Angharad Jane James (born 1 June 1994) is a professional

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 le ...

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 ...

for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in the English

Women's Super league 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 ...

and the Wales national team. James has previously played for English

FA Women's Super League 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 ...

clubs

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, Bristol Academy,

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 ...

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

, Everton, and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

before moving to America to join

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York F ...

in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

. Internationally, James has represented

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

since her debut in 2011 and was named Women's Players' Player of the Year for Wales in 2017 having previously been twice named Wales Women's Young Player of the Year in 2013 and 2014. At 28, James is the youngest ever Wales player to accrue 100 Caps for her country. On 11 December 2022 she reached the 150 mark for Women's Super League appearances.

Club career

Arsenal

James joined the

Academy in 2010 at the age of 16, after playing for Manorbier Ladies in her native

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

. She made her senior first team debut on 5 October 2011 as a 63rd-minute substitute for

Gilly Flaherty Gilly Louise Scarlett Flaherty (born 24 August 1991) is an English former footballer who last played for FA WSL club Liverpool. Flaherty is a former Arsenal Ladies player who began her career in Millwall Lionesses' youth teams. She usually play ...

in a 6–0 home win over Belarusian side

Bobruichanka Bobruisk Bobruichanka Bobruisk is a Belarusian women's football club from Bobruisk. The club is one of the most successful women's team in Belarus, as it won the Belarusian Premier League several times. History The team has won eight championships in a r ...

in the UEFA Champions League round of 32.

Bristol Academy

Ahead of the

2012 FA WSL The 2012 FA WSL is the second season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 8 April 2012 and was scheduled to end in October 2012. The league is to break between 8 July and 19 August to allow prepar ...

season, James was signed by

Mark Sampson Mark Geraint Sampson (born 18 October 1982) is a Welsh football coach who was most recently a first team coach at Stevenage. He has also been a manager of the England women's team. Playing career Born and raised in Creigiau, a suburb of Cardi ...

for Bristol Academy. She made her Bristol debut on 22 April 2014 as a 60th-minute substitute for Molly Clarke in a 1–0 home defeat to Lincoln Ladies. On 26 May 2013, James appeared as a halftime substitute for Alex Windell during the 2013 FA Women's Cup Final. Bristol lost 3–0 to Arsenal. James played in 13 of Bristol's 14 league games during the

2013 FA WSL The 2013 FA WSL was the third season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's Association football, football league of England. The season began on 14 April and ended on 29 September. Arsenal were the defending champions, having won their ninth co ...

season as the team earned their highest ever finish, runners-up behind

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. The two met on the final day of the season separated by two points with Liverpool winning 2–0 to clinch the title. During the

2015 FA WSL The 2015 season of the Women's Super League was the fifth season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season was played from 25 March to 4 October. Liverpool were the defending champions from the 2014 FA WSL. Chel ...

season, James played in all 14 games as the Vixens were relegated. She left following the team's relegation having made 83 appearances in all competitions, scoring six goals. On her departure, Bristol manager Willie Kirk said, "You never want to lose top players, but following relegation it was inevitable that we would lose a few. Angharad played a big part in the club's successes over the past few seasons and at only 21 has bags of potential and can achieve a lot in the game... Angharad made her intentions to stay in WSL1 known to me very quickly so we have been planning for this for a while now."

Notts County

Having stated her desire to remain in the top-flight, James signed for

in March 2016 ahead of the

2016 FA WSL The 2016 FA WSL was the sixth edition of the FA WSL since it was formed in 2010. The WSL 1 was expanded to nine teams. The WSL 2 included one team promoted from the FA Women's Premier League for the first time. The season started on 23 March and ...

season. She made 18 appearances in 2016. Two days prior to the start of the

FA WSL Spring Series The FA WSL Spring Series was an interim edition of the FA WSL between the sixth and seventh full seasons. The Spring Series ran from February to May 2017 to bridge the gap from the 2016 FA WSL season which ran from March to September as a summer t ...

in April 2017, Notts County folded, leaving the players without a club.

