Aileen Mary Whelan (born 11 August 1991) is an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

club

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. Whelan started her playing career in 1996 at Rugby Town Girls FC, after it was set up by Steve Heighton and Michelle Guppy and her father Declan became a coach.

Club career

Whelan started her senior career turning out for Rushden & Diamonds F.C., Barnet Ladies F.C. and

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

. She then signed for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, ahead of their 2011–12 Women's Premier League season and scored on her debut for the club. She stayed with Forest for the 2012–13 season. Whelan transferred to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

during the summer of 2013 ahead of their maiden season in the

. She left the club following its folding and joined Everton in May 2017. Everton went on to win the

FA WSL 2 The Women's Championship (formerly The FA Women's Championship) is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2 (WSL 2). WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 d ...

Spring Series. Whelan signed for

side

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

in September 2017. During her first season at the club she was named February 2018 WSL 2 Player of the Month. The club joined FA WSL 1, the top tier of women's football in England, ahead of the 2018–19 season.

International career

Whelan represented England at their under-23 level. She also competed for Team GB at the World Student Games in 2013, winning the gold medal.

Personal life

Whelan holds a master's degree in child psychology and works part-time as a play therapist outside of football. She has a young child with her partner, former Brighton defender

Fern Whelan Gabriella Fern Whelan (born 5 December 1988) is an English former professional footballer who played for Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. She previously played for both Liverpool and Everton in her native Merseyside and Notts County. She has repr ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. website * 1991 births Living people Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. players Women's Super League players Women's association football midfielders English women's footballers Barnet F.C. Ladies players Nottingham Forest Women F.C. players Everton F.C. (women) players Notts County L.F.C. players Sportspeople from Stafford FA Women's National League players Universiade gold medalists for Great Britain Universiade medalists in football LGBT association football players Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade Child psychologists 21st-century English LGBT people {{England-women-footy-bio-stub