Sue Lopez, (born 1 September 1945) is an English former international

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, rugb ...

. She spent her entire club career with Southampton, except for a season in Italy's

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

with Roma in 1971. A leading advocate of the women's game in England, Lopez has also worked as a coach, administrator and writer since her retirement from playing.

Playing career

At the age of 21, in 1966, Lopez made her debut for Southampton WFC. She was a regular in the side for almost twenty years until her retirement from playing in 1985. It was in the 1970s, when women's football was in its infancy, that Lopez and her Southampton dominated the

Women's FA 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 ...

. Southampton, with Lopez's efforts, won the cup eight times between 1971 and 1983, appearing in eleven consecutive finals in that period. Lopez also won 22

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

s as an England international, between 1973 and 1979.

Coaching

On retirement, in 1986, Lopez used her experience and knowledge of the game to coach women's football. This led to Lopez gaining the FA Advance Licence in 1991. In 1996 she gained the

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

'A' Licence conversion. Lopez was part-time manager of the Welsh national women's team in 1995–96. From then, until 2000 Lopez served as the

Hampshire Football Association The Hampshire Football Association, also known as ''Hampshire FA'', is the governing body of football in the county of Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England ...

's Coaching and Development Officer. Lopez was appointed director of women's football at

Southampton FC Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...

in 2001. She took over managing the Southampton Saints first team as part of the role in 2003. In 2005 the Southampton male club were relegated and scrapped their women's setup to save money, making Lopez redundant in the process.

Honours

Club

; Southampton W.F.C. *

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 ...

: Winner

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses ( February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events J ...

, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976,

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

, 1979, 1981

National team

;England * UEFA Women's Championship: Third place

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, Fourth place

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

* World cup: Fourth place 1970 (held in Italy), Sixth place 1971 (held in Mexico) ;Individual * Top scorer

1969 European Competition for Women's Football The 1969 European Competition for Women's Football was a women's association football tournament contested by European nations. It took place in Italy from 1 to 2 November 1969, and was organised by the FICF (Federazione Italiana Calcio Femminile). ...

with four goalsTop Scorer 1969
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Recognition

In 2001, Lopez became

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

Sportswomen of the Year Coach of the Year. Lopez was awarded the MBE for services to women's football, in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. In 2004 Lopez 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 m ...

. She remains dedicated to improving the profile of the women' game in England.

Publications

In 1997, Lopez published ''Women on the Ball'', a women's football handbook tracing the history and development of the game in England and abroad.

References

External links

English Hall of Fame profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Sue 1945 births Living people English women's footballers Members of the Order of the British Empire English Football Hall of Fame inductees England women's international footballers English expatriate women's footballers Footballers from Southampton Women's national association football team managers Serie A (women's football) players English women's football managers Women's association football forwards Southampton Women's F.C. players Female association football managers English expatriate sportspeople in Italy English people of Spanish descent Roma Calcio Femminile players Expatriate women's footballers in Italy