Rebecca Leigh Spencer (born 22 February 1991) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Women's Super League 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 and the Jamaica national team. After coming through the ranks at

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 ...

, she had spent short spells with French club

ASJ Soyaux ASJ Soyaux Charente (''Association Sportive Jeunesse de Soyaux Charente''), commonly known as Soyaux, is a women's football club founded in 1968 and based in Soyaux, France. The club had played in France's top division except for spans of relega ...

and

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

before returning to Arsenal ahead of the

2013 FA WSL The 2013 FA WSL was the third season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 14 April and ended on 29 September. Arsenal were the defending champions, having won their ninth consecutive English titl ...

. She spent two-and-a-half more years with Birmingham City, before joining Chelsea in January 2016. Born in England, Spencer 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 Under-19 and Under-20 levels and now represents

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

at senior international level.

Early life

Born in

Northwick Park Hospital Northwick Park Hospital (NWPH) is a major National Health Service hospital situated in the town of Harrow, North West London, managed by the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust. It is located off Watford Road in the London Borough ...

, Spencer attended Welldon Park First and Middle School, appearing as the school goalkeeper aged 10. She then attended Rooks Heath College and in January 2009 was a fitness student in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

Club career

Spencer began her career as a junior with

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

before joining the Centre of Excellence at

in 2001. She progressed through the centre of excellence age groups and joined the senior team in 2006, where she was primarily the understudy to first choice keeper

Emma Byrne Emma Anne Byrne (born 14 June 1979) is an Irish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. She played for the Republic of Ireland on a record 134 occasions and served as captain of the team. She spent almost 17 years with Arsenal before joini ...

. She made her

FA Women's Premier League The FA Women's National League is a group of six Association football, football divisions which sit at the third and fourth tiers of women's football in England. Founded in 1991 as the WFA National League, the league was run by the Women's Footba ...

debut and in April 2008 was in goal as Arsenal beat

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 ...

3–1 in the London Cup Final, having been in the Arsenal side beaten by

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

in the 2006 final. Spencer was an unused substitute in the 2008

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

Final as Arsenal beat

Leeds Carnegie Leeds Carnegie was a brand name used by several sports teams associated with the Carnegie School of Physical Education, now part of Leeds Beckett University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LM ...

and in the 2009 final as Arsenal beat

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

. She has also won an

FA Women's Premier League Cup The FA Women's National League Cup is an annual England, English women's association football, football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, Women's Football Association (WFA). The 1991–92 WFA Women's National L ...

winners' medal having been an unused substitute for Arsenal's win against Leeds in March 2007. Spencer joined Gillingham on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

for 2010–11. She said "I have had a frustrating few years regarding getting regular game time and Gillingham has been the right choice of club to do this." In December 2011 Spencer left Arsenal for French

Division 1 Féminine Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 to ...

club

. She returned to England in March 2012 for family reasons, briefly rejoining Arsenal and appearing on the bench for two matches in the Champions League. Spencer then signed for

, making her debut in a 4–0 FA Women's Cup win over

. She went on to play a pivotal role as Birmingham defeated Chelsea in the 2012 FA Women's Cup Final on penalties. Spencer returned to Arsenal for the first half of 2013, but left Arsenal for a third time in July 2013. She returned to Birmingham City. In January 2016, Spencer announced her transfer from Birmingham to WSL champions Chelsea. Birmingham described the transfer fee banked from Chelsea as "an extremely good deal for the club". Spencer moved to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

in June 2018. She made 12 league appearances and four in the

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 ...

. She was an unused substitute in the side that played against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

in the 2018–19 FA Women's Cup final. In June 2019, it was announced that Spencer would leave West Ham upon the expiration of her contract. On 5 July 2019, Spencer signed for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. She was part of Tottenham's first-ever squad to compete in the Women’s Super League. In March 2025, she returned to Chelsea on an emergency goalkeeper loan for the remainder of the 2024–25 season. The loan move was made permanent on 7 July that year with Spencer signing a one-year contract with the option for a further year.

International career

Spencer has represented England at Under–15, Under–19 and Under–20 level. She was the first choice for the Under–20s World Cup side in 2008. In 2009, she was a key player as England's Under–19s side won the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship in

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, keeping clean sheets throughout the tournament, and was named as one of ten 'emerging talents' from the tournament on the UEFA website. She was called up to

Mark Sampson Mark Geraint Sampson (born 18 October 1982) is a Welsh football coach who was most recently a first team coach at Stevenage F.C., Stevenage. Born in Creigiau, Wales, Sampson played amateur football for Cardiff Corinthians F.C., Cardiff Corinthi ...

's senior England squad in 2016 and was an unused substitute against

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. Spencer also qualifies for

through her heritage and received her first call-up to the Jamaican national team in June 2021. During that camp, Spencer made her senior international debut in a 1–0 win over

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. She wears the number 13 jersey.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Chelsea *

: 2024–25 *

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

: 2024–25 *

: 2024–25

References

External links

Interview with Becky Spencer
at KeeperPortal.co.uk
Becky Spencer
at Footofeminin.fr {{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Rebecca 1991 births Living people Jamaican women's footballers 21st-century Jamaican sportswomen Women's association football goalkeepers ASJ Soyaux-Charente players Première Ligue players Jamaica women's international footballers Jamaican expatriate women's footballers Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate women's footballers in France Footballers from the London Borough of Harrow People from Harrow, London English women's footballers Arsenal W.F.C. players Birmingham City W.F.C. players Chelsea F.C. Women players Gillingham L.F.C. players West Ham United F.C. Women players Nottingham Forest Women F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Women players FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players English expatriate women's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in France Jamaican people of English descent English people of Jamaican descent Sportspeople of Jamaican descent Black British sportswomen 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players 21st-century English sportswomen