Shelina Laura Zadorsky (born October 24, 1992) is a Canadian professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

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

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 ...

and the Canada national team. She previously played for Australian W-League club

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

and Swedish top-division club

Vittsjö GIK Vittsjö Gymnastik- och Idrottsklubb is a association football, football club from Vittsjö, Sweden. They play in the highest level of women's football leagues in Sweden, the Damallsvenskan. Vittsjö GIK play their home games at Vittsjö IP in Vi ...

. Zadorsky won a bronze medal with Canada at the

2016 Rio Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

and won a gold medal with Canada at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

College career

Zadorsky played for the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

from 2010 to 2013.

Club career

Ottawa Fury FC

Zadorsky played for

USL W-League USL W-League may refer to: * USL W League * USL W-League (1995–2015) The USL W-League was a North American amateur women's soccer developmental organization. The league was a semi-professional, open league, giving college players the oppor ...

side

Ottawa Fury Women Ottawa Fury Women was a Canadian women's soccer team based in Ottawa, Ontario. Founded in 2000, the team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues USL W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada. The team competed ...

, captaining them to a second-place finish in the 2013 Central Conference final and a win in 2014. The Fury disbanded its long-standing women's program in March 2015 for "business reasons".

Perth Glory

Zadorsky was signed by Australian side Perth Glory on August 1, 2014, ahead the 2014 W-League season. Zadorsky played 14 games for the Glory, scoring one goal and helping them reach the regular season win and a Grand Final appearance.

Vittsjö GIK

Following the folding of the Fury, Zadorsky signed with

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

side

, in the top flight of Swedish football, on March 29, 2015. She appeared 18 times for side during the

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 ...

season.

Washington Spirit

On February 8, 2016, it was announced that Zadorsky would play for 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� ...

for the 2016 season 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 ...

via the

NWSL Player Allocation The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) federation players were players whose salaries for playing in the National Women's Soccer League were paid for by their respective national federations from 2013 to 2021. American federation players were co ...

She played 11 regular season matches, starting 10, totaling 911 minutes in the regular season, as well as played the entire match for both post season matches. Zadorsky recorded assist in the semifinal to

Ali Krieger Alexandra Blaire Krieger (born July 28, 1984) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player who played as a right back or center back. She made more than 100 appearances for the United States women's national soccer team ...

to give the Spirit the early lead on the way to the team's first ever semifinal victory. Zadorsky was voted Spirit Newcomer of the Year for 2016. She played 21 games for the Spirit in

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 ...

, serving as the side's captain.

Orlando Pride

On January 23, 2018, Zadorsky was traded 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 exchange for

Aubrey Bledsoe Aubrey Renee Kingsbury (; born November 20, 1991) is an American professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for the Washington Spirit of the National Women's Soccer League and t ...

and a first round draft pick. Zadorsky played in 23 games during her first season with the Pride. She was reassigned as a federation player to the Pride ahead of the

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 ...

season. On September 29, 2019, Zadorsky scored her first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw with

Sky Blue FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional 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 Sky Blue FC from 2008 un ...

. In March 2020, the impending NWSL season was postponed due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. An eventual restart was made through a smaller schedule

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. It was the first professional team sports event to return to play in United States ...

tournament. However, on June 22, Orlando withdrew from the tournament following positive COVID-19 tests among both players and staff.

Tottenham Hotspur

In August 2020, due to Orlando Pride withdrawing from the Challenge Cup due to COVID-19, Zadorsky moved to English

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 ...

club

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 ...

on loan ahead of the 2020–21 season. The loan was made permanent through the end of the season in January 2021. With Zadorsky's leadership skills and elite play, she was appointed captain during the 2021–22 season.

West Ham United

On 3 January 2024, Zadorsky joined

on loan until the end of the 2023–24 season. Following the expiration of her contract with Tottenham, she returned to West Ham on a free transfer on 19 August 2024.

