Jessica Stapleton (born 7 February 2005) is an Irish

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 plays as a defender or

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

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, on loan from

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

and the Republic of Ireland national team.

Club career

Early career

Stapleton is from

Ballyfermot Ballyfermot () is a suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located west of the city centre, south of Phoenix Park. It is bordered by Chapelizod on the north, by Bluebell, Dublin, Bluebell on the south, by Inchicore on the east, ...

, and began playing soccer for Cherry Orchard when she was eight years old. When she was 11 she became the first girl to be selected for the representative team of the Dublin and District Schoolboys League (DDSL). In 2020 Stapleton played for

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

in the Women's Under-17 National League. After Stapleton captained Rovers to their 2–0 League final defeat by

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

, she spoke out against

sexist Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is int ...

remarks made by

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on the comment section of the live feed.

Shelbourne

Stapleton joined Women's National League club Shelbourne for the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, since Shamrock Rovers lacked a senior women's team.

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

had a longstanding interest in signing Stapleton, but regulations arising out of

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

prevented British clubs from signing any Irish players until they turned 18 years old. She enjoyed good form in her debut season at senior level, featuring in defence and

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

for Noel King's Shelbourne. Stapleton sometimes played in attack, helping King plug gaps in the Shelbourne team caused by injuries and the departure of several players to professional clubs in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. She was named WNL Player of the Month for October 2021, nominated for Young Player of the Year and named in the Team of the Season. Shelbourne overhauled Peamount United on a dramatic final day to win the 2021 Women's National League title. Stapleton also played in the 2021 FAI Women's Cup Final, but Shelbourne were beaten 3–1 by Wexford Youths. In

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 ...

Stapleton continued to play well as Shelbourne claimed a League and Cup "

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

". She was named Young Player of the Year and retained her place in the Team of the Season. In the 2022 FAI Women's Cup Final Stapleton scored the opening goal and was

Player of the Match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

as Shelbourne beat

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they play t ...

2–0 to avenge their defeat in the previous year's final. In November 2022 she was reported to have made an agreement to join

in June 2023, in preference to several other interested clubs.

West Ham

On 28 July 2023, Stapleton was announced at West Ham. She made her league debut against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

on 17 December 2023.

Reading (loan)

On 26 January 2024,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

announced the signing of Stapleton on loan from

for the remainder of the season.She helped the club avoid relegation from the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

by scoring in a 1-0 victory against

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

on 21 April 2024

Sunderland (loan)

On 1 August 2024, Stapleton was announced at Sunderland.

International career

Youth

Stapleton represented Ireland at schoolgirl level while she attended Pobalscoil Iosolde. On her full debut for the national under-15 schoolgirl team on 17 February 2018, she scored a goal and was

player of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

in a 2–1 win over Northern Ireland. She progressed to the

Republic of Ireland women's national under-17 football team Republic of Ireland women's national under-17 football team represents Republic of Ireland in international youth football competitions. FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The team has qualified in 2010 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship Previo ...

and debuted against

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in February 2020. By 2021 Stapleton was playing for Dave Connell's

Republic of Ireland women's national under-19 football team The Republic of Ireland women's national under-19 football team represents Ireland at the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship and the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. History UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The Irish team has qualified for the ...

. She made six appearances throughout the year, scoring one goal. At the FAI International Football Awards she was named 2022 Under-19 Women's International Player of the Year.

Senior

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

coach Colin Bell called 13-year-old Stapleton into a training camp for home-based national team players in August 2018. She was called up to the senior Republic of Ireland squad for the first time in November 2021, for

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group A UEFA Group A of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification competition consists of five teams: Sweden, Finland, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, and Georgia. The composition of the nine groups in the qualifying group stage was decided by the draw ...

fixtures against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. Stapleton won her first senior

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

on 19 June 2022, as a half-time substitute in a 1–0 friendly win over the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

, Turkey. Although she had been playing in midfield for her club, national team coach

Vera Pauw Vera Pauw (; born 18 January 1963) is a Dutch Women's association football, football coach and former player who is the manager of the United Arab Emirates women's national football team, United Arab Emirates women's national team. She has manage ...

saw Stapleton as a central defender.

International goals

Honors

Shelbourne * Women's National League:

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 ...

FAI Women's Cup The Football Association of Ireland Women's Cup is the senior cup competition for women's association football in Ireland. It is commonly known as the Women's FAI Cup, the WFAI Cup, or prior to 2001, the Ladies FAI Cup or the LFAI Cup. Organised ...

Individual * WNL Player of the Month: October 2021 * WNL Team of the Year:

* WNL Young Player of the Year:

* FAI Young International Women's Player of the Year: 2025

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stapleton, Jessie 2005 births Living people Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers Women's association football defenders Shelbourne F.C. (women) players Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland women's youth international footballers Cherry Orchard F.C. players Shamrock Rovers Ladies F.C. players 21st-century Irish sportswomen