Ashleigh Sykes (born 15 December 1991) is an Australian international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player, who plays for

Canberra United FC Canberra United Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the southern Canberra suburb of Wanniassa, Australian Capital Territory. Founded in 2008 by Capital Football, the club was an inaugural member of the W-League and ...

in the W-League (Australia) and has previously played for

Portland Thorns FC The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Uni ...

in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federati ...

Early life

Sykes grew up in

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Go ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. She played for Dubbo SASS, and was also CSSA Athletics champion in 2006. She has a twin,

Nicole Nicole may refer to: People * Nicole (name) * Nicole (American singer) (born 1958), a contestant in season 3 of the American ''The X Factor'' * Nicole (Chilean singer) (born 1977) * Nicole (German singer) (born 1964), winner of the 1982 Eurovi ...

, who is also a footballer.

Playing career

Club

Sykes joined Canberra United along with her sister

in the W-League whilst still finishing school for the league's inaugural season in 2008–09. She made her debut in Canberra's first match, coming on for Grace Gill in a loss to

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australian ...

. On 30 November 2008, Sykes scored her first goal for the club – the equaliser in a two-all draw with

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

. Canberra went on to make the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

only to lose to

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat. Brisba ...

, with Sykes playing the second half. Sykes was presented with the club's Rising Star award after a strong first season. A broken leg suffered in a challenge against

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

saw Sykes miss much of the

2010–11 W-League The 2010–11 W-League season was the third season of the W-League, the Australian national women's football (soccer) competition. The season consisted of twelve rounds, with each team playing a total of ten games, followed by a finals serie ...

. However, Ashleigh was able to recover in time for the end of the season and finals in January 2011. Her late winner against

saw Canberra qualify for the finals. Despite this, Canberra were eliminated by

in the semi-final after a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. Sykes was a member of the Canberra side which won the W-League Premiership after going through the entire

2011–12 W-League The 2011–12 W-League season was the fourth season of the W-League, the Australian national women's football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 play ...

undefeated. On 28 January 2012, Sykes scored Canberra's second goal and set up another to secure a win in the 2012 W-League Grand Final, winning the club its first W-League Championship. Sykes was once again a key player in the Canberra side which won a second Premiership in the

2013–14 W-League The 2013–14 W-League season was the sixth season of the W-League, the Australian national women's association football competition. The season consisted of twelve matchdays followed by a finals series. The regular season started on 9 Novem ...

. On 7 December 2014, Sykes scored from a volley into the top corner from outside the area against

to ensure Canberra's qualification for the finals of the 2014 W-League. The goal was later awarded W-League Goal of the Season. Sykes went on to score twice in the

against

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

to earn Canberra its second Championship, and was also given the Player of the Grand Final award. On 10 February 2016, Sykes joined Japanese 2nd division club

AS Harima ALBION is a women's football club playing in Japan's Nadeshiko League Division 1. Its hometown is the city of Himeji 260px, Himeji City Hall is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated populatio ...

. Sykes signed with the

Portland Thorns The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the U ...

in 2017 and made her first appearance for the team on 17 June 2017. After finishing second during the regular season, the Thorns advanced to the NWSL Championship with 4–1 win over the

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride is a professional women's soccer team based in Orlando, Florida. The team joined the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of women's soccer in the US, for the 2016 season. It became the tenth team to be added to th ...

. Sykes became an NWSL champion when the Thorns defeated the regular-season winning team

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York ...

1–0 in the 2017 NWSL Championship on 14 October 2017. On 16 February 2018, Sykes retired from football at the age of 26, after 10 years at the top level. In November 2021, after playing with

Canberra Olympic Canberra Olympic FC is an Australian semi-professional Association football club based in the suburb of O'Connor in the north of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The club was founded in 1956, and currently competes in the National Premi ...

, Sykes returned to the

A-League Women A-League Women (known as the Liberty A-League for sponsorship reasons), formerly the W-League, is the top-division women's soccer league in Australia. The W-League was established in 2008 by Football Australia (then known as Football Federati ...

, re-joining Canberra United.

International

Ashleigh represented Australia U-20 on numerous occasions, including at the 2009 AFC U-19 Women's Championship. Sykes was first called up to the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

senior side for the

2008 AFF Women's Championship The 2008 AFF Women's Championship was held from 8 October to 20 October 2008, hosted by Vietnam. All games were played at the Thanh Long Sports Centre in Ho Chi Minh City. The hosts managed to get through to the final, but failed to win the titl ...

in Vietnam and made her debut in the opening match against

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, setting up a goal after replacing Tameka Butt early in the match. She scored her first international goal in the next match, a win over

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Sykes scored again in the next match – a 6–0 win over

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. Sykes played a full match in the final as Australia won the tournament. Ashleigh was not called up to the national side again until 2013, when she was selected for two friendlies against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, along with sister

. Following the appointment of

Alen Stajcic Alen Stajcic (born 2 November 1973) is a former Australian soccer player and is the head coach of the Philippines women's national football team. While as a footballer he was a NSW Premier League player and an Australian Youth Representative. S ...

, Sykes was more regularly involved with the national side. She was called up for the

2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup, the 18th edition of the competition, was a women's association football tournament competed by national teams in Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It served as the qualification for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cu ...

, and played in the group stage match against

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. Australia finished second in the tournament after losing to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

in the final. She was also called up for the

2015 Cyprus Cup The 2015 Cyprus Women's Cup was the eighth edition of the Cyprus Women's Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Cyprus. It took place from 4–11 March 2015. Venues Squads Group stage Teams were placed into three g ...

, and scored in victories over

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

and

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. In May 2015, Sykes was called up for the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

in Canada. She made her World Cup debut in the first match of the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

, playing the final seven minutes in a loss to USA.

Career statistics

International appearances

International goals

Honours

Club

Canberra United * W-League Championship: 2011–12,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

* W-League Premiership: 2011–12, 2013–14

NWSL Championship The National Women's Soccer League Playoffs (or NWSL Playoffs) are a single elimination tournament among six teams in the National Women's Soccer League of the United States, deciding the winner of the NWSL Championship. Since playoff games can ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

International

AFF Women's Championship The AFF Women's Championship is the competition in women's football organised by the ASEAN Football Federation, contested by the national teams of nations in Southeast Asia and Australia. The official tournament started in 2004, hosted by Vie ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

* AFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Individual

* Dubbo Sportsperson of the Year: 2010 * W-League Player of the Grand Final:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

* W-League Goal of the Year:

Julie Dolan Medal The Julie Dolan Medal is awarded annually to the player voted to be the best player in the highest women's soccer league in Australia. The medal has been presented for players in the W-League and previously the Women's National Soccer League (W ...

: 2015–16

References

External links

Ashleigh Sykes profile
FootballAustralia.com.au * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sykes, Ashleigh 1991 births Living people Australian women's soccer players Canberra United FC players A-League Women players Soccer players from Sydney 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Australia women's international soccer players Women's association football forwards Nadeshiko League players Expatriate women's footballers in Japan Australian expatriate women's soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Portland Thorns FC players National Women's Soccer League players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Australian twins Twin sportspeople