Rebecca Katie Smith (born 17 June 1981) is a New Zealand former footballer who played as a defender. Smith was a World Cup and Olympic footballer captaining the

New Zealand women's national football team The New Zealand women's national football team represents New Zealand in international women's association football, football competitions, and is governed by New Zealand Football (NZF). They are nicknamed the Football Ferns. The New Zealand n ...

, and culminating her club career winning The Triple with

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 ...

as UEFA Champions League, German League, and German Cup Winners up until her retirement in 2013.

Early life

Smith was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California to New Zealand parents and attended high school at

Chadwick School Chadwick School is a nonsectarian independent K-12 day school located in an unincorporated area on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Specifically it is located at the top of the neighborhood referred to ...

Palos Verdes The Palos Verdes Peninsula () is a peninsular subregion of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, located within southwestern Los Angeles County, California. It is often called simply "Palos Verdes", and is made up of a group of cities in the Palos ...

, California and played soccer there during her first year. She lettered in basketball, waterpolo and softball all years at Chadwick. She graduated in 1999 with the highest honor in her class, The Headmaster's Award.

Football career

Smith captained NCAA Div 1

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

side and graduated with an Economics and Spanish degree before deciding to pursue her football career abroad, landing a professional contract in Germany with then European Champions,

FFC Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt is a German women's association football club based in Frankfurt. Its first team currently plays in the German top flight, Frauen-Bundesliga. From 1998 to 2020, the club was known as 1. FFC Frankfurt. Eintracht have won sev ...

. Smith then played for the

Sunnanå SK Sunnanå SK is a football club from Skellefteå, Sweden who in 2024 plays in Elitettan, the second highest division of women's football in Sweden. The club was established in 1939 and the women's division was added in 1974. Sunnanå has played man ...

in Sweden and then

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

in the inaugural W-League in Australia, before being signed by

on 2 February 2009. While at VfL Wolfsburg, Smith helped the club win the coveted Treble (Triple), the

Frauen-Bundesliga The Frauen-Bundesliga (German language, German for ''Women's Federal League''), currently known as the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of league competition for women's association football in Germany. I ...

in 2012–2013, the

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. ...

in 2012–2013 with a 1–0 win over Lyon in the finals, and the

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

as well as the Ladies First Cup in 2013 with a 2–0 win over Barcelona in the finals. In 2013, she ended her career due to knee problems.

International

Smith made her Football Ferns debut in a 15–0 victory over

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

on 7 April 2003, and captained New Zealand at the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but the outbreak o ...

finals in China, where they lost to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

0–5,

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

(0-2) and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(0-2). Smith was also included in the New Zealand squad for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

where they drew with

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

(2-2) before losing to

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 ...

(0-1) and USA (0-4). Smith's solid performances in New Zealand's rearguard earned her a FIFA Women's World Player of the Year nomination in 2007 and New Zealand Player of the Year in 2007. She was also named Oceania's Player of the Year twice in both 2011 and 2013. Smith played her 50th international in a friendly 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 ...

on 12 May 2011. Smith captained New Zealand for the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, football teams. It was held from 26 June to ...

finals in Germany. Smith again captained the New Zealand team that reached the quarter-finals at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. On 18 September 2013, Smith announced her retirement from football.

International goals

Professional life

Smith is fluent in four languages; English, German, Spanish and Swedish. In 2013, she founded women's football consultancy firm Crux Sports, where she is currently its CEO.

FIFA

When Smith retired from football, she transitioned into working at FIFA, managing their women's competitions.

COPA90

Smith joined COPA90, in December 2018 as the Global Executive Director of Women's Game for COPA90.

The Players Podcast

COPA90 launched The Players Podcast, with BBC, which Smith hosts and sits down with some of the biggest players and personalities in the sport and beyond to talk about topics through the lens of football but that go way beyond football.

Optus Sport

Smith joined

Optus Sport Optus Sport is an Australian group of list of sports television channels, sports channels, owned by Optus launched on 13 July 2016. Optus created the service after it outbid Foxtel for the Premier League, English Premier League broadcasting righ ...

's hosting team, for their broadcast of the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

which is being co-hosted in Australia and New Zealand. As part of the broadcast, she co-hosts a daily morning show called Daily Kick-Off during the tournament, and provides in-studio punditry for certain matches.

Honours

;VfL Wolfsburg *

2012–13 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 ...

DFB-Pokal Frauen The DFB-Pokal Frauen is the main national Women's association football, women's football cup competition in Germany, held annually by the German Football Association in knockout format. It was created in 1980, and since 1991 includes Eastern teams ...

: 2012–13 ;Individual * IFFHS OFC Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020

References

External links

*
NZ-Soccer Profile

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Rebecca 1981 births Living people American people of New Zealand descent Damallsvenskan players Duke Blue Devils women's soccer players Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Newcastle Jets FC (women) players New Zealand expatriate women's association footballers New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Germany New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Sweden New Zealand women's international footballers New Zealand women's association footballers Olympic association footballers for New Zealand Soccer players from Los Angeles Sunnanå SK players Frauen-Bundesliga players VfL Wolfsburg (women) players Women's association football defenders Eintracht Frankfurt (women) players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players Ajax America Women players American expatriate women's soccer players in Germany American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden American expatriate sportspeople in Australia American expatriate women's soccer players Expatriate women's footballers in Germany 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century New Zealand sportswomen