Ella Beth Morris (born 23 September 2002) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

club

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. She has previously represented England at under-17, under-19 and under-23 levels.

Early life

Morris began her youth career at the Hampshire Centre of Excellence aged 7, joined

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

at the age of 14, and featured as part of the under-16 team in the Talent Pathway League. She attended

Barton Peveril Sixth Form College Barton Peveril Sixth Form College is an Ofsted 'Outstanding' sixth form college located in Eastleigh, Hampshire, UK with approximately 5,000 students, aged 16–18. It is part of the Wessex Group of Sixth Form Colleges. History Originally Bart ...

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the United Kingdom 2011 census, 2011 census. The town ...

, Hampshire.

Club career

Morris first featured for

in the

Southern Region Women's Football League The Southern Region Women's Football League is at the fifth and sixth levels of the English women's football pyramid, with the seven other Regional Leagues – Eastern, London & SE, South West, West Midlands, East Midlands, North East and ...

2018–19 season, scoring 2 goals in 7 appearances for the Saints in their promotion winning season. In her second season with Southampton, 2019–20, Morris played in the Women's National League Division One South West. She was named Southampton Women's Player of the Season, after receiving the most fan votes, as well as Player's Player of the Season. Saints manager Marieanne Spacey-Cale credited her crucial assists and two important goals in the season, having stepped up from the under-16s. On 5 January 2022, in the

2021–22 FA Cup The 2021–22 FA Cup was the 141st season and marked the 150th anniversary of the first FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup, the oldest Association football, football tournament in the world, started in the 1871–72 FA Cup, 1871–72 se ...

fourth round at

St Mary's Stadium St Mary's Stadium is a seated but also safe-standing football stadium in Southampton, Hampshire, England, which has been the home stadium of club Southampton since 2001. The stadium has a capacity of 32,384 and is currently the largest footbal ...

, Morris scored the winning goal in extra time against

Women's Championship The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The div ...

side

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

for a 1–0 victory. She ended the 2021–22 season in the

National League South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...

with 4 goals in 22 appearances for the club, as Southampton gained promotion to the Women's Championship for the first time in the club's history. On 28 August 2022, Morris helped the Saints come back from two goals down at half time against

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

, scoring the first of two goals for a draw 2-2. In May 2023, she was voted second in the Women's Championships Player of the Season award for

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

. On 27 August 2023, in the Saints opening game of the 2023–24 Championship against Lewes, Morris scored within five minutes of appearing as a substitute in a 4–1 victory. On 10 December 2023, in the

2023–24 FA Cup The 2023–24 FA Cup was the 143rd season of the Football Association Challenge Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world. It was sponsored by Emirates and known as the Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship purposes. The final was played on 25 M ...

third round, she created both goals in the 2–1 win over

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, providing a series of dangerous crosses leading to an own goal and an assist. In June 2024, Morris left Southampton upon the expiration of her contract. On 16 July, she signed with

club

on a three-year contract.

International career

Morris has represented England in the U15, U16,

U17 U17 or U-17 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , various vessels * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Cessna U-17 Skywagon, an American utility aircraft * Nonconvex great rhombicuboctahedron In geometry, the nonconvex g ...

, U18, U19 and U23 youth teams. On 18 September 2018, she was named as part of the under-17 squad for 2019 U-17 Championship qualification, making her debut as a 59th-minute substitute in a 7–0 win over

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

on 22 September. In May 2019, Morris was named as part of the squad for the

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, playing the full 90 minutes as

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In February 2023, she received her first call up to the under-23s for fixtures against Spain and Belgium. On 25 September 2023, with England U23, Morris scored her debut youth international goal for England with a volley for the final goal in a 3–0 victory over Belgium. On 4 December 2023, she scored the opening goal in the under-23s 1–1 draw against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Morris received her first call-up to the England senior squad on 13 May 2025 for the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

fixtures against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and

later that month. However, she was forced to withdraw from the squad on 28 May after suffering an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

in training.

Personal life

Morris's idols are

Ryan Bertrand Ryan Dominic Bertrand (born 5 August 1989) is an English Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a left-back. Bertrand began his youth career at Gillingham F.C., Gillingham, before ...

Kyle Walker Kyle Andrew Walker (born 28 May 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club AC Milan, on loan from club Manchester City, and the England national team. Walker started his career at his boyhood club Sheffi ...

and

Lucy Bronze Lucia Roberta Tough Bronze (born 28 October 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Women's Super League club Chelsea and the England women's national team. She has previously played for Sunderland, Everto ...

. She looks up to former Saints midfielder

James Ward-Prowse James Michael Edward Ward-Prowse (born 1 November 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for club West Ham United. Originally a member of Southampton's youth teams, Ward-Prowse made his first-team debut ...

and has paid tribute by replicating his golf-swing goal celebration.

Honours

Southampton F.C. *

Premier Division: 2018–19 * Southern Region Women's Football League Cup: 2018–19 *

FA Women's National League South The FA Women's National League South is a league in the third level in the women's football pyramid in England, along with the Northern division. These two divisions are part of the FA Women's National League and below the Women's Super Leag ...

: 2021–22 *

FA Women's National League Cup The FA Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). The first edition of the Cup included clubs from the 1991–92 WFA National League Premier Division a ...

: 2021–22 Individual * Southampton Women's Player of the Season: 2019–20 * Southampton Player's Player of the Season: 2019–20 *

Player of the Season:

runner-up

Notes

References

External links

Ella Morris
at Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Ella Morris
at Southampton F.C * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Ella 2002 births Living people Footballers from Southampton English women's footballers Southampton F.C. Women players FA Women's National League players Women's Super League 2 players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Women players Women's Super League players Women's association football midfielders England women's youth international footballers 21st-century English sportswomen