Stefanie Leanne Curtis (born 5 December 1983 in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

) is a former international

women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national te ...

er who played for Bristol Rovers Women (later renamed Bristol Academy, and now known as

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

Chelsea Ladies Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Norbiton that competes in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England. Since 2004, the clu ...

and Birmingham City Ladies. She was also a senior

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

international. Curtis, a prolific goalscorer, played mainly as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, but also spent time playing as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Curtis began her footballing career playing for South Bristol Wanderers as a teenager before joining Bristol Rovers Women in 1999. The club (which is now known as

Bristol City W.F.C. Bristol City Women's Football Club is a women's association football team from the city of Bristol. Formed in 1998 as Bristol Rovers W.F.C., they were renamed Bristol Academy W.F.C. in 2005 following increased involvement of the Bristol Academ ...

and not to be confused with an entirely new

Bristol Rovers W.F.C. Bristol Rovers W.F.C. are a women's association football club based in Bristol in the United Kingdom, and are affiliated to Bristol Rovers F.C. They are known colloquialism, colloquially as the ''Gas Girls'' in recognition of Bristol Rovers' uno ...

which has been founded since then) was still in its infancy at this point, having been launched just a year earlier, and was playing in the

South West Combination Women's Football League The South West Combination Women's Football League, also known simply as the South West Combination, was a women's football league in England from 1998 to 2014. Until the creation of the FA Women's Super League in 2011, they sat at the third leve ...

. She quickly established herself as a prolific goalscorer and by 2004, still aged only 19, had established herself as one of the top scorers in English women's football. As well as a talent for finding the back of the net Curtis showed remarkable adaptability, moving into midfield later in her career and providing cover in other positions, even playing as an emergency goalkeeper on one occasion. Bristol Rovers Women had changed their name to Bristol Academy in 2005 due to the

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

men's club no longer being able to cover their running costs and the Bristol Academy of Sport stepping in to fund them, but financial problems were never far away and by the summer of 2009 the need to cut costs led to the departure of Manager Gary Green and several leading players.

Corinne Yorston Corinne Louise Yorston (born 15 June 1983) is an English international footballer who plays as a defender for Keynsham Town. Although primarily a left-back, who won most of her England caps playing in central defence, she has also played as a mi ...

left for

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 ...

Gwennan Harries Gwennan Mary Harries (born 5 January 1988) is a former Welsh football striker who had two spells with FA WSL club Bristol Academy, split by three seasons away playing for Everton. She was born in Bridgend and won 56 caps for the Wales women's ...

for Everton, and Curtis for

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

after having spent a decade at her home town club. She made an immediate impact with her new team, even scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

against her former club in Chelsea's fourth game of the season. In December 2010, after spending a year with the ''Blues'', Curtis was named as a member of

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. Since 2011, the first te ...

's squad for the brand new

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features ...

, which replaced the Women's Premier League as the top level of Women's football in England in 2011. After a campaign disrupted by injury, during which she made just four league appearances, her return to Bristol Academy was announced in March 2012, however she failed to make any further appearances after returning to Bristol.

International career

Curtis played international football for the

Republic of Ireland women's national football team ) , Association = Women's Football Association of Ireland , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Vera Pauw , Captain = Katie McCabe , Most caps = Emma Byrne (134) , Top scorer = Ol ...

. In October 2009 she suffered a serious

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's ...

injury during a 2011 Women's World Cup qualifier in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental coun ...

References

External links

Stef Curtis
at the

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs foo ...

website. (archived version) {{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, Stef 1983 births Living people Footballers from Bristol English people of Irish descent Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Bristol Academy W.F.C. players Chelsea F.C. Women players Birmingham City W.F.C. players Republic of Ireland women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players Women's association football midfielders Women's association football forwards Outfield association footballers who played in goal