Yeovil Town

On 16 May 2017, following the folding of Notts County, James signed a short-term one month contract with newly promoted WSL 1 side

for the remainder of the

. She made four appearances and scored one goal in a 2–1 defeat to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

as Yeovil finished bottom.

Everton

In July 2017, James left Yeovil to join newly-promoted Everton ahead of the

2017–18 FA WSL The 2017–18 FA WSL was the seventh edition of the FA WSL since it was formed in 2010. It was the first season of WSL which ran as a winter league. It started in September 2017 and ended in May 2018, with ten teams competing in both leagues. Th ...

season. She became an integeral part of the team, starting in 43 of her 47 appearances for the club during her two seasons as a Toffee.

Reading

In July 2019, James left Everton to join

. On 17 November 2019, James scored her first Reading goal, and her first goal since scoring for Yeovil May 2017, in a 3–3 draw with

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

. James captained Reading on 7 October 2020 in their 4–0 win over second division

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

in the League Cup group stage in the absence of Natasha Harding. James scored her only other goal for Reading on 23 January 2021 in the third minute of a 2–2 WSL draw with

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. On 24 February 2021, Reading announced that James had agreed to join

of the American

(NWSL) upon the completion of the 2020–21 FA WSL season in May. She left having made 48 appearances and scored two goals. In her final season with the team, James led the FA WSL in successful tackles with 46 and was one of three outfield players to play all 1,980 minutes along with West Ham's Grace Fisk and Manchester United's Millie Turner.

North Carolina Courage

Having agreed terms in February, James joined

in May after the end of the 2020–21 FA WSL season. She was named to a matchday squad for the first time on 5 June 2021 as an unused substitute against

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...

before eventually debuting two games later on 23 June when she started against

Racing Louisville Racing Louisville Football Club is a National Women's Soccer League team based in Louisville, Kentucky. It began playing in 2021 at Lynn Family Stadium. The team is owned by Soccer Holdings LLC, which also owns Louisville City FC of the USL Cham ...

. The Courage won 2–0 with head coach Paul Riley commenting James, "has a great range of passing and a great engine. She plays intelligently with the ball, and for me, she was one of the highlights of the night". James scored her first NWSL goal and only goal for the Courage on 25 September 2021 in a 3–1 defeat away to Gotham FC. James made 17 appearances during her debut NWSL season including one in the playoffs.

Orlando Pride

Having been traded to

San Diego Wave FC San Diego Wave FC is a National Women's Soccer League expansion team that began play in 2022. The team is based in San Diego, San Diego, California. The team is owned by Ron Burkle. The team is the San Diego area's first women's professional soc ...

in exchange for roster protection during the

2022 NWSL Expansion Draft The 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft (formerly named the 2021 NWSL Expansion Draft) was an expansion draft held by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) on December 16, 2021, for two expansion teams, Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC, to select pla ...

on 8 December 2021, James was subsequently traded to

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride is a professional women's soccer team based in Orlando, Florida. The team joined the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of women's soccer in the US, for the 2016 season. It became the tenth team to be added to the l ...

along with a league record $275,000 in Allocation Money in exchange for

Alex Morgan Alexandra Morgan Carrasco (born Alexandra Patricia Morgan; July 2, 1989) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a striker and captains for San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the highest division of ...

eight days later. The move reunited her with fiancé Amy Turner, the first time since Notts County in 2016 they had been at a club at the same time. James made her Orlando debut on 19 March 2022 at home to

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit is an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that participates in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the W-League and cont ...

in the

2022 NWSL Challenge Cup The 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup was a league cup competition that took place during the 2022 National Women's Soccer League season. It was the third iteration of the NWSL Challenge Cup tournament. Format The 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup was a multi-sta ...

