Hannah Lilian Wilkinson (born 28 May 1992) is a retired New Zealand football player who played for

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

in the American college system,

Vittsjö GIK Vittsjö Gymnastik- och Idrottsklubb is a association football, football club from Vittsjö, Sweden. They play in the highest level of women's football leagues in Sweden, the Damallsvenskan. Vittsjö GIK play their home games at Vittsjö IP in Vi ...

and

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Djurgårdens IF is an s ...

in the Swedish

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

in the Portuguese

Campeonato Nacional Feminino The Campeonato Nacional Feminino (English: Women's National Championship), also known as Liga BPI for sponsorship reasons, is the top-tier women's association football league in Portugal and part of the various women's football competitions in ...

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...

in the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

, and Melbourne City in the Australian

A-League Women A-League Women (currently known as the Ninja A-League for sponsorship reasons), formerly the W-League, is the top-division women's soccer league in Australia. The W-League was established in 2008 by Football Australia (then known as Football Fe ...

(formerly the W-League). She represented

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

internationally and made 125 appearances for them.

College career

Wilkinson joined the

as a sophomore in 2012. She received first team All-South-eastern Conference honors in her debut season. Wilkinson lead the SEC with eight goals and 17 points in conference play. Despite joining the team after the London Olympics, five matches into the season, Wilkinson led Tennessee in goals (eight), points (17), shots (48), shot percentage (.167) and match-winners (four). For her heroics against the Aggies and the Rebels, she received the SEC Offensive Player of the Week,

Top Drawer Soccer TopDrawerSoccer.com (TDS) is an American soccer website that is dedicated to youth soccer in the United States. Specifically, the website focuses on Academy soccer, high school soccer, and college soccer in the United States. The website was lau ...

National Team of the Week, Soccer America Team of the Week and TSWA Women's Soccer Player of the Week accolades. In November of her senior season the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

granted her eligibility for the 2015 season. She was originally assigned a sophomore status when she enrolled at Tennessee after previously attending classes at

Auckland University of Technology Auckland University of Technology ( AUT; ) is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college (originally established in 1895) was granted university status. AUT is New Zealand's third largest university i ...

for one year. She tore her ACL in August 2015 and was granted a medical redshirt year.

Club career

Wilkinson signed for

side

in March 2017. In October 2018, Wilkinson tore her

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

during a cup game against

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, Sweden's s ...

. In July 2019, Wilkinson signed with Portuguese Campeonato Nacional team

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

. In August 2021, Wilkinson joined Australian club Melbourne City. In June 2024, she departed the club at the end of her contract as their all-time leading goalscorer. In October 2024, Wilkinson announced her retirement from football.

International career

National youth teams

Wilkinson first played for the New Zealand under 20 side in January 2010 and impressed national selector

John Herdman John Herdman (born 19 July 1975) is an English professional football manager widely recognized for his contributions to Canadian soccer. He is the only coach to have led both a women’s and men’s national team from the same country to a FIF ...

with 5 goals in 3 games, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in her first, earning herself a call up to the senior side for friendlies against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and a trip to the

Cyprus Cup The Cyprus Women's Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's football. It has been held annually in Cyprus since 2008. Although the competition takes place in Cyprus, the hosts have yet to take part in the competitio ...

. In 2010, she represented New Zealand at the

2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 5th edition of the tournament. It was held in Germany, who also hosted the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup a year later, from 13 July to 1 August 2010. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all si ...

, appearing in all three group games. She also appeared in all three group games for

during the

2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 6th edition of the tournament. The tournament was played in Japan from 19 August to 8 September with sixteen national football teams and marked the first hosting of a FIFA women's tournament in the co ...

, which took place in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Senior national team

Wilkinson made her senior international debut for New Zealand in the starting lineup in a friendly against

on 17 February 2010. She made her first

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

appearance in 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 ...

, appearing in all three group matches as a substitute. In the last match, she scored in the 94th minute to force a draw with

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. Wilkinson appeared in three of New Zealand's four matches in the

2012 London Olympics 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 ...

. She played of all New Zealand's three matches at 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 ...

in Canada. She started in all three of New Zealand's matches at the

2016 Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

in Brazil. In April 2019, Wilkinson was named to the final 23-player squad for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

, after a remarkable recovery from her

ACL injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

. On 27 July 2021, she played her 100th match for New Zealand during the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. On 20 July 2023, she scored the opening goal of the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

on home soil in a 1–0 victory against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, in what was their first win in the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Selected International goals

Honours and awards

League

*Northern Region Premier Women's League Championship: 2010, 2011 *National Youth Women's League Championship: 2011

Individual

*Burridge Cup: 2008, 2009 *2011 NZF Young Player of the Year *2012 All- SEC 1st Team *2012

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

/Continental Tire Women's NCAA Division I

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n 3rd Team

Personal life

Aside from soccer, Wilkinson says she enjoys playing the drums and guitar and surfing. She has released two single songs on Spotify. ''Waiting for the Sun'' was released in January 2019 and the second, ''Set Me Free'', in April 2019. Wilkinson is openly gay. She graduated from

Harvard Extension School Harvard Extension School (HES) is the Continuing education, continuing education School of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1910, it is o ...

with a Masters of Liberal Arts in 2024.https://dash.lib.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/37378441/Final%20Thesis%20Hannah%20Wilkinson.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

References

External links

*
Profile
at NZF * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Hannah 1992 births Living people New Zealand women's association footballers Sportspeople from Whangārei 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic association footballers for New Zealand Tennessee Volunteers women's soccer players New Zealand women's international footballers Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Women's association football forwards 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players New Zealand LGBTQ footballers New Zealand lesbian sportswomen Sporting CP (women's football) players People educated at Kamo High School Damallsvenskan players Vittsjö GIK players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll (women) players Frauen-Bundesliga players MSV Duisburg (women) players Melbourne City FC (women) players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics FIFA Women's Century Club New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in Germany New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate women's footballers in Portugal Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in the United States New Zealand expatriate women's association footballers 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players Harvard Extension School alumni 21st-century New Zealand sportswomen