Appearances
FIFA World Cups: Germany 2006, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014, Russia 2018, France 2019.
Goals
For equality, integrity and sustainability in sport to go from being taglines to being fundamental.
On The Pitch
I have spent most of my playing career as a holding centre mid, outside winger, or left back. I’m left and right footed, run a lot, and at just under 6 ft am useful in the air. I like an open passing-oriented game and worship the hard working, selfless playmakers with vision and grit. Finally, if you are an egotistical diver I will make it my mission to ruin your game.
Teams
Arsenal has been my team since Bergkamp owned that midfield, and it earned my respect again when it started running their girls academy the same way they approached their boys teams. But having played for West Ham and Crystal Palace, I will also always have a soft spot for them. Whenever any of these aren’t on the pitch, then my vote goes to the team that puts in the best performance to deserve the win, with a lean towards the underdogs when they come out to remind us all of why we love this game so much.
Achievements
Playing in 2 NCAA Final Four tournaments, walking on to the UK Women’s Premiership to play 3 seasons during grad school studying war, being the first woman to play in Hong Kong’s Yau Yee Men’s football league, keeping up with competitive/professional teams from/in 7 countries, supporting/coaching teams for girls and women in warzones, and setting 5 Guinness World Records in football with my NGO Equal Playing Field, especially our first game at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.