Siobhan Rebecca Chamberlain (born 15 August 1983) is an English sports pundit, commentator, and former 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 last played 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

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. She joined Manchester United in 2018 after playing for

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. Before joining Liverpool in December 2015, she had been at

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

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 ...

from

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 ...

. Chamberlain previously played at the top club level for Chelsea,

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

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 ...

and Bristol Academy, as well as for North American W-League club

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March 18, ...

. She has represented the

England women's national football team The England women's national football team, nicknamed the Lionesses, has been governed by the Football Association (FA) since 1993, having been previously administered by the Women's Football Association (WFA). England played its first interna ...

on 50 occasions since her debut in 2004. This included being part of the squad at three

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

s and three

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years and one year after the men's UEFA European Championship first held in 1984, is the main competition in women's association football between nationa ...

Club career

Early career

A childhood

gymnast Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

, Chamberlain took up goalkeeping at the age of 14 and was spotted by Chelsea. In 2003, she left Chelsea for

, who had lost their professional status and Norwegian international goalkeeper Astrid Johannessen. Chamberlain played for Fulham in the

UEFA Women's Cup 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. T ...

, but moved on to

at the end of the season. At Birmingham City Chamberlain provided competition for

Jo Fletcher Josephine Julia Fletcher (born 31 December 1980) is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Watford. She played at full international level for England. She hails from Malpas, Cheshire and attended Bishop Heber High School. Club ca ...

during the 2004–05 season. Chamberlain then played for Bristol Academy for two seasons, leaving to rejoin Chelsea in the 2007 close season. On 26 May 2010, she left Chelsea and signed for Canadian W-League

Bristol Academy

In October 2010, Chamberlain returned to Bristol Academy ahead of their inaugural

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 ...

campaign. She helped Bristol reach the

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, played in 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. ...

and was named in the WSL team of the season. In April 2012 she was appointed as one of eight digital media ambassadors, one from each team, who wear their

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account name on their shirt sleeves to raise the profile of the WSL.

Arsenal

In December 2013, Chamberlain quit Bristol Academy to sign a two-year contract with Arsenal, where she would rival the incumbent goalkeeper

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 ...

for a starting position. Chamberlain had played every minute of every game in her three seasons back at Bristol, but craved a new challenge: "My ambition is to be England's number one so the added competition at Arsenal is what I need at this point in my career."

Loan to Notts County

On 9 July 2015, Chamberlain moved to

on loan until the end of the season following injury to England teammate Carly Telford. She was ineligible for the 2015 FA Women's Cup Final and

The Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

refused Notts County's request for dispensation to sign another goalkeeper, so Telford played in the team's 1–0 defeat despite a shoulder injury.

Liverpool

Chamberlain failed to dislodge Byrne from Arsenal's starting line-up and was mainly used in cup matches. She was pushed further down the pecking order by the signing of Sari van Veenendaal. In December 2015,

announced their signing of Chamberlain on a one-year contract. When Liverpool decided not to renew 34-year-old Chamberlain's contract in May 2018, she criticised the club for a lack of ambition.

Manchester United

On 13 July 2018, it was announced that Chamberlain would join

for their inaugural season playing in the

FA Women's Championship The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The div ...

. During a pre-season friendly against her former club Liverpool on 17 July 2018, Chamberlain suffered a suspected serious neck injury and was rushed to hospital; however, checks revealed that the injury was not as serious as first thought. She recovered in time for the start of the season and made her competitive debut for Manchester United in a 1–0 League Cup victory against

on 19 August. On 9 September, she made her

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

debut in a 12–0 win against

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 ...

. Chamberlain did not concede a league goal until United's sixth game, with Angela Addison's 82nd minute consolation goal in United's 4–1 win ending a streak of 531 minutes without conceding. United clinched the Championship title on 20 April 2019 with a 7–0 win over

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

with Chamberlain having played in all 18 league matches, conceding seven goals in that time. She subsequently missed the final two games of the season with a foot injury, collecting her winners medal on the last day of the season in an aircast. In May 2019, she was named PFA Community Champion of the Year for her work with the Manchester United Foundation. For the 2019–20 season, Chamberlain took part in a reduced training programme while pregnant with her first child. She expressed a desire to return to the club full-time following her pregnancy. While sidelined, Chamberlain explored opportunities with the club's social media and press team, worked as club photographer and commentated on matches for the club's TV channel. She terminated her contract by mutual consent on 15 July 2020.

