Noelle Maritz (; born 23 December 1995) is a 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 plays as a defender for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

of 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 ...

. She previously played 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 ...

in the WSL,

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

in the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

, and

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

in Switzerland's Nationalliga A. Born in the United States, she represents

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

at international level.

Club career

Youth

Noelle Maritz started playing football at age four in

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

. When her family moved to the East Coast, she transferred to the Players Development Academy in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. After playing in the United States up to U13, she returned to her ancestral homeland, Switzerland, in the summer of 2005. There she first played for the local club FC Amriswil in the D-Jugend before moving to FC Staad in the summer of 2007. There she was able to recommend herself for the Swiss youth selection and spent three years in the training center of the

Swiss Football Association The Swiss Football Association (, , , ) is the governing body of football in Switzerland. It organizes the football league, the Swiss Football League and the Switzerland national football team. It is based in Bern. It was formed in 1895, was a ...

in Huttwil. At the same time, Maritz played at

FC Wil FC Wil (''Fussball Club Wil 1900'') is a Association football, football club based in Wil, Switzerland. They play in the ''Sportpark Bergholz'', which has a total capacity of 6,048. The club has consistently played in the Swiss Challenge League, ...

in youth football with the boys U13, U14, and U15.

FC Zürich

After these three years, she signed her first player contract with

for the 2011/2012 season. There she gave her senior debut in the

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league h ...

on August 6, 2011 against SC Schwyz. She played 28 games in two years and scored one goal for Zurich in the NLA before signing for German treble winners

Wolfsburg

As the first transfer of the summer, Wolfsburg coach Ralf Kellermann signed 17-year-old Maritz on May 20, 2013 on the strength of her first national team performances in Cyprus. She made her debut for the club on October 3, taking to the field as a starter in the match won 8-1 over VfL Sindelfingen. In her first year at VfL Wolfsburg, Maritz played in 15 of 22

games and won the double with the club this season, consisting of a championship and a Champions League.

Arsenal

Maritz joined

Arsenal FC The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. In domestic football, Arsenal h ...

for the 2020/21 season. She made her Arsenal debut in the 2-1 loss to PSG in the Champions League quarter final on 22 August 2020, before making her league debut in their opening game against Reading on 6 September 2020, playing the whole 90 minutes. On 16 May 2021, Maritz scored twice in a 9-0 defeat of Crystal Palace in the

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 ...

Aston Villa

On 6 January 2024, it was announced that Maritz had signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with

with the option to extend for a further year. She made her debut for the club on January 13 and played a full 90 minutes in the 3-0 loss against Everton in the

International career

Noelle Maritz has been a senior Switzerland international since 2013, after taking part in the 2012 U17 European Championship in Switzerland and the 2017 U20 World Cup in Japan. She made her senior international debut on March 6, 2013 against the Canada national team as part of the Cyprus Cup. In 2013/14 Maritz qualified with the Swiss national team for the 2015 World Cup in Canada, where she was in the starting line-up in each of the four World Cup games, but was eliminated by a 0-1 defeat in the round of 16 against the hosts. In qualifying for the Euro 2017 she had four missions. The Swiss were also able to qualify for European Championship finals for the first time, where they played in the three group games. With one win, one draw, and one defeat each, they were eliminated after the group stage. In qualifying for the 2019 World Cup, she played in the twelve games played by the Swiss. They ultimately missed out on their second appearance at the World Cup after losing twice in the playoffs of the runners-up to European champions

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 ...

. They had previously missed out on direct qualification due to a goalless draw in the last group match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Maritz took part in the 2022 European Championship and was in the starting line-up for the Swiss in all three group games. Switzerland was eliminated after the preliminary round. She was in the squad for the 2023 World Cup and started all four games. Switzerland was eliminated in the round of 16.

International goals

Personal life

Maritz was born in the United States, growing up in Newport Beach, CA and Hillsborough, NJ, and moved to Switzerland in the canton of

Thurgau Thurgau (; ; ; ), anglicized as Thurgovia, and formally as the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. Its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is part of Eastern Switzerland. I ...

when she was ten. Therefore, she has dual citizenship. Because she was born in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, her name is officially spelled without accents as "Noelle", instead of the usual "Noëlle", according to the state's naming laws where names should only consist of letters in the English alphabet.

Honours

FC Zürich * Swiss Women's Super League: 2012, 2013 * Swiss Women's Cup: 2012, 2013 VfL Wolfsburg *

: 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

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 ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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. ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Arsenal *

FA Women's League Cup The Women's League Cup, also known as the Subway Women's League Cup due to sponsorship reasons, is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since t ...

: 2022–23

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maritz, Noelle 1995 births Living people Swiss women's footballers American people of Swiss descent Swiss people of American descent People from Newport Beach, California American emigrants to Switzerland Soccer players from California VfL Wolfsburg (women) players Switzerland women's international footballers 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association football defenders American women's soccer players FC Zürich Frauen players Women's Super League (Switzerland) players Swiss expatriate women's footballers American expatriate women's soccer players Expatriate women's footballers in Germany Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany American expatriate women's soccer players in Germany Swiss expatriate sportspeople in England American expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in England Arsenal W.F.C. players Aston Villa W.F.C. players UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players Frauen-Bundesliga players UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players FIFA Women's Century Club 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players UEFA Women's Champions League–winning players 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century Swiss sportswomen