be her teacher when she first came over. I was a teacher at the Arsenal Academy at the time so it’s kind of full circle to see her go on to manage the team. She knows what being at the club means for everyone.

Alex: Talking of the next thing, when you’re looking at you and your career, what is it that you want to tick off? What do you want to achieve?

Olivia: Oh, there’s plenty of things I want to achieve. I want to win everything, ultimately. And again, the biggest thing is I just want to keep developing and growing as a person and a player. I think that’s really important to me, just continue to develop my character, meeting more people and just learning.

Alex: You said meeting more people. How have the Arsenal fans embraced you?

Olivia: They’ve been amazing. I attended the [Arsenal Women fan engagement project] Block by Block consultation a couple of weeks ago where we discussed how we can make matchdays better.

It was really fun because I got to interact with the fans more on a personal level rather than them being up in the stands and just clapping – actually having a conversation and seeing what we can do to make the experience better for them, but also for us as players. Whether that’s music, fireworks, just making it more fun.

Alex: I bet the fans must have been buzzing. Did they know that you were turning up?

Olivia: I’m actually not sure, but they seemed quite shocked when I pulled up!

Watch: Arsenal v Chelsea in the Women’s Super League on Saturday, 24 June (12:30 GMT) on BBC One and BBC iPlayer