Jaelin Marie Howell (born November 21, 1999) is an American professional

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 plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Gotham FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sk ...

of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

(NWSL). She played college soccer for the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University (FSU) located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I, prima ...

and was awarded the

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and th ...

two years in a row. She was drafted by

Racing Louisville FC Racing Louisville Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Louisville, Kentucky, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It began playing in 2021 at Lynn Family Stadium. The team i ...

with the second overall pick of the

2022 NWSL Draft The 2022 NWSL Draft was the 10th annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on December 18, 2021, and hosted remotely by CBS Sports. Format * All 12 teams of the National ...

. After playing at the under-17 and under-20 level, Howell debuted for the

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

in 2020.

Early life and college career

Howell attended Fossil Ridge High School in

Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality in Larimer County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The population was 169,810 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, an i ...

. She was named an NSCAA All-American in 2015. She played for the Florida State women's soccer team prior to beginning her professional career. Howell was awarded the

in 2020, honoring the United Soccer Coaches National Players of the Year in NCAA Division I women's soccer. She again won the Hermann Trophy in 2021 for the second consecutive season.

Club career

On January 21, 2022, Howell signed a three-year contract with

after being selected second by the team in the

. Howell made her Racing Louisville debut on March 18 in the NWSL Challenge Cup opener, starting in midfield against the Kansas City Current. The midfielder was second in the NWSL in minutes played last season among rookies, only trailing her Racing teammate Savannah DeMelo. Howell had two assists for the year. On August 19, 2024, Howell was traded to

Seattle Reign FC Seattle Reign FC is an American professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since June 2024, the Reign ar ...

along with $50,000 in allocation money in exchange for

Bethany Balcer Bethany Catherine Balcer (born March 7, 1997) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker for Racing Louisville FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Balcer played collegiate soccer at Spring Arbor University, w ...

. She made her debut for Seattle against

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acqui ...

on August 25th, 2024 as she was substituted on in the 75th minute. On December 20, 2024, Howell joined

as part of a trade that also saw Cassie Miller and Lynn Williams move to Seattle. On May 25, 2025, she started in the

2025 CONCACAF W Champions Cup final The 2025 CONCACAF W Champions Cup final was the final match of the 2024–25 CONCACAF W Champions Cup, the 1st season of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean's premier club association football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It wa ...

against Tigres, where Gotham won 1–0 to become the inaugural winners of the competition.

International career

Howell was named to the

2016 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship The 2016 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship was the 5th edition of the CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship, the biennial international youth association football, football championship organised by CONCACAF for the women's under-17 national teams o ...

Best XI. The same year, she was the starting center midfielder for the U-17 team at the

2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international Women's association football, women's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-17 national t ...

. On March 29, 2017, she was called up to the U.S. women's national soccer team. After being a part of the USA U-20 Squad that finished runner up at the

2018 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship The 2018 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship was the 9th edition of the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth association football, football championship organised by CONCACAF for the women's under-20 national teams ...

, Howell was named to the USA U-20 roster for the

2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its i ...

. She made her debut for the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

November 27, 2020, coming on as a substitute for

Sam Mewis Samantha June Mewis (born October 9, 1992) is an American former professional association football, soccer player who played as a midfielder. Mewis is the editor-in-chief and podcast host of ''The Women's Game'' from ''Men in Blazers''. Raised i ...

in the 89th minute against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Howell scored her first senior national team goal in a 9–1 win over Uzbekistan.

Personal life

Jaelin's father,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, was an

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

who was part of the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

team that won

Super Bowl XXXVII Super Bowl XXXVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list United States's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Howell goal.''

Honors

Florida State Seminoles *

NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, sometimes known as the Women's College Cup, is an American college soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I women's natio ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Gotham FC *

CONCACAF W Champions Cup The CONCACAF W Champions Cup is an annual continental women's football club competition organized by CONCACAF that determines the club champion for the region encompassing North America, Central America and the Caribbean. It is comparable to ...

: 2024–25 United States *

SheBelieves Cup The SheBelieves Cup is an invitational women's association football, women's soccer tournament held in different cities in the United States in late February or early March. In its first three years (2016, 2017, and 2018), it was contested by t ...

;

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Individual *

: 2020, 2021 *

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

Midfielder of the Year: 2020, 2021

References

Match reports

External links

*
Jaelin Howell
at

Jaelin Howell
at U.S. Soccer (archived) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Howell, Jaelin 1999 births Living people American women's soccer players Soccer players from Colorado People from Windsor, Colorado United States women's youth international soccer players United States women's under-20 international soccer players United States women's international soccer players Women's association football midfielders Florida State Seminoles women's soccer players Sportspeople from Fort Collins, Colorado Racing Louisville FC players National Women's Soccer League players Racing Louisville FC draft picks 21st-century American sportswomen Seattle Reign FC players Gotham FC players