Sophie Ingle

Sophie Louise Ingle OBE (born 2 September 1991) is a Welsh footballer who plays for the FA WSL club Chelsea and is the captain of the Wales national team. She has previously represented Bristol Academy, Cardiff City, and Liverpool. Ingle plays as either a defender or defensive midfielder.

Sophie Ingle
OBE
Ingle in October 2020
Personal information
Full name Sophie Louise Ingle[1]
Date of birth (1991-09-02) 2 September 1991
Place of birth Llandough, Penarth, Wales
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Defender / Defensive Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Chelsea
Number 5
Youth career
Vale Wanderers
Dinas Powys
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2012 Cardiff City
2012–2013 Chelsea 22 (0)
2014–2015 Bristol Academy 27 (2)
2015–2018 Liverpool 42 (0)
2018– Chelsea 87 (6)
International career‡
2009– Wales 120 (3)
2021– Great Britain 4 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 May 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 01:15, 01 May 2023

In 2020, her Chelsea goal against Arsenal was nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award.[2]

Club career

Ingle began her football career with boys' team Vale Wanderers. Despite making an appeal to the Football Association of Wales (FAW), rules prevented Ingle from playing with the boys beyond the age of 12. She spent a year away from football and then had brief spells with Vale Wanderers' girls and Dinas Powys Ladies. This preceded the teenage Ingle's move to Cardiff City Ladies.[3]

After a period in the reserves, Ingle broke into Cardiff's FA Women's Premier League team during season 2007–08. After winning the Welsh Cup twice with Cardiff, Ingle signed for WSL outfit Chelsea Ladies ahead of the 2012 campaign.[4]

Chelsea manager Matt Beard deployed Ingle as a central defender and praised her impact after Chelsea's 2012 FA Women's Cup Final defeat to Birmingham: "Sophie Ingle, we initially brought in as a left back but you can see from her quality on the ball and distribution and reading of the game is good as well, she has created a few goals for us with balls in behind which something we haven’t had before."[5]

In February 2014, Ingle left Chelsea and moved nearer to home by joining Bristol Academy.[6] She rose to captain The Vixens, but the club were relegated after the 2015 season.[7] Ingle became a transfer target for other clubs and decided to join Liverpool in December 2015: "Liverpool is a massive club and once I was aware of their interest there was only one team I wanted to sign for".[8]

International career

Ingle was called-up to represent Wales at Under-17 level,[9] and later rose to captain the Under-19 squad.[10] Ingle won her first senior cap for Wales in a 2–1 World Cup qualifying defeat to Azerbaijan, played in Baku on 28 October 2009.[11]

In December 2011, Ingle was named in the preliminary Team GB squad for the 2012 Olympics.[3] She won her 50th cap for Wales in July 2014, during a 1–1 friendly draw with Scotland in Dumfries.[12]

Wales manager Jayne Ludlow named Ingle the new national team captain ahead of the 2015 Istria Cup, replacing Jess Fishlock who was surprisingly dropped from the squad.[13]

On 22 September 2020, Ingle played her 100th match for Wales against Norway during the UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifiers.[14] On 27 May 2021 it was announced that Ingle had been selected as the only Welsh player in the Great Britain women's Olympic football team for the 2020 Olympics.[15]

Career statistics

International
Statistics accurate as of match played 2 August 2021.
YearWalesGreat Britain
AppsGoalsAppsGoals
2009??—
2010??—
2011??—
2012??00
2013??—
2014??—
2015??—
2016??—
2017??—
2018??—
2019??—
2020??—
2021??40
Total105240

Honours

Ingle was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to association football.[16]

Chelsea
External video
video icon Ingle's FIFA Puskas Award Nominated Goal retrieved 20 January 2021

Individual

References
  1. "Squad list - Women's Olympic Football Tournament Tokyo 2020" (PDF). FIFA. 7 July 2021.
  2. "Sophie Ingle Goal FIFA Puskas Award 2020". FIFA. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  3. "Barry footballer signs for Chelsea – and is picked for GB football squad!". Barry and District News. 29 December 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  4. Daniel Clarke (7 February 2012). "THREE NEW SIGNINGS FOR CHELSEA LADIES". Chelsea FC. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  5. "FA Women's Cup Final 2012 – Reaction from Chelsea". She Kicks. 28 May 2012. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  6. Perkins, Rob (6 February 2014). "Bristol Academy sign Chelsea's Sophie Ingle". Bristol Post. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  7. "Sophie Ingle opitimistic for Bristol Academy next season". FA WSL. 4 October 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  8. "Sophie Ingle: Liverpool Ladies sign Wales and Bristol captain". BBC Sport. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  9. "Vale hot-shot Jordan hoping Sky's the limit". South Wales Echo. 6 February 2008. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  10. "CITY SLICKERS". South Wales Echo. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  11. "Azerbaijan 2–1 Wales". UEFA. 28 October 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  12. "Scotland v Wales – Women's International Friendly – Game Drawn". Football Association of Wales. 17 July 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  13. Matheson, Sian (20 February 2015). "Ingle looking forward to leading out Wales in March's Istria Cup". Media Wales. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  14. "Chelsea's Sophie Ingle on brink of winning 'incredible' 100th Wales cap". BBC Sport. 20 September 2020.
  15. "Team GB: Steph Houghton, Sophie Ingle and Caroline Weir in Olympics squad". BBC Sport. 27 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  16. "No. 63918". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2022. p. N13.
  17. "S. Ingle". Soccerway. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  18. "Sadio Mane takes top prizes at LFC Players' Awards". Liverpool FC. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  19. "Mohamed Salah takes top prizes at LFC Players' Awards". Liverpool FC. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
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