Christine Elizabeth Latham (born 15 September 1981) is a Canadian former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional women's soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defu ...

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 ...

(WPS) and the Canada national team.

Club career

Early years and university

Latham played eight years with the Calgary Celtics, a youth team coached by her father, Brian. She was recruited by, and eventually chose to attend, the

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. While at the university, she played for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding t ...

women's soccer team from 1999 to 2002. She was named a three-time NSCAA All-American and left as the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Nebraska women's program with 69 goals. She added a further 29 assists in her 4-year career.

Transition to professional soccer

Upon graduating from Nebraska, Latham joined

San Diego Spirit The San Diego Spirit were a professional soccer team based in San Diego, California, that competed in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA). The team played its home games at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego. Th ...

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the Uni ...

as a Discovery Player in February 2003. In her first year, she scored 6 goals en route to being named the 2003 WUSA Rookie of the Year. This proved to be her last year in the league as the WUSA suspended operations following the conclusion of the 2003 season. Latham joined

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 USL W-League (1995–2015), W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and C ...

of the W-League in 2005, appearing in 4 games (296 minutes) while scoring 4 goals and assisting on 3 others. The following season, Latham joined fellow Canadian internationals

Sharolta Nonen Sharolta Louisa Nonen (born December 30, 1977) is a Canadian former soccer defender and current women's soccer coach of the Florida International University Panthers. She played for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in college, where she was the first t ...

and

Melissa Tancredi Melissa Palma Julie Tancredi (born December 27, 1981) is a Canadian retired soccer forward who played for the Canada women's national soccer team. She won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics when Canada defeated France 1–0 in the bronze meda ...

Atlanta Silverbacks The Atlanta Silverbacks FC were an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1998 as Atlanta Ruckus, the club played in many leagues over the years before folding after the 2015 season. The team played its home game ...

. In her first year with the Silverbacks, Latham appeared in 6 games (495 minutes), scoring twice and adding an assist. 2007 saw the departure of Tancredi and Latham increased her production to compensate. She appeared in 9 games (677 minutes) and scored 7 goals with 2 further assists. 2008 saw Latham increase her production even further, appearing in 13 games (1081 minutes) and while getting 13 goals and 2 assists. The new

(WPS) league took notice of her and

claimed her as a Post-Draft Discovery Player on 10 October 2008. She agreed to terms with the club on 9 January 2009 and played in the

2009 WPS season The 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season served as the inaugural season for WPS, the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. The regular season began on March 29 and ended on August 9, with the postseason being held ...

for Boston. She appeared in 16 games (8 starts, 654 total minutes) and scored twice with one assist. Her option for the

2010 WPS season The 2010 Women's Professional Soccer season was the second season for the WPS, the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. Regular season champion FC Gold Pride won the WPS Championship on September 26 with a 4–0 vict ...

was picked up by Boston on 28 September 2009.

International career

Latham's international debut came on 5 May 2000 against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. With the

Canada women's national soccer team The Canada women's national soccer team () represents Canada in international soccer competitions. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Canada. The team reached international prominence at the ...

, Latham appeared in the

2003 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial championship of women's association football, women's national soccer teams organized by FIFA. It was held in the United States from September ...

, scoring three goals in six games. She ended her international career with 15 goals in 49 appearances. In August 2006 Latham and

Charmaine Hooper Charmaine Elizabeth Hooper (born January 15, 1968) is a Canadian retired soccer player. A four-time winner of the Canadian Players of the Year award and member of the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame, Hooper played on the Canada women's national so ...

refused to attend two

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

s against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and fell into dispute with team coach

Even Pellerud Even Jostein Pellerud (born 15 July 1953) is a Norwegian football coach and former player. Career Pellerud played for several clubs, including Vålerenga from 1974 to 1979 and Kongsvinger from 1983 to 1986. He was head coach for the Norway women' ...

. Along with a third disgruntled player,

, they publicly called for Pellerud's removal. Alleging he had pressured them to break their club contracts in order to join

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March 18, ...

and had tried to fix the outcome of a

USL W-League USL W-League may refer to: * USL W League * USL W-League (1995–2015) The USL W-League was a North American amateur women's soccer developmental organization. The league was a semi-professional, open league, giving college players the oppor ...

play-off by releasing certain national team players but not others. Pellerud suspended the players and terminated their funding. In June 2007 an arbitrator ruled in favour of the coach. Hooper's replacement as captain

Christine Sinclair Christine Margaret Sinclair (born June 12, 1983) is a retired Canadian professional Association football, soccer player who most recently played as a Forward (association football), forward for the Portland Thorns FC, Portland Thorns of the ...

strongly criticised the players' actions: "They let down their teammates and since then have done nothing to rectify it. I wouldn't want them as teammates."

Post-playing career

Latham served as a commentator for

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

at the

2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship The 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship, the ninth edition of the CONCACAF Women's Championship/Gold Cup/Women's World Cup qualifying tournament, was a women's soccer tournament that took place in the United States between October 15 and 26, 2014 ...

and as a studio analyst 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 f ...

Personal life

Latham graduated from the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...

in May 2005 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

References

External links

* *
Official website

Nebraska player profile

Nebraska coaching profile

Christine Latham
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Latham, Christine 1981 births Living people Soccer players from Calgary Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate women's soccer players Canadian women's soccer players Canada women's international soccer players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players Nebraska Cornhuskers women's soccer players Women's United Soccer Association players San Diego Spirit players New Jersey Wildcats players Atlanta Silverbacks Women players Boston Breakers players USL W-League (1995–2015) players Canadian soccer commentators Women's association football forwards Women's Professional Soccer players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States 21st-century Canadian sportswomen