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Rhian Wilkinson

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Rhian Wilkinson
Wilkinson in 2013
Personal information
Full name Rhian Emilie Wilkinson[1]
Date of birth (1982-05-12) May 12, 1982 (age 42)
Place of birth Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Canada
Height 1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
1997–1999 Quebec provincial team
1997–1998 Lakers Lac St. Louis
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2002 Tennessee Lady Volunteers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003–2005 Ottawa Fury 38 (13)
2005–2012 Team Strømmen 71 (10)
2009 → Western Mass Pioneers (loan)[2] 1 (0)
2010–2011 → Surrey United (loan)[3] 10 (1)
2013 Boston Breakers 14 (2)
2014 Laval Comets 4 (0)
2015 Portland Thorns 1 (0)
Total 139 (26)
International career
2003–2017 Canada 181 (7)
Managerial career
Tennessee Volunteers (volunteer assistant)
2017–2018 Canada U-17
2019–2020 Canada U-20
2019–2020 Canada (assistant)
2021 England (assistant)
2021 Great Britain (assistant)
2022 Portland Thorns
2024– Wales
Medal record
Women's soccer
Representing  Canada
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2012 London Team
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 2011 Guadalajara Team
Silver medal – second place 2003 Santo Domingo Team
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Rio de Janeiro Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of February 14, 2016

Rhian Emilie Wilkinson (born May 12, 1982) is a Canadian professional soccer coach and former player, who currently coaches the Wales women's national team.[4] She was previously the head coach of Portland Thorns of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), where she led the team to the 2022 NWSL Championship.

As a player, Wilkinson made over 180 appearances for the Canadian national team and won Olympic bronze medals in 2012 and 2016. She played as a forward and a midfielder at the club level, but was primarily an attacking right fullback for the national team.

Early life

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Wilkinson was born in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, to parents Keith Wilkinson and Shan Evans. Her Danish-born English father was a player with (3 caps in the 1970s) and director of the Canada national rugby union team. Her mother, Shan Evans, was born in Wales. She has an older brother, David, and a twin sister named Sara.[5]

In 1990, she relocated to Wales for one year, where she attended Bont Faen Primary School in Cowbridge. The school did not offer soccer to girls and Wilkinson's mother joined the Parent-Teacher Association to convince the school to have inclusive sports teams.[6][7]

She attended Villa Maria High School in Montreal and was valedictorian of her class. She played soccer for the Quebec provincial team from 1997 to 1999 and was named most valuable player in 1999 after helping the club to the silver medal at the nationals. In 1997 and 1998, she helped the Lac St. Louis Lakers earn two silver medals at the national club championships.[5] She was selected as the Greater Montreal Athletic Association's Most Valuable Soccer Player in 2000, and attended the national training centre camp for the under-19 Canadian national team in 2001.[5] Wilkinson competed for the Lakeshore, a female ice hockey team, and also played rugby from 1998 to 1999.[8]

Wilkinson majored in speech communication and English at the University of Tennessee and was chosen as the University of Tennessee's Lady Vols' Offensive Most Valuable Player in 2002.[9]

Club career

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Wilkinson was named to the 2003 W-League All Star team and the 2004 W-League Championship All-Tournament team.[10] She won the W-League 2005 scoring championship and tied for the assist leader with 38 points on 13 goals and 12 assists.

She began playing for Team Strømmen of the Toppserien (Norwegian league) in autumn 2005 and maintained her relationship with the club over the course of eight seasons.[11][12]

In 2013, she played for the Boston Breakers in the new National Women's Soccer League. She played several games for Boston as a midfielder, scoring twice.

She signed with the Laval Comets of the W-League in 2014.

In 2015, Wilkinson joined Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League through NWSL Player Allocation.[13] In February 2016, the Thorns announced that Wilkinson would not play for the team in 2016, and she became unaffiliated.[14]

Rhian Wilkinson playing for Canada, 2011

International career

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Wilkinson won bronze with Canada at the 2007 Pan American Games,[15] and gold at the 2011 Pan American Games where Canada defeated Brazil 4–3 in penalty kicks. She captured an Olympic bronze medal at London 2012 after Canada defeated France 1–0 on August 9, 2012, in Coventry, England.[16] She contributed three assists in the first two games for Canada at the 2014 Cyprus Cup.[17] Wilkinson announced her retirement from international soccer on January 13, 2017.[18]

Coaching career

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Wilkinson was a volunteer assistant coach at her alma mater Tennessee Volunteers.[5] She also served as an assistant coach for the Canadian women's national team in 2019 and 2020,[19] while leading their under-20 and under-17 programs.[20]

