Rachel Ann Daly (born 6 December 1991) is an English 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 ...

who plays for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa P ...

in the

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

and the England national team. Since 2019 she has played in defence, midfield, and attack. Previously, she played for

Houston Dash The Houston Dash is a professional Women's association football, women's soccer team based in Houston, Texas. It joined the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the 2014 National Women's Soccer League season, 2014 season, and is affiliated w ...

College career

Despite playing just three years for the St. John's University Red Storm, Daly set the school's career records for both goals (50) and points (111). As a freshman, she did not see game action due to

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

compliance regulations. During her second year, she played and started in all 21 games and set St. John's single-season records in goals (23) and points (50), becoming the program's first-ever player to be named a

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of United States, American soccer Coach (sport), coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization i ...

All-American, after earning Second Team honours. As a junior, she was the team's leading player in points with 18, including eight goals and two assists. As a senior, she appeared in 20 games, making 19 starts, and finished as the leading scorer on the team with 19 goals and five assists for a total of 18 points. She became the first player in program history to be selected to the

All-America First Team and the first to be named a semifinalist for 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 ...

Club career

Houston Dash

Daly was selected by NWSL club

as the sixth overall pick of the 2016 NWSL College Draft. The NWSL Media Association voted Daly Player of the Week for the first week of the season after she contributed a goal and an assist in the Dash's 3–1 win against the Chicago Red Stars. She appeared in 16 games in the 2016 season, tallying four goals and four assists. Daly returned to the Dash for the 2017 season, appearing in 23 games and scoring five goals. On 20 November 2017, the Houston Dash announced that Daly had signed a new contract with the club. In the 2018 season, Daly was named Player of the Week for week nine, as well as Player of the Month for the month of May. Daly started all 24 games for the Dash and scored a career high 10 goals. She was voted team MVP and named to the NWSL Second XI for the 2018 season. Daly was named captain of the Dash ahead of the

2020 NWSL Challenge Cup The 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup was a tournament during the 2020 National Women's Soccer League season to mark the league's return to action from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first professional team sports e ...

. The Dash won the Cup, their first trophy, after a 2–0 win over the

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) ...

in the final. Daly won the tournament Golden Boot and on 25 July 2020 was named tournament MVP.

Loan to West Ham United

On 3 September 2020, Daly joined

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium ...

on a loan that expired 11 January 2021.

Aston Villa

On 9 August 2022, it was announced that Daly had signed a three-year deal with

. She made her competitive debut for the club on 18 September that year, scoring 2 goals in a 4–3 win over

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

International career

Daly has represented England at the U-15, U-17, U-19, and U-23 levels. She was a member of England's U-17 FIFA Women's World Cup team that finished fourth in New Zealand in 2008. When

Mark Sampson Mark Geraint Sampson (born 18 October 1982) is a Welsh football coach who was most recently a first team coach at Stevenage. He has also been a manager of the England women's team. Playing career Born and raised in Creigiau, a suburb of Card ...

replaced

Hope Powell Hope Patricia Powell, CBE (born 8 December 1966) is an English former international footballer and former women's first-team manager of Brighton & Hove Albion. She was the coach of the England women's national football team and the Great Brit ...

as England

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, he named Daly in his first squad in December 2013. She 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. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

in June 2016, scoring in England's 7–0

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying The UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying competition was a women's football competition that determined the 15 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Netherlands in the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 final tournament. A total of 46 UEFA member nat ...

win over

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

. Daly was left off Sampson's squad for

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 football championship organised by UEFA for the women's national team ...

. After not being called up for nearly a year, Daly was included in England's squad for the

2018 SheBelieves Cup The 2018 SheBelieves Cup was the third edition of the SheBelieves Cup, an invitational women's soccer tournament held in the United States. Featuring national teams from Germany, England, France, and hosts United States, it began on March 1 and en ...

by new head coach

Phil Neville Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English football manager and former player, who is the head coach of MLS team Inter Miami CF. He is also the co-owner of Salford City, along with several of his former Manchester United teammat ...

. Daly featured in four of England's

World Cup qualifying The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are h ...

games in 2018, as England won their group and qualified for the 2019 World Cup. She won the

2019 SheBelieves Cup The 2019 SheBelieves Cup was the fourth edition of the SheBelieves Cup, an invitational women's soccer tournament held in the United States. Featuring national teams from Brazil, England, Japan, and hosts United States, it began on February 2 ...

with England, where she appeared in two games and played all 90 minutes in a 2–2 draw against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. In July 2022 Daly was included, and started every game at left back, with the England squad which won

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 The 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2022 or simply Euro 2022, was the 13th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by U ...

. In November 2022, she started her first international match as a forward during a series of friendlies in which manager Sarina Wiegman was trying out options to replace the perennial but recently-retired number 9 Ellen White, with Daly saying "she will play wherever Wiegman needs her".

Great Britain Olympic

In May 2021, Daly was named to the

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their Great Britain at the Olympics, British Olympic team. The brand was developed after Great Britain at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the nation's poor perfor ...

squad as one of six defenders in the squad. She appeared in all four games for Team GB, starting in three of the games.

Personal life

She previously dated Dash teammate

Kristie Mewis Kristen Anne Mewis (born February 25, 1991) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team. Early life Mewis grew up in Hanson, ...

Career statistics

College

Club

International

:''Statistics accurate as of match played 11 November 2022.'' :''Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Daly goal.''

Honours

Leeds United *

FA Women's Premier League Cup The Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). It was renamed the FA Women's Premier League Cup from 1994 to 2018. The first edition of the Cup include ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Houston Dash *

NWSL Challenge Cup The NWSL Challenge Cup, currently known as the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tournament organized by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-tier women's league in the United States soccer league system. T ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

England *

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalen ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

SheBelieves Cup The SheBelieves Cup is an invitational 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 the same four teams: the United ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Arnold Clark Cup The Arnold Clark Cup is an invitational women's association football tournament hosted by The Football Association, starting in 2022. It is named after car retailer Arnold Clark, who signed a multi-year sponsorship deal. ITV acts as the competit ...

Individual * NWSL Second XI:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

*NWSL Challenge Cup Most Valuable Player:

*NWSL Challenge Cup Best XI:

*NWSL Challenge Cup Golden Boot:

Player of the Month: September 2022 *

Freedom of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...

(announced 1 August 2022)

References

External links

St. John's player profile

Houston Dash player profile

Rachel Daly
at

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federati ...

Profile
at the Football Association website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Daly, Rachel 1991 births Living people English LGBT sportspeople LGBT association football players Lesbian sportswomen English women's footballers St. John's Red Storm women's soccer players Houston Dash players National Women's Soccer League players Leeds United Women F.C. players Notts County L.F.C. players West Ham United F.C. Women players FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players USL W-League (1995–2015) players England women's under-23 international footballers England women's international footballers Olympic footballers of Great Britain Houston Dash draft picks Sportspeople from Harrogate Women's association football forwards Women's association football defenders 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics English expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates English expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Pali Blues players UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players UEFA Women's Championship-winning players Aston Villa W.F.C. players Los Angeles Strikers players