. She would make four further appearances in the Cup competition that year ahead of the regular season opener on 2 May 2022 against Gotham FC where she would make her league debut for Orlando. On 28 July 2022, James and Orlando agreed to mutually terminate her contract, one month after Amy Turner had had her Orlando contract bought out and returned to England with

Tottenham Hotspur

On 30 July 2022, it was announced that James had once again moved to the same club as her fiancé for the second time in seven months, this time English WSL side

on a two-year deal with the option of a further year.

International

Youth

James previously represented Wales at under-16, under-17 and under-19 level. The team automatically qualified for the

2013 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA Women's U-19 Championship 2013 Final Tournament was held in Wales between 19 and 31 August 2013. Players born after 1 January 1994 were eligible to participate in this competition. It was the first time Wales played in the final tourname ...

as the host nation, their first appearance at the tournament. Despite the team losing all three group games and failing to score, James' performances earned her a place in 22-player the Squad of the Tournament, Wales' sole representative.

Senior

On 27 October 2011, James made her senior international debut, aged 17, as a late substitute in a 2–2 draw with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Tynecastle Park Tynecastle Park is a football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). It has also hosted Scotland international matches, and been used as a ...

during

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying The Qualifying rounds for the UEFA Women's Euro 2013 determined which 11 teams joined Sweden women's national football team, Sweden, the hosts of the 2013 tournament, to play for the UEFA Women's Championship. Tie breakers If two or more teams are ...

. She scored her first senior international goal on 29 February 2012, a 90+2 minute winner in a 1–0 victory over

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

at the 2012 Algarve Cup. James earned her 100th International Cap for Wales on 6 September 2022 in a World Cup Qualifier against Slovenia, a game which also saw her Wales team qualify for the World Cup play-offs for the first time in their history.

Great Britain Olympic

In January 2012, James was named on the provisional

Great Britain women's Olympic football team The Great Britain women's Olympic football team (also known as Team GB; or occasionally Great Britain and Northern Ireland) represents the United Kingdom in the women's football tournament at the Olympic Games. Normally, no team represents the ...

longlist for the

London 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. James had stated on numerous occasions that if she was selected she would accept a call-up to Team GB.

Personal life

James speaks

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

, viewing it not only as an expression of her identity but also a tactical advantage when playing English-speaking opposition. Prior to focusing on football, James also played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and was capped internationally at under-15 level. She attended

Ysgol y Preseli Ysgol Bro Preseli is a Wales, Welsh 3-18 school in the village of Crymych, Pembrokeshire, Wales. History Prior to the school's opening, pupils from the villages in the north of the county that passed the eleven-plus exam attended schools in eith ...

at the same time as fellow Welsh international footballer

Joe Allen Joseph Michael Allen (born 14 March 1990) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for EFL Championship club Swansea City. Allen began his career at Swansea City, making his first-team debut in January 2007 at age 16. He ...

. James' father, Clive, played

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

for, and later became head coach of,

Narberth RFC Narberth RFC are a Welsh rugby union club based in Narberth in Pembrokeshire. They are members of the Welsh Rugby Union playing in the WRU Championship and are a feeder club for the Scarlets. The Otters have won the Pembrokeshire County Cup comp ...

. On 23 December 2020, James announced her

engagement An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

to fellow professional footballer Amy Turner.

Career statistics

Club summary

International goals

: ''As of match played 30 November 2021. Wales score listed first, score column indicates score after each James goal.''

Honours

Bristol Academy *

runner-up: 2013 *

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

runner-up:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Individual *

Women's Young Player of the Year: 2013, 2014 *Wales Women's Players' Player of the Year: 2017

References

External links

Angharad James
at

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

Angharad James
at Everton *
Angharad James
at FAW {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Angharad 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Haverfordwest Arsenal W.F.C. players Bristol Academy W.F.C. players Notts County L.F.C. players Yeovil Town L.F.C. players Everton F.C. (women) players Reading F.C. Women players Women's Super League players Wales women's international footballers Welsh women's footballers Women's association football midfielders British LGBT footballers 21st-century LGBT people National Women's Soccer League players North Carolina Courage players Orlando Pride players FIFA Century Club