Gillian Coultard (born 22 July 1963) is an English former football player, and former England captain. She is one of England Women's most

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

internationals, with 119 appearances, and was the highest capped outfield England international ever until Rachel Yankey reached 120 caps in 2012. At the time she was one of only five footballers ( Bobby Moore, Billy Wright,

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (born 11 October 1937) is an English former footballer who played either as a midfielder or a forward. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World ...

and

Peter Shilton Peter Leslie Shilton (born 18 September 1949) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. His 30-year career included spells at 11 clubs and he has the distinction of playing over 1,000 league games, including in ...

were the others) to have reached over 100

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for England, and she was the first woman and amateur player to have done so.

Club career

At club level, Coultard won two National League titles and six

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

finals during 24 years with Doncaster Belles. Joining as a 13-year-old schoolgirl, she eventually made over 300 appearances and became a key player in the side which dominated women's football in England. She retired from club football at the end of the 2000–01 season, making an emotional farewell appearance for the Belles against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

in May 2001. Coultard fitted in four training sessions and a match every week, despite her full–time job on the production line at a

Pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...

factory in

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins th ...

. She used her annual leave from work to play for England and rejected several offers to join semi-professional clubs in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, Sweden and

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 B ...

International career

Coultard, a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

initially, though moving back to sweeper towards the end of her career, made her international debut in a 3–1 win over the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

in 1981, at the age of 18. She went on to score 30 goals at international level, a rate of one every four games, including a pair in England's first ever

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

finals match, a 3–2 win over

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in Sweden, in 1995. England were knocked out at the quarter-final stage by eventual

tournament 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 concentr ...

runners-up,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Coultard had also been part of the England squad which finished runners-up to Sweden in the first UEFA final in 1984, losing the final on penalties. Coultard was appointed England captain in 1991 when the previous captain

Debbie Bampton Deborah Bampton, MBE, (born 7 October 1961) is an English former international footballer who played as a midfielder. During her career Bampton won a treble at Arsenal and two doubles with Croydon. She also was capped a sum of 95 times for Englan ...

was injured. Bampton was restored as captain in 1995, but Coultard regained the captaincy in 1997 when Bampton retired from international football. Coultard won her 100th England cap in a 4–0 win over

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Almondvale Stadium Almondvale Stadium, also known as the Tony Macaroni Arena for sponsorship purposes, but most commonly referred to as ‘The Spaghettihad’ (alluding to the Etihad Stadium), is a football stadium, located in the Almondvale area of Livingston, We ...

in August 1997. That October, before a 1999 World Cup qualifier against

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

at Upton Park, she was presented with a silver cap by

Sir Geoff Hurst Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he became the first man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when England recorded a 4–2 victory over West Germany at Wembley St ...

in recognition of the achievement. In the early stages of England's successful 2001 UEFA Women's Championship qualification campaign Coultard remained captain of the side. Coultard's 119th and final cap came in a 1–0 win over Switzerland in May 2000. She was later a non-playing member of the England side which suffered their record defeat – an 8–0 loss away to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

in June 2000. In October 2000, 37-year-old Coultard announced her international retirement in order to concentrate on a coaching role in the National Women's Football Academy in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

Post retirement

In May 2005 Coultard was diagnosed with breast cancer, which was successfully treated with surgery,

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

and radium therapy. On 19 October 2006, she was inducted into the

English Football Hall of Fame The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of the all-time top English footballing talents, as well as non-English players and man ...

. Coultard managed the new Hartlepool United Ladies team in 2008–09. In 2009, she was offered a role as coach of the Estonia women's national football team, but turned down the offer for personal reasons. After her footballing career, she has served as a warehouse operative at Teva Pharmaceuticals. Coultard was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to football.

Honours

Doncaster Rovers Belles * FA Women's Premier League National Division: 1991–92, 1993–94Up until 1991, there was no top national division of English women's football; from then, until the formation of the FA WSL in 2010, it was the FA Women's Premier League National Division. The FA only took over the direct running of the domestic league structure from the WFA in 1993. *

: 1982–83, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1993–94 * Mundialito: 1988

Notes

References

External links

Gillian Coultard
at The National Football Museum Hall of Fame Pages

Gillian Coultard interview at the FA website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coultard, Gillian Living people 1963 births People from Thorne, South Yorkshire Footballers from Doncaster English women's footballers Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. players FA Women's National League players England women's international footballers 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players English Football Hall of Fame inductees FIFA Century Club Women's association football defenders Women's association football midfielders Members of the Order of the British Empire