Birmingham City prospect Layla Banaras has joined Wolves Women on dual registration; Banaras, who turns 18 later this month, is the first South Asian heritage woman to represent the Blues in the professional era
Tuesday 6 February 2024 10:57, UK
Birmingham City trailblazer Layla Banaras has joined Wolves Women on a dual registration.
Banaras is the first South Asian heritage woman to represent Birmingham in the professional era and has been a regular on the first-team bench in recent weeks as the club chase promotion back to the Women's Super League.
The teenager, who turns 18 later this month, made her first-team debut at the beginning of 2023, coming on as a substitute against Huddersfield Town in last year's Women's FA Cup.
Tough-tackling Banaras, whose mother is English and whose father is Pakistani, is a former Oasis Academy Hobmoor pupil - and started out playing football at Solihull Moors FC.
Banaras, who can play across defence and midfield, captained Birmingham's U16 side before stepping up to become a mainstay in the club's development side.
The versatile wing-back played the full 90 minutes as the youngest player on the pitch - aged just 16 years and 25 days - in the 2021/22 FA WSL U21 Academy Cup final against Manchester United at St George's Park, increasing the clamour for her to earn an England youth call-up.
Banaras was described as an outstanding youngster by former Blues manager Carla Ward, and earned plaudits after producing a nutrition guide and meal planner, launched on Sky Sports News, to better prepare Muslim athletes for fasting during Ramadan. Banaras was aged just 14 at the time.
The teenager, who has previously said she hopes to inspire other young Muslim girls to take up football, began developing a healthy-eating programme for players when they are fasting after finding very little guidance for players training through the Holy Month of Ramadan.
Banaras was cheered on by friends and family and team-mates past and present when she participated in the Queen's Baton Relay ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
She also featured in Birmingham City's kit launch ahead of last season, appearing alongside men's first-team academy graduate Brandon Khela as the club embraced their rich cultural diversity to promote their new strip.
For more stories, features and videos, visit our groundbreaking South Asians in Football page on skysports.com and South Asians in the Game blog and stay tuned to Sky Sports News and our Sky Sports digital.