In February 2021, Wilkinson was appointed as assistant manager of the England women's national team with Hege Riise in charge.[21] Riise and Wilkinson also coached the Great Britain women's Olympic team in 2021.[22]

In November 2021, Wilkinson was named head coach of Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).[23] She led the team to a second-place finish in the regular season, followed by winning the 2022 NWSL Championship 2–0 over the Kansas City Current.[24] Despite the on-field success, the Thorns players asked for Wilkinson's resignation after an investigation into her relationship with a specific player, and Wilkinson left her role in December 2022.[25]

Wilkinson was named as head coach of Wales in February 2024.[4]

Managerial statistics

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As of 29 October 2024
Team From To Record
G W D L Win %
Portland Thorns FC 29 November 2021 2 December 2022 30 15 10 5 050.00
Wales 26 February 2024 Present 8 5 2 1 062.50
Total 38 20 12 6 052.63

Personal life

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Wilkinson plays the cello for fun and played the trumpet in high school, and has been a member of the Suzuki Strings Orchestra since 1994.[26] She participated in the 1997 Quebec Winter Games in ringette.

Honours

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Playing

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Canada

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Individual

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Coaching

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Portland Thorns FC

References

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  1. ^ a b "FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 – List of Players: Canada" (PDF). FIFA. July 6, 2015. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 8, 2019. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  2. ^ Player Info – Rhian Wilkinson [permanent dead link‍]
  3. ^ "Team Statistics: 2010–11 Metro Women Premier". Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Rhian Wilkinson appointed as Cymru Women's National Team Head Coach". Football Association of Wales. February 26, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d "Rhian Wilkinson player profile". University of Tennessee. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  6. ^ "Re Seeing Women Excel In Tough Sports May Change Kids' Ideas About What It Means To Be Strong (Folio, Aug. 22)". Globe and Mail. August 25, 2016.
  7. ^ "Meet the Welsh Olympic medallist we never knew we had". August 19, 2012.
  8. ^ "WOMEN'S SOCCER OLYMPIAN JOINS PRACTICE". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  9. ^ "University of Tennessee Athletics Women's Soccer". July 17, 2011. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.
  10. ^ "University of Tennessee Lady Vols" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  11. ^ asp FK Strommen Squad [permanent dead link‍]
  12. ^ "Team Strommen Fotball Klubb". Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved November 2, 2009.
  13. ^ "Kaylyn Kyle, Rhian Wilkinson added to Portland Thorns FC through National Team Allocation Process". PortlandThornsFC.com. January 14, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  14. ^ Portland Thorns FC Communications (February 8, 2016). "Forward Christine Sinclair returns to Thorns FC through allocation process". Portland Thorns FC.
  15. ^ "Rhian Wilkinson | Team Darfur". Archived from the original on July 28, 2011.
  16. ^ "FIFA.com - FIFA Player Statistics: Rhian WILKINSON". September 29, 2008. Archived from the original on September 29, 2008.
  17. ^ "Schmidt, Sinclair power Canada past Finland at Cyprus Cup". CBC. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  18. ^ "Wilkinson, Tancredi, and Nault announce retirements". Canada Soccer. January 13, 2017. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  19. ^ "Former Canadian international Rhian Wilkinson named coach of NWSL's Portland Thorns". CBC Sports. November 29, 2021. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  20. ^ Meg Linehan (November 9, 2021). "Portland Thorns to hire former Canadian international Rhian Wilkinson as head coach: Sources". The Athletic. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  21. ^ "Hege Riise to lead Lionesses' in February, with Rhian Wilkinson also joining". thefa.com. January 19, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  22. ^ "Hege Riise: England Women interim coach named Team GB women's head coach for Tokyo Olympics". Sky Sports.
  23. ^ "Rhian Wilkinson named Thorns FC head coach | PTFC".
  24. ^ "National Women's Soccer League Official Site | NWSL". www.nwslsoccer.com. Archived from the original on March 24, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  25. ^ Svilar, Sam (December 2, 2022). "Rhian Wilkinson to resign as Portland Thorns head coach". Stumptown Footy.
  26. ^ "Profile". Rhian Wilkinson Soccer. Archived from the original on September 3, 2007.
  27. ^ Davidson, Neil (March 1, 2022). "Canada Soccer Hall of Fame adds Rhian Wilkinson, Martina Franko, Patrice Bernier". cbc.ca. The Canadian Press. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
  28. ^ Athlete Bios – Pacific Sport Archived October 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ Archived copy Archived October 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine>
  30. ^ "Southeastern Conference News". www.secsports.com.
  31. ^ Azzi, Alex (October 30, 2022). "Portland Thorns win 2022 NWSL Championship, MVP Smith scores game winner". On Her Turf. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
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