Jodie Lee Taylor (born 17 May 1986) 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 last played as a striker for

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 ...

of WSL. She began her club career with local team

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

and had brief spells in her home country with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

and Lincoln Ladies. A well-traveled player, she has also played abroad in the United States, Canada, Australia, Sweden and France. Taylor 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 youth level before making her senior international debut in 2014. She scored the opening goal in the 2–1 quarter-final win over hosts Canada at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. England went on to win the bronze medal at the tournament. Taylor won the Golden Boot as top goalscorer at Euro 2017, scoring five goals in four appearances.

Early life

Born in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

, United Kingdom, Taylor made her first team debut for

in February 2002, at the age of 15, during a prolific season in youth football. That term, she scored 109 goals across 125 games for Oldershaw School, Merseyside Under–16s and Tranmere's reserve team. She then scored on her first team debut in Tranmere's 5–1 win over

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

in the

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

fifth round. When Tranmere were

relegated 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 ...

in 2004, Taylor accepted a four-year scholarship to

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

. She had scored 29 goals in 38 first team appearances for Tranmere, despite missing six months of action with a broken leg.

Club career

Taylor played for various teams in the North American

USL W-League USL W-League may refer to: * USL W League * USL W-League (1995–2015) The USL W-League was a North American amateur women's soccer developmental organization. The league was a semi-professional, open league, giving college players the oppor ...

and in Australia for Melbourne Victory. She returned to England in 2011, signing for Birmingham City, but moving to Lincoln Ladies on loan. After she scored two goals in six games, Lincoln wanted to keep Taylor for the 2012 FA WSL season. But she returned to her parent club Birmingham City following another off-season stint in Australia with Melbourne Victory. At the 2012 FA Women's Cup Final, Taylor scored in Birmingham's

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

win over Chelsea. In January 2013, Taylor left Birmingham City for a one–year loan to

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 ...

team Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC. She scored ten goals in ten games for Göteborg but left during the summer break, returning to England for personal reasons. In December 2013, she signed with the

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the USL W-League (1995� ...

for the

2014 National Women's Soccer League season The 2014 National Women's Soccer League season was the second season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer ( ...

. On 16 January 2015 the

Portland Thorns FC Portland Thorns FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL ...

acquired Taylor in a trade with the Washington Spirit in exchange for a 2015 second-round pick (No. 13 overall) and two-second-round picks in 2016. On 8 October 2015, defending W-League champions Canberra United announced that they had signed Taylor on loan, only for a recurrence of a knee injury to force her to pull out of the deal. On 24 March 2016,

announced the signing of Taylor. Taylor did not make her debut in the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

until the club's final home game of the 2016 season, scoring twice in a 2–0 win over

Doncaster Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an England, English women's association football, women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's admi ...

, having previously spent a large part of the campaign out injured. Less than two years later, Taylor left

on 21 November 2017, having played seventeen matches for the club, scoring ten goals. She signed for

Melbourne City FC Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region, South-Eastern region of Melbourne, Victoria. They compete in the A-League Men, the Australian soccer ...

in Australia on a short-term contract. On the same day,

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 ...

announced that Taylor will join the club before the 2018

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 ...

season. By returning to the Pacific Northwest, she joins a select group of players who have played for both sides of the Cascadia rivalry with Seattle and the

Michelle Betos Michelle Jenny Betos (born February 20, 1988) is an American professional soccer coach and player who plays as a goalkeeper for NJ/NY Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She is perhaps best known for being the first NWSL goal ...

, Amber Brooks, Danielle Foxhoven,

Kaylyn Kyle Kaylyn McKenzie Kyle (born October 6, 1988) is a Canadian former soccer player and member of the Canada national team, winning a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is a Right To Play ambassador and currently serves as a soccer broadc ...

Allie Long Alexandra Linsley Long (born August 13, 1987) is an American soccer player who plays as a midfielder. She played for Portland Thorns FC, Seattle Reign FC, and NJ/NY Gotham FC in the National Women's Soccer League, and represented the United S ...

and

Jessica McDonald Jessica Marie McDonald (born February 28, 1988) is an American association football, soccer commentator and former professional player. She played for National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) clubs including the Chicago Red Stars, Seattle Reign FC ...

. She signed a new one-year contract, with an option for a further year, with Reign FC on 22 January 2020. In December 2020, while Taylor was still in France,

OL Reign Seattle Reign FC is an American professional Association football, 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 J ...

traded her NWSL playing rights along with Taylor Smith to

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 ...

in exchange for Ally Watt. In February 2021, Taylor's NWSL rights were once again traded, this time to

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Orlando, Florida, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Pride began play in the 2016 National Women's Soccer League season, 2016 ...

in exchange for Carson Pickett. On 4 August 2020, Taylor joined French and European champions Lyon on a short-term deal until 31 December. On 30 August, she appeared as an 87th minute substitute for

Dzsenifer Marozsán Dzsenifer Marozsán (; born 18 April 1992) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder (association football), midfielder for French club Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, Lyon. She previously played for 1. FC Saarbr ...

as Lyon beat

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian language, Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth-largest city in the Germany, German state of Lower Saxony, on the river Aller (Germany), Aller east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the locat ...