Retirement

On 4 September 2020, after fielding several offers and spending the 2020–21 preseason training with an unnamed WSL club, Chamberlain announced her retirement from professional football in order to spend more time with her family and focus on her

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in sporting directorship. She has continued to serve as a commentator alongside

Pien Meulensteen Pien Meulensteen (born January 1997) is a Dutch-born British-based sports broadcaster. Her presenting and commentary work has included the FIFA World Cup, the Premier League, the FIFA Women's World Cup, and the Women's Super League. She has work ...

on MUTV.

International career

Chamberlain progressed through the youth ranks with

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 ...

before making her senior debut against the

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 ...

in September 2004. She won her second cap in a record 13–0 win against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. Chamberlain was named in England's squad for the 2007 World Cup. In May 2009, Chamberlain was one of the first 17 female players to be given central contracts by

. She went to

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...

as an understudy to first-choice

Rachel Brown Rachel Brown (born 2 July 1980) is an English former football goalkeeper who played for Liverpool from 1995 to 1998, spent five years from 1998 playing varsity soccer for Alabama Crimson Tide and Pittsburgh Panthers in the US college system ...

. When Brown was controversially sent-off in a World Cup qualifying play-off in

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 ...

, Chamberlain came on as her replacement. By the 2011 World Cup American-born

Karen Bardsley Karen Louise Bardsley (born 14 October 1984) is an American-born English former Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. She played for Sky Blue FC in the previous top-flight American Women' ...

had taken over the England team's first-choice goalkeeping position, with Brown and Chamberlain as back-ups. Bardsley also retained the number one role at

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...

. In May 2015, national

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

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 ...

named Chamberlain in his final squad for the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the f ...

, to be hosted in Canada. On 27 June 2015, she replaced fellow goalkeeper Bardsley in the 52nd minute of England's 2–1 quarter-final win over hosts

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, as her country reached the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time in their history. Bardsley had suffered a swollen eye after an allergic reaction to the rubber crumb on the controversial

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass, used in sports arenas, residential lawns and commercial applications that traditionally use grass. It is much more durable than grass and easily maintained wi ...

pitch, but was restored to the team for England's semi-final defeat by

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 ...

. At

UEFA Women's 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 Association football, football championship organised by UEFA for the ...

, Chamberlain was again named as Bardsley's understudy. She played 90 minutes in a

dead rubber Dead rubber is a term used in sporting parlance to describe a match in a series where the series result has already been decided by earlier matches. The dead rubber match therefore has no effect on the winner and loser of the series, other than the ...

group win over

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and again entered play as a quarter-final substitute following another injury to Bardsley. She was selected for the semi-final against hosts the Netherlands but conceded three unanswered goals as England exited the competition. At 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 ...

Chamberlain won her 50th England

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. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

. Chamberlain was allotted 157 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England’s inaugural international.

Personal life

Chamberlain joined the National Player Development Centre at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

when she was 18, training every day while earning a degree in sports science and a master's degree in sports nutrition. She was later employed as a lecturer / coach by

South Gloucestershire and Stroud College South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, also known as SGS College, is a college of further education and higher education based in South Gloucestershire and Stroud, England. It was established in February 2012 following the merger of Filton Co ...

in Bristol. In 2015, Chamberlain married Leigh Moore, a former media assistant at the FA. Moore was left in charge of planning the wedding while Chamberlain was away at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. In July 2019, the couple announced they were expecting their first child. Emilia Francesca Moore was born on 31 January 2020. In July 2018, Chamberlain became a member of pledge-based charity Common Goal. In July 2020, Chamberlain became a club ambassador for Hashtag United F.C. following the club's creation of a fourth division women's team ahead of the 2020–21 season.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Arsenal *

: 2013–14 Manchester United *

: 2018–19 England *

Cyprus Cup The Cyprus Women's Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's football. It has been held annually in Cyprus since 2008. Although the competition takes place in Cyprus, the hosts have yet to take part in the competitio ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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 ...

runner-up:

third place:

Individual * PFA FA WSL 1 Team of the Year: 2011, 2013–14

References

External links

Profile
at ManUtd.com * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlain, Siobhan 1983 births Living people English women's footballers England women's international footballers Bristol Academy W.F.C. players Chelsea F.C. Women players Arsenal W.F.C. players Fulham F.C. Women players Notts County L.F.C. players Liverpool F.C. Women players Birmingham City W.F.C. players Manchester United W.F.C. players FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Vancouver Whitecaps FC (women) players England women's under-23 international footballers Footballers from London Women's association football goalkeepers English expatriate women's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate women's soccer players in Canada UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players 21st-century English sportswomen