Michelle Ivory Cooper (born December 4, 2002) is an American professional

soccer player 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for the

Kansas City Current The Kansas City Current are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Kansas City, Missouri, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded as an NWSL expansion, expansion team in 2021 NWSL ...

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) and 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 ...

. She played two years of

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

for the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the N ...

, winning 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 ...

in 2022. She was picked second overall by the Current in the

2023 NWSL Draft The 2023 NWSL Draft presented by Ally was the eleventh annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select amateur players above the age of 18 playing in the United States who exhausted, lost, or renounced any remaining ...

Early life

Cooper was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

and raised in

Clarkston, Michigan Clarkston is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, United States. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Detroit, located about northwest of downtown Detroit, Clarkston is surrounded by Independence Township, Michigan, Independence Township, but admin ...

. She attended

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a University-preparatory school, preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. The organization is set across over 600 acres (243 ha) and features programs consisting of sport ca ...

in Florida, captaining the soccer team in her junior and senior seasons. She was ranked by ''

TopDrawerSoccer 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 la ...

'' as the 18th-best recruit of the 2021 class.

College career

Cooper led the

with 12 goals (the most by a freshman in program history) and added 5 assists in 18 games in her freshman season in 2021. In the NCAA tournament, she scored two goals in a 7–1 win against St. John's in the third round as Duke reached the national quarterfinals. She was named the ''TopDrawerSoccer'' National Freshman of the Year, first-team All-American, first-team All-ACC, and the ACC Freshman of the Year. In her sophomore season, she had an even better year with 19 goals (second in the nation) and 11 assists. She scored the first goal in a 2–1 win against

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

as Duke made the semifinals of the ACC tournament. In the NCAA tournament, she scored a tournament-joint-high 6 goals through three braces, including in a 3–2 quarterfinal loss to

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. She was recognized as first-team All-American, first-team All-ACC, and the ACC Offensive Player of the Year, and became the first Duke Blue Devil to receive the

as the best player in college soccer. After two seasons in Durham, she registered for the

, giving up her remaining college eligibility.

Club career

drafted Cooper with the second overall pick in the

. The Current had traded Lynn Williams to

NJ/NY 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 ...

to acquire the pick. Cooper was signed to a three-year contract. She debuted on March 25, playing the full match in a 1–0 loss to the

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 opening day. On May 17, she scored her first professional goal in a 3–2 loss to

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 ...

in the

NWSL Challenge Cup The NWSL Challenge Cup is an annual supercup competition organized by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), a division 1 women's league in the United States soccer league system. The current (2025) cup holder is the Washington Spirit, who ...

group stage. On June 18, she scored the fastest goal from kickoff in NWSL history in the 22nd second of the Current's 3–2 loss to 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� ...

. She finished her rookie regular season with 3 goals and 1 assist in 21 games (17 starts) as the Current placed 11th of 12 teams. She also had 1 goals and 1 assist in 5 starts in the Challenge Cup, helping the Current reach the semifinals. Cooper scored 1 goal and started all 5 games in the

2024 NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup The 2024 NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup was the inaugural edition of the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup, a women's soccer competition between clubs from the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) of the United States and Liga MX Femenil of ...

, helping the Current go undefeated to win the tournament. She finished the 2024 regular season with 3 goals and 2 assists in 21 games (15 starts) as Kansas City placed fourth in the league. She started both playoff games for the Current, assisting

Debinha Débora Cristiane de Oliveira (born 20 October 1991), known as Debinha Miri or simply Debinha, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder or forward for the Kansas City Current of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) ...

in a 3–2 loss to the

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 the semifinals.

International career

Cooper played for the United States youth national team at the under-16, under-18, under-19, and under-20 levels. She led the United States to victory at the

2022 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship The 2022 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONCACAF for the women's under-20 national teams of the North, Central ...

, earning the Golden Boot and Golden Ball awards and making the Best XI team. Cooper was called up by

Emma Hayes Emma Carol Hayes (born 18 October 1976) is an English professional football manager who is the head coach of the United States women's national team. She was previously manager of Chelsea Women from 2012 to 2024, winning seven Women's Super ...

into Futures Camp, practicing alongside the senior national team, in January 2025. She received her first call-up to the senior team for the

2025 SheBelieves Cup The 2025 SheBelieves Cup, named the 2025 SheBelieves Cup Presented by Visa for sponsorship reasons, was the tenth edition of the SheBelieves Cup, an invitational Women's association football, women's soccer tournament held in the United States. Fe ...

in February. On February 20, 2025, she made her senior international debut as a substitute against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. Three days later, she scored her first senior international goal six minutes after coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 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 ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honors and awards

Kansas City Current *

NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup The NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup () is a women's soccer competition between clubs from the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) of the United States and Liga MX Femenil of Mexico. The first edition took place in 2024, at venues in the Uni ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

United States U20 *

CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship The CONCACAF Women's Under-20 Championship is an association football competition for women's national under-20 teams in the North America, Central America and Caribbean region. It serves as the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-20 Women's ...

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 * CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship Golden Boot:

Golden Ball:

* NCAA Division I First-Team All-America:

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 ...

* ACC Offensive Player of the Year:

* First-team All-ACC:

* ACC Freshman of the Year:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Michelle 2002 births Living people African-American soccer players American women's soccer players United States women's under-20 international soccer players Duke Blue Devils women's soccer players Kansas City Current draft picks Kansas City Current players National Women's Soccer League players Women's association football forwards Soccer players from Detroit United States women's youth international soccer players 21st-century African-American sportswomen 21st-century American sportswomen United States women's international soccer players