Emily Jane Zurrer (born July 12, 1987) is a Canadian soccer player who played for Swedish club

Jitex BK Jitex BK, more commonly known as just ''Jitex'', is a football club in Mölndal, Sweden, that competes in Elitettan, the second tier of Swedish women's football. The club was founded January 21, 1971 and previously played in the Elitettan, Swed ...

in the

Damallsvenskan The Damallsvenskan, Swedish for ''ladies all-Swedish'' and also known as OBOS Damallsvenskan for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is also referred to as the women's Allsvenskan. The term Allsvenskan ...

and the

Canada women's national soccer team The Canada women's national soccer team (french: Équipe du Canada féminine de soccer) represents Canada in international soccer competitions. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Canada. T ...

. She previously played for

Seattle Reign FC OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...

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 ...

, Dalsjöfors GoIF in the Damallsvenskan, and the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

in the W-League.

Early life

University of Illinois

Zurrer attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Unive ...

and ended her collegiate career as one of the most decorated players in Illinois history. She was the first three-time All-American in program history and earned first-team All-Big Ten honours three years in a row. Additionally, Zurrer was named Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Year during her sophomore campaign. During her tenure on the back line, Illinois produced 42 shutouts and gave up the second-fewest goals in program history in 2008, allowing just 19. Coach Janet Rayfield said of Zurrer, "Emily keeps everything in perspective and weathers the ups and downs of life and of athletics with an amazing positive demeanor and a constant smile. She has lofty goals and goes after them with intent and purpose. She is in simple words – a positive life force." During her time at the University of Illinois, Zurrer was also very active off the field, taking a lead role in Illinois' Hometown Heroes program, which includes visits to local elementary schools and seniors' centres, in addition to involvement with Read Across America, Carle Pediatrics, Relay for Life, Yankee Ridge After School Program, Crisis Nursery Holiday Shop and Big Brothers Big Sisters. Zurrer was awarded the

Big Ten Medal of Honor One of the most prestigious conference awards in college athletics, the Big Ten Medal of Honor was first awarded in 1915 to one student-athlete from the graduating class of each university who had “attained the greatest proficiency in athletics ...

her senior year in 2009. Awarded to one male and one female student-athlete from the graduating class of each member university who had "attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work."

Playing career

Club

Vancouver Whitecaps

Zurrer played for the

off and on for multiple seasons starting in 2004, in between Canadian national team duty and attending university. Her most recent stint was during the 2010 season. She made seven appearances and scored one goal.

Chicago Red Eleven

Played for the Red Eleven in 2009, starting all appearances and scoring 3 goals.

SG Essen-Schönebeck

During the 2009–10 season, Zurrer played for

SG Essen-Schönebeck SGS Essen are a German multi-sports club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was founded in 2000 from the merger of ''VfB Borbeck'' and ''SC Grün-Weiß Schönebeck''. It is most renowned for its women's football team, which plays i ...

in Germany's

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

. She started in all nine games in which she played. Emily Zurrer

Dalsjöfors GoIF

In July 2011, she signed a three-month contract with Swedish side Dalsjöfors GoIF. Zurrer started in all ten games that she played.

Seattle Reign FC

On January 11, 2013, as part of the

NWSL Player Allocation The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) federation players were players whose salaries for playing in the NWSL were paid for by their respective national federations from 2013 to 2021. American federation players were contracted to the United St ...

, Zurrer joined the

in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played in seven games for the Reign, tallying 583 minutes.

Jitex BK

In December 2013, Zurrer signed with

for the

2014 Damallsvenskan The 2014 Damallsvenskan, part of the 2014 Swedish football season, was the 27th season of Damallsvenskan since its establishment in 1988. The season started on 13 April 2014 and ended on 19 October 2014. LdB Malmö, which was renamed to FC Rosen ...

. She captained the team.

International

Zurrer has played for the Canadian national women's team, most notably at the

2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship The 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 10 to 27 November 2004. It was the second edition of the youth tournament for women put together by FIFA, before being renamed FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship for the 2006 edition ...

, FIFA Women's World Cup 2011, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada. She started playing for Canada at age 15 as a forward, and burst onto Canadian soccer radar when she scored 3 goals as a defender and was named MVP of the U-19 World Cup Qualifying tournament in 2004 at age 16. She has played defence ever since. She also received her first senior national team cap that year, when she played 90 minutes against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

, as one of the youngest capped players in Canadian soccer history. As a member of the Canadian team at the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in Beijing, Zurrer started every game in the defensive backfield. Zurrer scored her first senior goal for Canada in the 2011 Cyprus Cup group stage match against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

in a 1–0 victory. Less than a week later, Zurrer scored the winning goal in extra time of the Cyprus Cup final against 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 ...

. Zurrer was also a member of the national soccer team that competed in the

2012 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 ...

. She won a bronze medal with the national team when Canada defeated

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 ar ...

1–0 on August 9, 2012.

Personal life

In 2012, Zurrer launched a frozen yogurt food truck business with her Canadian teammate

Selenia Iacchelli Selenia Iacchelli (born 5 June 1986) is a Canadian soccer player who played as a midfielder. International career She represented Canada at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship and 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship. After a serie ...

. Zurrer was featured in Sportsnet's 2013 "Beauty of Sport" – an issue featuring Canada's top 25 most beautiful athletes.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zurrer, Emily 1987 births Living people Soccer players from Vancouver People from the Cowichan Valley Regional District Canadian women's soccer players Women's association football defenders Illinois Fighting Illini women's soccer players USL W-League (1995–2015) players Vancouver Whitecaps FC (women) players Frauen-Bundesliga players SGS Essen players Damallsvenskan players Dalsjöfors GoIF players Jitex BK players National Women's Soccer League players OL Reign players Canada women's international soccer players 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Olympic soccer players of Canada Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in football Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Canadian expatriate women's soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in Germany