Leanne Kelly Champ (born 10 August 1983) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach, who last played for North Jersey Valkyries of the North American W-League. A tough-tackling full back who can also play in midfield, Champ previously played for

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 ...

club Chelsea Ladies,

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 ...

and

Pali Blues Pali Blues was an American women's soccer team, which played from 2008 to 2014. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues USL W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada. The team played in the Western ...

as well as spending three spells with

Millwall Lionesses Millwall Lionesses Football Club is an English women's football club based in Rotherhithe, south-east London, that plays in the , the fifth tier of English women's football. Founded in 1973, the group of women who made up the Lionesses were at ...

. She has also 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 and senior level. She is now the Pro Team Second Assistant Coach and Breakers College Academy Coach for the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional women's soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defu ...

in the NWSL.

Club career

Champ began her career with nine years at

, moving to

in 2001. She spent six years with Arsenal, working in the club laundry when not playing, before returning to Millwall during 2007–08. Champ had sat out Arsenal's quadruple-winning 2006–07 season with an

anterior cruciate ligament 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 ...

. In the 2008–09 season, she helped Millwall to the

FA Women's Premier League Southern Division The FA Women's National League South is a league in the third level in the women's football pyramid in England, along with the Northern division. These two divisions are part of the FA Women's National League and below the Women's Super Le ...

title, and with it a return to the

FA Women's Premier League National Division The FA Women's Premier League National Division (originally WFA National League Premier Division) was a football division in England. From 1991–92 WFA National League Premier Division, 1991 until 2009–10 FA Women's Premier League, 2010, the ...

. Early in the 2009–10 campaign Champ switched to Chelsea and scored against former club Arsenal in a 3–2 home League defeat in November 2009. She played for North American W-League club

in summer 2010. She returned to Chelsea for the inaugural

2011 FA WSL The 2011 FA WSL was the inaugural season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 13 April 2011 and ended on 28 August 2011. The league also took a break between 12 May and mid-July to allow preparatio ...

and played in 13 of the club's 14 league matches. In 2012 Champ played for Philadelphia Fever in America's

Women's Premier Soccer League Elite The Women's Premier Soccer League Elite (WPSL Elite) was a women's semi-professional soccer league created by the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) to support the sport in the United States, both from continued interest by WPSL teams in profes ...

(WPSL Elite). She agreed a brief return to Millwall in January 2013, before heading off again to America in April 2013, with North Jersey Valkyries. In 2014 Champ was employed as a soccer coach by the

. She coached 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 ...

club's academy teams and intended to play for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

International career

Champ played for

in the

2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship The 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 17 August to 1 September. It was the first sanctioned youth tournament for women put together by FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada. FIFA granted the tournament to Canada in March ...

and reached the quarter-final. She had previously won seven caps at U-16 level, and by 2001–02 was an established member of the senior squad. In February 2003 Champ made her Senior debut in a 1–0 friendly defeat in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. She has 10 caps for England. She was given number 145 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England’s inaugural international.

Coaching career

Leanne is a new member of the 2017

coaching staff, serving as both the Pro Team Second Assistant Coach and the Breakers College Academy Coach as "part of the player identification and scouting network for both Boston Breakers senior teams, and Academy teams."

Personal life

Champ worked as a postwoman in her native

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

References

External links

Leanne Champ
at Chelsea Ladies FA WSL website {{DEFAULTSORT:Champ, Leanne 1983 births Living people English women's footballers Millwall Lionesses L.F.C. players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Arsenal W.F.C. players Chelsea F.C. Women players England women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Pali Blues players Women's Super League players USL W-League (1995–2015) players Footballers from Portsmouth Women's association football defenders Women's association football midfielders English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate women's footballers 21st-century English sportswomen