Marissa Callaghan

Marissa Callaghan (born 2 September 1985) is a Northern Irish women's association football player from Belfast, Northern Ireland. She currently plays as a player-coach as a midfielder for Cliftonville Ladies and is the captain of the Northern Ireland women's national football team.[1]

Marissa Callaghan
Nilla Fischer (Sweden) and Marissa Callaghan in May 2014
Personal information
Date of birth (1985-09-02) 2 September 1985
Place of birth Belfast, Northern Ireland
Height 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Team information
Current team
 Cliftonville
Youth career
Newington Girls
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005– Cliftonville
International career‡
2010– Northern Ireland 72 (9)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:55, 13 July 2022 (UTC)

Football

Callaghan started playing football when she was thirteen for Newington Girls (now known as Cliftonville Ladies).[2] After this, she went to university in the United States on a football scholarship.[3] She returned to Northern Ireland in 2005 and started playing for Cliftonville again. She graduated with an advanced certificate in sports coaching from the University of Ulster in 2017.[3] As a result, she also volunteered as a coach for Cliftonville Ladies.[4] Later she became their academy director.[4]

International career

Callaghan made her international debut for the Northern Ireland women's national under-19 football team in 2002.[5] She made her debut for Northern Ireland in 2010.[5] In 2016, Callaghan was awarded the Northern Ireland Women's Football Association Women's Personality of the Year award.[2] A year later she was the tournament ambassador for the 2017 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship being held in Northern Ireland.[2]

She captained the Northern Ireland team at Euro 2022. [6]

International goals
Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first.
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.13 April 2021Seaview, Belfast, Northern Ireland Ukraine1–02–0UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying play-offs

Career

After leaving university, Callaghan started working full-time in 2010 as a women's football community coach.[1] In 2016, Callaghan was selected as a women's football ambassador for the Irish Football Association.[7] Following this, she worked with Northern Ireland national football team captain Steven Davis to promote participation in women's youth football.[8]

Private life

Callaghan is married to her partner Paula and they have one son together.[9]

References
  1. "Football star Marissa Callaghan aims to inspire others". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  2. "2017 UEFA Women's European Championship official programme" (PDF). UEFA. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  3. "Ulster University graduate has her eye on the ball". University of Ulster. 10 July 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  4. Johnny Morton (10 July 2017). "Marissa Callaghan looking to inspire the next generation after recent graduation". Belfast Live. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  5. FIFA Women's World Cup. "Marissa Callaghan". UEFA. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  6. "'Incredible journey': Northern Ireland captain Callaghan upbeat for Euro 2022". Guardian. 6 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  7. "Women Ambassadors announced". Irish Football Association. 26 April 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  8. Chris Sherrard (31 May 2017). "Northern Ireland football captains unite for Electric Ireland campaign". Belfast Live. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  9. L-Mag.de: Das sind die 59 lesbischen Stars der Fussball-EM 2022 (German), July 2022
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