Sophie Louise Howard (born 17 September 1993) is a

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 defender for

FA 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

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. Born in Germany, she has been a member of the Scotland national team since 2017.

College career

Howard joined

UCF Knights The UCF Knights are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in unincorporated Orange County, Florida near Orlando, Florida, Orlando. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NC ...

in September 2012 and scored her first goal in her fifth appearance. At the end of her first season, Howard was named to the 2012 All-Conference Freshman Team, after three goals and two assists. She was also named to the 2013 American Athletic Conference All-Tournament Team and the 2014 AAC Second Team, and graduated with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

sports science Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sports and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally i ...

in 2015 with

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

honors.

Club career

Howard joined German club

1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. (), commonly known as TSG Hoffenheim (), are a German professional football club based in Sinsheim. Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, Hoffenheim came into being in their modern for ...

in 2009. During her time at the club she played 17 regional league games, 42 second division games, and 8 cup games until 2012. In July 2015, Howard was named in the W-League Western All-Conference team, after scoring one goal in nine games for Colorado Pride. After finishing her education at

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

, Howard returned to Germany with 1899 Hoffenheim, who announced her signing for the

2015–16 Frauen-Bundesliga The 2015–16 season of the Frauen-Bundesliga was the 26th season of Germany's premier women's Association football, football league. FC Bayern Munich (women), FC Bayern Munich successfully defended the title. This season started on 29 August 2015 ...

season in February 2015. In July 2018, Howard joined English club

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. In June 2020, Reading announced that Howard had left the club at the conclusion of her contract. Two months later, in August, Howard signed for

ahead of the

2020–21 FA Women's Championship The 2020–21 FA Women's Championship was the third season of the rebranded FA Women's Championship, the second tier of women's football in England. It was renamed from the FA WSL 2 which was founded in 2014. The season began on 5 September 2020 ...

season. She helped the club top the Championship comfortably, sitting eight points ahead of second-placed

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

, and get promoted to the

2021–22 FA WSL The 2021–22 FA WSL season (also known as the Barclays FA Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of the FA Women's Super League (WSL) since it was formed in 2010. It was the fourth season after the rebranding of t ...

. During the season, Howard was a regular starter and continued to be a key player for Leicester City. In 2024, Howard became one of two players to make 100 appearances for the club.

International career

Howard played twice for the Germany U20 national team in 2012. She was named in Germany's squad for 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, but did not get to play in any matches. In 2016 she was called into a training camp for

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 ...

's new "Next Gen" team. She said: "Although I was born and brought up in Germany it's always been my ambition to play for England, and hopefully I’ve now taken my first step." In March 2017 she was called up into the Scotland national team. The Scots had three injured defenders and were allowed to pick Howard because her grandfather is Scottish. She made her senior international debut on 11 April 2017, as a 64th-minute substitute in a 5–0 friendly defeat by

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

. In May 2019, Howard scored her first goal for the national team, heading in the winning goal in a 3–2 victory over

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 ...

Personal life

Howard was born in the German town

Hanau Hanau () is a city in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its railway Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ma ...

to a Scottish mother and English father.

Career statistics

International appearances

:''Scotland statistics accurate as of match played 29 September 2023.''

International goals

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Howard goal.''

References

External links

* *
Sophie Howard
at

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. (), commonly known as TSG Hoffenheim (), are a German professional association football, football club based in Sinsheim. Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, Hoffenheim came into bei ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Sophie 1993 births Living people Footballers from Hanau Scottish women's footballers Scotland women's international footballers Scottish people of English descent Scottish people of German descent German women's footballers Germany women's youth international footballers German expatriate women's footballers German people of English descent German people of Scottish descent German expatriate sportspeople in the United States 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Leicester City W.F.C. players Reading F.C. Women players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (women) players UCF Knights women's soccer players UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players Women's association football defenders Women's Super League players Frauen-Bundesliga players 21st-century Scottish sportswomen 21st-century German sportswomen