Cheyna Lee Matthews (; born 10 November 1993) is a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. Born in the United States, she represented

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

internationally.

College career

Vanderbilt

In 2012, Williams attended

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

, where she made 17 appearances, scored six goals and registered six assists her freshman year. Building on a successful season, she started all 18 games her sophomore year, scoring 16 goals and registering five assists. Her performance in 2013 named her First-Team All-SEC.

Florida State

In 2014, Williams transferred to

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

, where she would continue her form. She made 24 starts (26 appearances) and helped the Seminoles win their first NCAA National Championship in program history. Williams would finish her season year with an additional 25 games played and scoring 10 goals.

Club career

Washington Spirit (2016–2020)

Matthews was drafted by

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the USL W-League (1995� ...

in the 1st round of the

2016 NWSL College Draft The 2016 NWSL College Draft was the fourth annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 15, 2016, at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Convention ...

. She signed with the Spirit in April 2016. In her rookie season, Matthews played in 17 regular season games, 8 starts, totaling 779 minutes and scored three goals. The Georgia native scored her first professional goal on 31 July 2016 against

Sky Blue FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 un ...

. The team went on to make its first-ever

NWSL Championship The NWSL Championship is the annual championship game of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-flight women's soccer league in the United States. It is the culmination of the NWSL playoffs, which is contested by the teams with the ...

appearance, ultimately losing on penalties to

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American women's soccer club based in Elma, New York, that most recently competed in the United Women's Soccer league in 2018. They won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-Leag ...

. Matthews dressed but served as an unused substitute. The Spirit would struggle in the 2017 season but Matthews became a regular contributor making 21 appearances and scoring 5 goals (tied for second on the team). Matthews sat out the 2018 season due to pregnancy. Ahead of the 2020 season, the Spirit announced that Matthews would be taking a paid leave of absence to focus on her family situation, notably the potential for her husband,

Jordan Matthews Jordan Armand Matthews (born July 16, 1992) is an American professional football tight end. He played college football for the Vanderbilt Commodores and was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the 2014 NFL draft. Matthew ...

, to relocate within the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

. The paid leave was anticipated to last until May of the year and stipulated that Matthews could continue her career elsewhere, if necessary. In October 2020, Matthews was placed on the NWSL Re-Entry Wire by the Spirit.

Racing Louisville FC (2021–2022)

In November 2020, Matthews was selected off the NWSL Re-Entry Wire by

Racing Louisville FC Racing Louisville Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Louisville, Kentucky, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It began playing in 2021 at Lynn Family Stadium. The team i ...

Chicago Red Stars

She signed with

Chicago Red Stars Chicago Stars Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the Chicago metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league as the Chic ...

in March 2023. On October 13, 2023, Matthews announced her retirement from professional football.

International career

Matthews represented the United States at under–23 level in 2015. She was also eligible to play for

through her mother, who was born in

Portland Parish Portland (), with its capital city, capital town Port Antonio, is a Parishes of Jamaica, parish located on Jamaica's northeast coast. It is situated to the north of Saint Thomas Parish, Jamaica, St Thomas and to the east of Saint Mary Parish, ...

. In January 2019, she was called up by the ''Reggae Girlz'' for the first time, joining the team in a training camp to prepare the first

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

appearance in Jamaica history. She made her debut in a 1–0 friendly win against Chile on 28 February 2019. Matthews was selected for Jamaica's

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

squad. She made her World Cup debut during the team's first group stage match against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in Grenoble.

Personal life

Matthews married

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

wide-receiver

in February 2018 having met while both attended

. The couple have two sons together, Josiah and Lionel. Matthews is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. In March 2022, Matthews announced they were expecting a third son.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Cheyna 1993 births Living people Jamaican women's footballers 21st-century Jamaican sportswomen Women's association football forwards Jamaica women's international footballers 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players People from Hampton, Georgia Sportspeople from Henry County, Georgia Sportspeople from Lynn, Massachusetts Soccer players from Georgia (U.S. state) Soccer players from Massachusetts American women's soccer players Vanderbilt Commodores women's soccer players Florida State Seminoles women's soccer players Washington Spirit draft picks Washington Spirit players National Women's Soccer League players 21st-century American sportswomen African-American soccer players American sportspeople of Jamaican descent Racing Louisville FC players 21st-century African-American sportswomen 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players United States women's youth international soccer players