Carly Mitchell Telford (born 7 July 1987) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for San Diego Wave and the England national team.

Club career

Telford joined Leeds United Ladies in 2007 from relegated club Sunderland. In May of that year she had turned out for

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 ...

in a tournament in Spain, but Charlton disbanded their women's team shortly afterwards. At Leeds, Telford was named

player of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

in the 2008

FA Women's 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 ...

final, after an impressive performance in Leeds' 4–1 defeat to Arsenal. In summer 2010, Telford was called into the England squad as an unattached player, having left

Leeds Carnegie Leeds Carnegie was a brand name used by several sports teams associated with the Carnegie School of Physical Education, now part of Leeds Beckett University. These include: Current * Leeds Carnegie Handball Club Changed name * Leeds Carnegie ...

Matt Beard Matthew Beard (born 9 January 1978) is an English professional football manager, who is currently head coach of FA Women's Super League club Liverpool FC Women. He has managed the side previously, as well as the women's teams of Bristol City ...

signed her for Chelsea Ladies ahead of the inaugural

2011 FA WSL The 2011 FA WSL was the inaugural season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 13 April 2011 and ended on 28 August 2011. The league also took a break between 12 May and mid-July to allow preparatio ...

season. In October 2012 it was announced that Telford would join Australian club Perth Glory for the 2012–13 winter season. Telford left Chelsea after three years in December 2013, signing for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

ahead of the 2014 FA WSL season. There she was reunited with her former Leeds

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Rick Passmoor and she would have the opportunity to train with goalkeeper coach

Kevin Pilkington Kevin William Pilkington (born 8 March 1974) is an English football coach and former professional Association football, footballer who is now the goalkeeping coach at club Luton Town F.C., Luton Town. As a player, he had a 25-year career as a ...

. Chelsea coach

Emma Hayes Emma Carol Hayes (born 18 October 1976) is an English professional football manager. She is currently the manager of FA WSL club Chelsea Women. She previously served as the head coach and director of football operations for Chicago Red Stars o ...

' decision to hand Telford a free transfer left her shocked and raging. Telford was carrying a shoulder injury ahead of the

2015 FA Women's Cup Final The 2015 FA Women's Cup Final was the 45th final of the FA Women's Cup, England's primary cup competition for women's football teams. The showpiece event was the 22nd to be played directly under the auspices of the Football Association (FA) and ...

and Notts County were angry when

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

refused their request for dispensation to sign another goalkeeper. Telford recovered to play in the team's 1–0 defeat by Chelsea at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

. She signed a two-year extension to her contract in November 2015. In June 2016, Telford suffered torn ankle ligaments in a win over

Doncaster Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an English women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's administration is based at the Eco Power St ...

and was ruled out for three months. Notts County Ladies folded in April 2017 and Telford returned to Chelsea. On 24 January 2022, Chelsea sold Telford 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, California. The team is owned by Ron Burkle. The team is the San Diego area's first women's professional soccer team s ...

of the National Women's Soccer League.

International career

Telford made her senior international debut on 11 March 2007 as a substitute against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, having previously played at U17, U19, U21 and U23 levels. In May 2009, Telford was one of the first 17 female players to be given central contracts by

. In May 2015,

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 Car ...

named Telford in his final squad for the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

, hosted in Canada. England eventually finished in third place, but Telford was disappointed to be the only member of the squad not to play any minutes at the tournament. In 2019, Telford was part of the England team that won the

SheBelieves Cup The SheBelieves Cup is an invitational women's soccer tournament held in different cities in the United States in late February or early March. In its first three years (2016, 2017 and 2018), it was contested by the same four teams: the United ...

in the United States, playing two of the three games against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and Japan. Later that year, Telford was called up by

Phil Neville Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English football manager and former player, who is the head coach of MLS team Inter Miami CF. He is also the co-owner of Salford City, along with several of his former Manchester United teamma ...

to the 2019 World Cup squad. As part of England's social-media facing squad announcement, her name was announced by Sports Presenter Nicole Holliday. Having been included in England squads for the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but th ...

and

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 The 2017 UEFA European Women's Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2017, was the 12th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UEFA for the women's national tea ...

without getting to play, Telford finally got her first minutes at a major tournament on 14 June 2019, starting in England's second group game at the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. I ...

against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Personal life

Telford attended

Tanfield School Tanfield School is a Mixed-sex education, coeducational secondary school in Stanley, County Durham, Stanley, County Durham, England, by the border to Tanfield Lea. The school is part of the Eden Learning Trust and is a Specialist school, specia ...

, then

Gateshead College Gateshead College is a further education college in the town of Gateshead, England. Established on November 15, 1955 at Durham Road in Low Fell, Gateshead. It was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh. The original campus was closed as part of a pla ...

on the

Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme The Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme, known as TASS, is a scheme of Sport England (UK government-funded) to find and support prospective talented athletes. History Over five hundred athletes are supported by this scheme, in around thirty spor ...

. In August 2010 her boyfriend was Matt Barron. Telford publicly

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

in 2017. She is in a relationship with England

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 str ...

Georgia Elwiss Georgia Amanda Elwiss (born 31 May 1991) is an English cricketer who currently plays for Sussex, Southern Vipers, Birmingham Phoenix and England. Career She was raised in Wolverhampton with her brother Luke and is a right-arm medium fast bowle ...

Career statistics

International

:''Statistics accurate as of match played 27 July 2021.''

Honours

England * FIFA Women's World Cup third place: 2015 *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

Carly Telford
at the FA website
Carly Telford Interview
at the Keeper Portal Website
Carly Telford
at the San Diego Wave FC website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Telford, Carly 1987 births Living people Lesbian sportswomen LGBT association football players English LGBT sportspeople English women's footballers Leeds United Women F.C. players Chelsea F.C. Women players Sunderland A.F.C. Ladies players San Diego Wave FC players England women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players Notts County L.F.C. players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne Women's association football goalkeepers England women's under-23 international footballers 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic women's footballers of Great Britain 21st-century LGBT people English expatriate footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players National Women's Soccer League players