International career

Youth

Zadorsky made her debut for Canada's youth teams at the age of 14. She won a bronze medal at the

2008 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship The 2008 CONCACAF Under-17 Women's Championship was the first tournament of this type in Concacaf the tournament was held in Trinidad and Tobago from July 17–27, 2008. The first, second and third placed teams qualified for the 2008 FIFA U- ...

, represented Canada at the

2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the first women's football edition of the U-17 World Cup. It was held in New Zealand from 28 October to 16 November 2008. North Korea won the first edition, extending their grip of women's youth footbal ...

in New Zealand, played for Canada at their fourth-place finish at the

2010 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship The 2010 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship was the fifth edition of the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship. The tournament was hosted by Guatemala, and all matches were played at the Estadio Cementos Progreso. The United States were the defending ...

in Guatemala, won silver at the

2012 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship The 2012 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship was the sixth edition of the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Panama from 1 to 11 March 2012. All matches were played at the Estadio Rommel Fernández. The top three ...

in Panama and represented Canada at the

2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 6th edition of the tournament. The tournament was played in Japan from 19 August to 8 September with sixteen national football teams and marked the first hosting of a FIFA women's tournament in the co ...

in Japan.

Senior

Zadorsky made her full team debut on January 14, 2013, at the age of 20. While Zadorsky did not make the 2015 Women's World Cup roster, she was in the side that finished fourth at the

2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...

in Toronto. She was on the roster and played on the Canadian side which won the bronze medal at the

. On May 25, 2019, she was named to the roster for the 2019 FIFA World Cup. Zadorsky was called up to the Canada squad for the delayed

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. Zadorsky was called up to the Canada squad for the

2022 CONCACAF W Championship The 2022 CONCACAF W Championship was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF W Championship, the quadrennial international Women's association football, women's football championship contested by the senior List of women's national association football t ...

, where Canada finished as runners-up. She was also named to the Canada squad for the 2023 FIFA World Cup. Zadorsky was called up to the Canada squad for the

2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup The 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup was the inaugural edition of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup, an international women's soccer competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF. The tournament was contested b ...

, which Canada finished as semifinalists. On July 1, 2024, Zadorsky was named to Canada's

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

squad as an alternate. Ahead of Canada's first match of the tournament against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, Zadorsky's teammate

Jayde Riviere Jayde Yuk Fun Riviere (born January 22, 2001) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a right-back for Women's Super League club Manchester United and the Canada women's national team. Riviere played college soccer at the Unive ...

suffered an ankle injury in a pre-tournament match versus

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, ...

. Zadorsky was activated onto the full roster in Riviere's stead. With Riviere unable to recover in time to participate in a match, Zadorsky was named on the team sheet in all four of Canada's games in the tournament. She came off the bench in Canada's matches against

and

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 ...

, playing a total of 6 minutes.

Personal life

Zadorsky was in a relationship with her Tottenham teammate

Rosella Ayane Rosella Ayane (, ; born 16 March 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Women's Super League club Tottenham Hotspur and the Morocco national team. Internationally, Ayane represented England at under-17 and under-19 l ...

as of September 2022.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Canada goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Zadorsky goal.''

Honours

Perth Glory * W-League runner-up:

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 ...

Canada 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 ...

runner-up:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Canada *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

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 ...

; bronze medal:

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 ...

References

External links

* * *
Washington Spirit player profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zadorsky, Shelina 1992 births Living people Women's association football defenders Canadian women's soccer players Canada women's international soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Canadian people of Czech descent Damallsvenskan players Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Michigan Wolverines women's soccer players National Women's Soccer League players Perth Glory FC (women) players Soccer players from London, Ontario Vittsjö GIK players Washington Spirit players Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players for Canada Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Orlando Pride players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Women players West Ham United F.C. Women players Women's Super League players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in England Pan American Games soccer players for Canada Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Canadian expatriate women's soccer players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Canadian lesbian sportswomen Canadian LGBTQ soccer players Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Canada Toronto Lady Lynx players Ottawa Fury (women) players USL W-League (1995–2015) players 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian sportswomen Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States FIFA Women's Century Club Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States