Susan Melody Lopez (born 1 September 1945) is an English former footballer who played as a left winger. She spent her entire club career with

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, except for a season in Italy's

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

with Roma CF in 1971. A leading advocate of the women's game in England, Lopez has also worked as a coach, administrator and writer since her retirement from playing.

Playing career

At the age of 21, in 1966, Lopez made her debut for

. She was a regular in the side for almost twenty years until her retirement from playing in 1985. It was in the 1970s, when women's football was in its infancy, that Lopez and her Southampton dominated the Women's FA Cup. She played for Roma CF in 1971 where she helped the club win the Italian League Cup. She returned to Southampton in order to improve her chances of playing 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 ...

. Southampton won the WFA Cup eight times between

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

and 1981, appearing in ten finals in that period, including the first nine in a row. Lopez scored in the winning finals of

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

and

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

against Lees Ladies and Queen's Park Rangers respectively. The 1981 final was the last that Lopez appeared in. Held at Knowsley Road, her side beat defending champions St Helens 4–2. Lopez also won 22 caps as an England international, between 1973 and 1979. She has England legacy number 18. The FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England's inaugural international. Lopez played in the unofficial Women's World Cups held in Italy and Mexico respectively, where England finished in fourth place in 1970, and in sixth place in 1971.

Coaching career

On retirement, in 1986, Lopez used her experience and knowledge of the game to coach women's football. This led to Lopez gaining the FA Advance Licence in 1991. In 1996, she gained the

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

'A' Licence conversion. Lopez was part-time manager of the Welsh national women's team from 1995 to 1996. Lopez then served as the Hampshire Football Association's Coaching and Development Officer until 2000. Lopez was appointed director of women's football at

in 2001. She took over managing the Southampton Saints first team as part of the role in 2003. In 2005, the Southampton men's team were relegated and scrapped their women's setup to save money, making Lopez redundant in the process.

Recognition

Lopez was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) for services to women's football in the 2000 Birthday Honours.United Kingdom: In 2001, she became ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' Sportswomen of the Year Coach of the Year. In 2004, Lopez was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame. In 2022, Lopez was awarded as

's "Forever Saint" to honour her achievements.

Later life

In 2020, Lopez became the first women to publicly state that she believed her

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

diagnosis was as a direct result of heading footballs throughout her career. This has been a hot topic of debate in recent years since Jeff Astle's family campaigned for research into links between heading and a possible increase in the risk of being diagnosed with dementia later on in life. Lopez has called for youngsters to be stopped from heading the ball to help protect them.

Publications

In 1997, Lopez published ''Women on the Ball'', a women's football handbook tracing the history and development of the game in England and abroad.

Honours

Southampton W.F.C. * FA Women's Cup:

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, 1981 England * European Competition for Women's Football: 1969; third place,

; fourth place Individual * European Competition for Women's Football top scorer: 1969Top Scorer 1969
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Sue 1945 births Living people English women's footballers Members of the Order of the British Empire English Football Hall of Fame inductees England women's international footballers English expatriate women's footballers Footballers from Southampton Wales women's national football team managers Serie A (women's football) players English women's football managers Women's association football forwards Southampton Women's F.C. players Female association football managers English expatriate sportspeople in Italy English people of Spanish descent Roma CF players Expatriate women's footballers in Italy 20th-century English sportswomen