3–1 in the 2020 UEFA Women's Champions League Final. In January 2021 it was announced her contract had been extended until the end of the season. Having acquired her NWSL rights in February, Taylor signed with

through the end of 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 ...

on 8 July 2021. On 1 December 2021, Taylor was traded from Orlando to

San Diego Wave FC San Diego Wave Fútbol Club is an American professional soccer team based in San Diego, California, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The team plays its home games at Snapdragon Stadium. Founded on June 8, 2021, the Wav ...

, a new NWSL expansion team managed by her former England teammate

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 ...

. On 17 March 2023, it was announced that Taylor would rejoin Arsenal for the remainder of the 2022–23 season. In Arsenal's home match against Leicester City W.F.C., she got an assist to a Frida Leonhardsen Maanum goal which helped to earn Arsenal a Champion's League place for the following season. She announced her retirement from competitive football on 28 September 2023

International career

Newly appointed

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Mark Sampson Mark Geraint Sampson (born 18 October 1982) is a Welsh football coach who was most recently a first team coach at Stevenage F.C., Stevenage. Born in Creigiau, Wales, Sampson played amateur football for Cardiff Corinthians F.C., Cardiff Corinthi ...

included Taylor in a 30-player squad for the annual training camp in

La Manga Club La Manga Club is a sports and leisure resort located in the south-eastern region of Spain, Murcia, south of La Manga, and bordered by the Mar Menor and Calblanque Regional Park. The resort complex opened in 1972 and covers an area of 1,400 ...

, which included a match 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 ...

on 17 January 2014. She withdrew from the squad due to club commitments and was replaced by Isobel Christiansen. In August 2014 Taylor made her debut in England's 4–0 friendly win over

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 ...

at Victoria Park in

Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...

. She scored what would have been her first international goal in a friendly against 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 ...

on 13 February 2015, only for it to be wrongly ruled out for offside. On 6 March 2015, at the 2015 Cyprus Cup, Taylor scored a hat trick for England in their 3–0 group win 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 ...

. The win gave them a place in the finals. On her tenth appearance for England, 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 ...

, Taylor capitalised on a mistake by

Lauren Sesselmann Lauren Marie Sesselmann (born August 14, 1983) is a former Association football, soccer player and Olympic bronze medalist who played as a Defender (association football), defender and Forward (association football), forward. Born in the United ...

of host nation Canada to put England 1–0 up in their quarter-final game. England went on to win 2–1 to secure their first ever semi-final appearance. 20170719 WEURO ENG SCO 5878

Taylor was selected as part of England's squad for

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 The 2017 UEFA European Women's Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2017, was the 12th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship organised by UEFA for the ...

and was given the number 9 shirt for the tournament. She scored a hat-trick in the team's 6–0 opening group match victory against Scotland, becoming the first Englishwoman to do so in a major tournament. She scored again in the next game as England beat Spain 2–0 and the only goal in a 1–0 quarter-final win over France as England reached the semi-finals. With five goals, Taylor won the tournament's golden boot, one ahead of

Vivianne Miedema Anna Margaretha Marina Astrid "Vivianne" Miedema (; born 15 July 1996) is a Dutch professional association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for FA Women's Super League, Women's Super League club Manches ...

. In May 2019, Phil Neville selected Jodie Taylor for England's

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 ...

squad. She made three appearances and scored once in a group stage win over Argentina. Taylor was allotted 187 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England’s inaugural international.

Post-playing career

On 13 November 2023, Arsenal announced that Jodie would be taking on a new role at the club as the Football Services Executive to "support the continued growth of Arsenal Women".

Personal life

Jodie was married to fellow footballer and New Zealand national team player Emma Kete.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Taylor goal.''

Honours

Birmingham City *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

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 ...

Göteborg *

Svenska Supercupen Svenska Supercupen, ''Swedish Super Cup'', was a one-off fixture in Swedish football played between the Allsvenskan champions and the winners of Svenska Cupen. The fixture was played in November, after the Allsvenskan season. In the event of a ...

: 2013 Melbourne City * W-League Championship:

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 ...

Lyon *

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

: 2019–20 England *

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 ...

third place:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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 ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Individual *

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years and one year after the men's UEFA European Championship first held in 1984, is the main competition in women's association football between nationa ...

Golden Boot:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

* Vauxhall England Player of the Year: 2017

References

External links

* *
Jodie Taylor
at

The Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

(archived) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Jodie 1986 births Living people English women's footballers Pali Blues players Portland Thorns FC players Melbourne Victory FC (women) players Arsenal W.F.C. players Birmingham City W.F.C. players Tranmere Rovers L.F.C. players BK Häcken FF players Sydney FC (women) players Washington Spirit players Canberra United FC players Melbourne City FC (women) players Orlando Pride players Women's Super League players FA Women's National League players USL W-League (1995–2015) players English expatriate women's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Australia English expatriate sportspeople in Canada English expatriate sportspeople in Sweden English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States University of Oregon alumni Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden England women's under-23 international footballers National Women's Soccer League players Oregon State Beavers women's soccer players England women's international footballers 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers from Birkenhead Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia Expatriate women's soccer players in Canada Seattle Reign FC players San Diego Wave FC players Women's association football forwards Olympique Lyonnais Féminin players Première Ligue players FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Great Britain Summer World University Games medalists in football 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players English LGBTQ footballers English lesbian sportswomen Damallsvenskan players Medalists at the 2009 Summer Universiade UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players Ottawa Fury (women) players Boston Renegades players UEFA Women's Champions League–winning players 21st-century English sportswomen