Rachel Elizabeth Unitt (born 5 June 1982) is a former English

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 ...

who last played for FA Women's Championship club

London Bees London Bees is an English women's football club affiliated with Barnet F.C. They play in the FA Women's National League South. The club has been in existence under several names since 1975, originally being called District Line Ladies F.C.. The ...

. After beginning her club career with

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

, Unitt began a long association with Everton in 2000. This was intersected by a three-year spell at Fulham between 2001 and 2004 and a summer on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

New Jersey Wildcats The New Jersey Wildcats is an American women’s soccer team, founded by Vincent Baldino in 1996. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues W-League, the second tier of women’s soccer in the United States and Canada. The team played ...

in 2005. She left Everton in 2012 for a two-year stint at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

and later played for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

in 2014. A sturdy left back, Unitt has won 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 the

England women's national football team The England women's national football team, also known as the Lionesses, have been governed by the Football Association (FA) since 1993, having been previously administered by the Women's Football Association (WFA). England played its first i ...

since her debut in August 2000. She represented England at the 2001, 2005 and 2009 editions of the

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalen ...

as well as at the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2007 and 2011. She was ruled out of both the 2013 UEFA Women's Championship and the

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

squad for the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

due to injury. In 2004 and 2006 Unitt was named

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

's (FA) International Player of the Year. In 2016, 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 ...

at the

National Football Museum The National Football Museum is England's national museum of football. It is based in the Urbis building in Manchester city centre, and preserves, conserves and displays important collections of football memorabilia. The museum was originally b ...

Club career

Unitt started her footballing career with Wolves Women as a 14-year-old. She joined Everton Ladies for 2000–01, before signing a professional contract with Fulham L.F.C. the following season. After a successful spell at Fulham, she returned to Everton in 2004. Her achievements to date include winning the

domestic treble A treble in association football is achieved when a club team wins three trophies in a single season. A ''continental treble'' involves winning the club's national league competition, main national cup competition, and main continental trophy. A ...

with Fulham in the 2002–03 season and the 2010 FA Women's Cup with Everton. In July 2005, Unitt joined American W-League side

for the last seven games of their season, teaming up with England and former Fulham teammate Rachel Yankey. The Wildcats eventually won the W-League championship, beating the Ottawa Fury by 3–0 in the championship match with Unitt scoring the first goal. Unitt also trained with

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association ...

in December 2005, but, fearing burn-out, rejected a contract offer from the Swedish club. With Everton dormant ahead of the 2011 FA WSL season, Unitt played for Leeds City Vixens in the FA Women's Premier League Cup. At the end of the

2011 FA WSL The 2011 FA WSL was the inaugural season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 13 April 2011 and ended on 28 August 2011. The league also took a break between 12 May and mid-July to allow preparatio ...

season, Unitt put in a transfer request after eight years at Everton. Following negotiations a move to

was announced in February 2012. After her time at the club was disrupted by injury, Unitt rejected Birmingham's offer of a contract extension in January 2014 and left the club as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. She signed for

on 30 January 2014, only to suffer an injury to the cruciate ligament in her other knee during the 2014 FA WSL season. In December 2014 she agreed to stay with Notts County, combining her rehabilitation with a place on the club's coaching staff. In 2016, Unitt played for Solihull Moors L.F.C., a women's football club in the West Midlands, which at the time was in the FA Women's Premier League.

International career

Unitt first played for England in 2000, after 16 appearances for the U18s. Her senior debut came in August 2000, in a 1–0 friendly defeat to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, before 50,000 spectators at Stade Vélodrome. She scored her first international goal in England's victory over the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in September 2004, and scored twice more in her home town of

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

during England's 4–1 friendly win over the

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 2005. Unitt was named the Nationwide International Player of the Year at the 2004

The FA Women's Football Awards The FA Women's Football Awards is an award ceremony hosted by The Football Association in England. The inaugural edition took place in 1999. Top Goalscorer Below is a list of all the recipients of this award: Players' Player of the Year Below ...

. She won the same award in 2006, voted for by the fans on the FA website. In May 2009, Unitt was one of the first 17 female players to be given central contracts by

. At the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but th ...

in China, Unitt was the only outfield member of the England squad who remained unused. On the occasion of her 90th cap, she eventually made a World Cup debut in June 2011, starting England's 1–1 draw with

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's he ...

. In March 2012 a Euro 2013 qualifier in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

saw Unitt win her 100th international cap. Captain for the day, Unitt scored England's third goal in a 6–0 victory, with a diving header. A foot injury kept Unitt out of contention for a place in the

squad for the

. During her absence

Steph Houghton Stephanie Jayne Darby (, , born 23 April 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays for Women's Super League club Manchester City and the England women's national team. At club level, Houghton started at Sunderland in her native N ...

became the first choice left–back for the national team. In May 2013 Unitt suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in Birmingham's 1–1 FA WSL Cup draw with

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

, which ruled her out of

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held in Sweden from 10 to 28 July 2013, became the mos ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list England's goal tally first.''

Later life

After retiring as a player, Unitt became a firefighter in Stoke-on-Trent.

Honours

* FA Women's Premier League National Division: 1 :2002–03 *

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 ...

: 4 :2001–02, 2002–03, 2009–10, 2011–12 * FA Women's Premier League Cup: 3 :2001–02, 2002–03, 2007–08 *

FA Women's Premier League Southern Division The FA Women's National League Southern Premier Division 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 ...

: 1 :2001–02 * FA Women's Community Shield: 2 : 2002–03, 2003–04 * FA International Player of the Year Award: 2 :2003–04, 2005–06

References

External links

Profile at the English FA Women's Football websiteEverton FC official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unitt, Rachel 1982 births Living people English women's footballers Everton F.C. (women) players Notts County L.F.C. players Fulham L.F.C. players London Bees players Birmingham City W.F.C. players England women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players USL W-League (1995–2015) players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States English expatriates in the United States FIFA Century Club English Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Walsall Women's association football fullbacks New Jersey Wildcats players Leeds City Vixens L.F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers W.F.C. players British firefighters