Gabriella Fern Whelan (born 5 December 1988) is an English former professional

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 lea ...

who played for Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. She previously played for both

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and Everton in her native Merseyside and

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

. She has represented

England women's national football team The England women's national football team, nicknamed the Lionesses, has been governed by the Football Association (FA) since 1993, having been previously administered by the Women's Football Association (WFA). England played its first interna ...

at youth and senior level. A quick

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, Whelan was named the FA Women's Young Player of the Year in 2008.

Personal life

Whelan attended St Pascal Baylon School in Court Hey. She was in a relationship with fellow footballer

Aileen Whelan Aileen Mary Whelan (born 11 August 1991) is an English former professional footballer who last plays as a midfielder or forward for Women's Super League club Leicester City. Whelan started her playing career in 1996 at Rugby Town Girls FC, afte ...

as of 2021.

Club career

Whelan started playing football for her school's boys' team. Her school teacher played for Liverpool Feds and signed Whelan up to play for their junior side. She progressed to the Liverpool Ladies senior side before leaving to join Everton Ladies during the 2005 close season. After playing in every round of the 2007–08 FA Women's Premier League Cup, Whelan missed Everton's 1–0 final win over

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

when she injured her

cruciate ligaments Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a ...

in January 2008. Despite missing half the season with the injury, she was named the FA Young Player of the Year for 2007–08. In the 2010 FA Women's Cup Final, Whelan came on as a second-half substitute for

Rachel Unitt Rachel Elizabeth Unitt (born 5 June 1982) is a former English footballer who last played for FA Women's Championship club London Bees. After beginning her club career with Wolves, Unitt began a long association with Everton in 2000. This was ...

as Everton beat Arsenal 3–2 in extra time. After aggravating her previous knee injury, Whelan underwent surgery which saw her miss the entire

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and 2013 seasons. She declared a "brilliant feeling" in returning to the squad for

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. Whelan was a late substitute in Everton's 2–0 2014 FA Women's Cup final defeat by Arsenal. When the 2014 season culminated in Everton's

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

, Whelan signed for

on a two-year contract. In March 2017, Whelan agreed an extension to her Notts County contract, only for the club to fold on the eve of the

FA WSL Spring Series The FA WSL 1 Spring Series was an interim edition of the FA WSL between the sixth and seventh full seasons. The Spring Series ran from February to May 2017 to bridge the gap from the 2016 FA WSL season which ran from March to September as a summer ...

season. Instead she agreed to rejoin Everton on a free transfer. She transferred to Brighton & Hove Albion in 2017. Whelan announced her retirement from professional football in October 2020, due to injury.

International career

Whelan has represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at Under-15, Under-19 (as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

), Under-20 and Under-23 levels. Whelan was named UEFA's "golden player" after inspiring England to the final of the

2007 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship } The UEFA Women's U-19 Championship 2007 Final Tournament was held in Iceland between 18 and 29 July 2007. Players born after 1 January 1988 were eligible to participate in this competition. Final tournament Group stage Group A ---- ---- - ...

. She recovered from a serious knee injury to captain England at the

2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 4th edition of the tournament. It was held in Chile between 19 November and 7 December 2008. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all six confederations, took part in the final competition, i ...

in Chile in November 2008. National coach

Hope Powell Hope Patricia Powell (born 8 December 1966) is an English football coach and former player who is the Women's Technical Director at Birmingham City. As a player, Powell won 72 caps for England, mainly as an attacking midfielder, scoring 17 goal ...

gave Whelan a first call-up to the senior England squad in October 2009, replacing

Anita Asante Anita Amma Ankyewah Asante (born 27 April 1985) is an English association football, football Coach (sports), coach and former player who is the first-team coach at Bristol City W.F.C., Bristol City. A defender (association football), defender o ...

who was withdrawn after the initial announcement of the squad. In May 2011 Whelan received another senior call-up when

Fara Williams Fara Tanya Franki Merrett (born 25 January 1984), known professionally as Fara Williams, is an English former Women's association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. A consistent goalscorer and set-piece specialist, Williams was co ...

withdrew from the squad for a home friendly with

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. She won her first cap as a late substitute for

Casey Stoney Casey Jean Stoney (born 13 May 1982) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who currently serves as the head coach of the Canada women's national soccer team. A versatile ...

in England's 2–0 win. Powell did not select Whelan for the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, football teams. It was held from 26 June to ...

in Germany, but she made her first competitive appearance in England's 4–0

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying The Qualifying rounds for the UEFA Women's Euro 2013 determined which 11 teams joined Sweden, the hosts of the 2013 tournament, to play for the UEFA Women's Championship. Tie breakers If two or more teams are tied in points the tie breakers are ...

win over

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

at the

County Ground, Swindon The County Ground is a football stadium located in Swindon, Wiltshire, England, and has been home to Swindon Town Football Club since 1896. It has an all-seated capacity of 15,728 currently, which has been the same level since the mid-1990s. ...

on 22 September 2011. At the

2012 Cyprus Cup The 2012 Cyprus Women's Cup was the fifth edition of the Cyprus Women's Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Cyprus. It took place between 28 February – 6 March 2012. Format The twelve invited teams were split into ...

Whelan won another cap as England beat

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

1–0. During the tournament she suffered a recurrence of her cruciate ligament injury and underwent surgery which kept her out for nearly two years, causing her to miss the

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

and

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 List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...

. Whelan was allotted 177 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England’s inaugural international.

Post-football career

As well as being a professional footballer, Whelan is a qualified

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

. Following her retirement from football, Whelan became an executive for equality, diversity and inclusion in women's football at the

Professional Footballers' Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sports trade union, with approximately 5,000 current members each seaso ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whelan, Fern Living people English women's footballers England women's international footballers England women's under-23 international footballers Liverpool F.C. Women players Everton F.C. (women) players Notts County L.F.C. players FA Women's National League players Footballers from Liverpool English LGBTQ footballers English lesbian sportswomen 1988 births Women's Super League players Women's association football defenders Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. players Liverpool Feds W.F.C. players English women trade unionists Trade unionists from Liverpool British physiotherapists 21st-century English sportswomen