World Champion Freestyler Now Houses 600+ Abuse Survivors

Liv Cooke became freestyle football world champion at 18, then faced a question most people never consider: what do you do after achieving your biggest dream as a teenager?

The answer turned out to be even more remarkable than her athletic career. Today, the 26-year-old runs a property empire worth £10 million that has housed more than 600 women escaping domestic violence and sexual abuse.

Cooke's journey started conventionally enough. She joined Preston North End at age 10 and advanced to Blackburn's Centre of Excellence four years later. When injuries derailed her traditional football path, she pivoted to freestyle football and became the UK's first professional woman freestyler.

After winning the 2017 world championship and claiming seven world records, Cooke retired from competition. The transition hit hard, leaving her wrestling with what athletes rarely discuss: the emptiness after reaching the summit.

She found her answer in property investing, inspired by expert Grant Cardone. But Cooke developed her own unique approach, targeting the worst properties on the market.

The Ripple Effect

Cooke deliberately seeks houses nobody wants: properties so damaged that mortgage lenders won't approve them, with caved roofs and no heating. These uninhabitable wrecks become her raw material for transformation.

After renovating these forgotten properties, she primarily converts them into homes for women fleeing abuse. The work has given her a feeling she only experienced once before: the rush of winning a world championship.

"To see somebody experience safety for the first time in a long time, maybe even the first time ever in their life, it's a pretty powerful feeling," Cooke told talkSPORT. Watching women see their new rooms for the first time often brings them to tears of relief and gratitude.

Her approach challenges a common misconception: that profit and purpose can't coexist. Cooke insists the property industry offers a rare opportunity to be commercially smart and socially conscious simultaneously.

The business model works because she's solving a real problem. These properties were serving no purpose in the housing market before her intervention. By fixing them and bringing them back into use, she creates value while providing second chances.

Cooke also mentors others into property investing, working with firefighters, waiters, and accountants earning modest salaries. She teaches them to find deals, then partner with investors for finder's fees until they can afford their own projects.

The freestyle football world continues thriving without her. She's passed the torch to 18-year-old Isabel Wilkins from Bradford, now a three-time world champion herself.

Meanwhile, Cooke has built something that lasts longer than trophies: safe homes where frightened women can rebuild their lives, one renovated room at a time.

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