Sophie Ingle

Sophie Ingle

File:20150922 1827 W AUT WAL 3986.jpg
Personal information
Full name	Sophie Ingle
Date of birth	(1991-09-02) 2 September 1991
Place of birth	Llandough, Penarth, Wales
Position(s)	Defender / Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Liverpool
Number	6
Youth career
	Vale Wanderers F.C.
	Dinas Powys L.F.C.
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2007–2012	Cardiff City
2012–2013	Chelsea	22	(0)
2014–2015	Bristol Academy	27	(2)
2015–	Liverpool
International career‡
2009–	Wales	52	(2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20:41, 17 December 2015 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20:41, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

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

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 teenaged Ingle's move to Cardiff City Ladies.

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.

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."

In February 2014, Ingle left Chelsea and moved nearer to home by joining Bristol Academy. She rose to captain The Vixens, but the club were relegated after the 2015 season. 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".

International career

Ingle was called–up to represent Wales at Under–17 level, and later rose to captain the Under–19 squad. 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.

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

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.

External links

• Sophie Ingle on Twitter
• Chelsea profile
• Football Association of Wales (FAW) profile