Caroline Elspeth Lillias Weir (born 20 June 1995) is a Scottish 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 an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

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 Spanish Primera División club

Real Madrid CF Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally worn ...

and the Scotland women's national team.

Club career

Elgin Star

Weir began her footballing journey playing for local boys team, Elgin Star FC, in the Fife Football Development League at Pitreavie Playing Fields between 2003 and 2005. She played as a midfielder in the 7 a-side games, invariably scoring 2 to 3 goals each game & regularly receiving the player of the match award.

Hibernian

Weir started her career in the Hibernian Ladies youth system from the age of ten. In 2011, she won the SWFL First Division player of the year award for her performances in Hibs' reserve side while also making her first team debut in May against Glasgow City.

Arsenal

Weir joined

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 ...

side

Arsenal Ladies Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is an English professional women's football club based in Islington, London, England. The club plays in the Women's Super League, the top tier of English women's football. Arse ...

in July 2013 after leaving high school. Whilst at Arsenal, Weir won the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

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 ...

Bristol Academy

On 9 July 2015, it was announced that Weir left Arsenal for

side Bristol Academy.

Liverpool

On 18 January 2016, it was announced that Weir had left

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

Bristol to sign for

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 ...

. While at the Reds Weir won the 2016 Liverpool Ladies Player of the Year Award.

Manchester City

On 1 June 2018,

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

announced the signing of Weir. Weir won the Player of the Match award in the 2019 WSL Cup Final as Manchester City beat Arsenal 4–2 on penalties. Weir scored the winner, a 25-yard strike, as Manchester City defeated

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

1–0 in the inaugural

Manchester derby The Manchester derby refers to football matches between Manchester City and Manchester United, first contested in 1881. City play at the City of Manchester Stadium in Bradford, east Manchester, while United play at Old Trafford in the borough o ...

on 7 September 2019. The goal was subsequently nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award 2020. On 31 January 2020, she signed a new contract with Manchester City until 2022. On 29 November 2021, another goal against Manchester United on 12 February 2021 – a chip from the edge of the area – was nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award 2021. Almost exactly a year later she scored a very similar goal against the same opposition.

Real Madrid

On 7 July 2022,

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

announced the signing of Weir on a free transfer. Shortly after that, a statement was released about a "hold on processing of non-EU licences", affecting the signing of Weir, who was not registered with Real Madrid before 30 June. A month later she scored a goal that knocked her previous club

out of Champions League qualifying and progressed Real to the second phase.

International career

Scotland

Having represented Scotland at all youth levels, Weir received her first call-up for the Scotland women's senior squad for their match against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

in June 2013. She retained her place in the squad for the following game against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. During Euro 2017, Weir scored Scotland's opening goal against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and was voted player of the game. Weir helped Scotland qualify for 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. It ...

, and played in all of their three matches at the tournament. During the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup UEFA play-off match against Ireland, which the Irish won 1-0, Weir had a penalty saved.

Great Britain Olympic team

Weir was one of two Scots selected by

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. Weir was initially credited with scoring in the 1–1 draw with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, but it was later denoted as an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

Nichelle Prince Nichelle Patrice Prince (born February 19, 1995) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a forward for National Women's Soccer League club Houston Dash and the Canadian national team. Club career Houston Dash After playing college soccer with ...

. She also had a penalty saved during their 4-3 loss to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the quarterfinal.

Career statistics

International appearances

:''Scotland statistics accurate as of match played 15 June 2021.'' :''Great Britain statistics accurate as of match played 2 August 2021.''

International goals

:''Results list Scotland's goal tally first.''

Honours

Arsenal *

: 2014 Manchester City *

FA Women's League Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Pri ...

: 2018–19, 2021–22 *

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 ...

: 2018–19, 2019–20 Individual *Scotland Player of the Year: 2016, 2020 *Liverpool Ladies Player of the Year: 2016 *NRS Scottish Sporting Breakthrough Award: 2017 *PFA Women's Super League (WSL) Team of the Year: 2016–17, 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22 *PFA Bristol Street Motors Fans’ Player of the Month: December 2020 * Puskas Award Nominee: 2020, 2021 * SFWA Women's International Player of the Year: 2021–22 *

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 ...

Goal of the Month:

February 2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weir, Caroline 1995 births Living people Footballers from Dunfermline Scottish women's footballers Scotland women's international footballers Olympic footballers of Great Britain Hibernian W.F.C. players Arsenal W.F.C. players Bristol Academy W.F.C. players Liverpool F.C. Women players Manchester City W.F.C. players Women's Super League players Women's association football midfielders 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Scottish Women's Premier League players Real Madrid Femenino players Primera División (women) players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Scottish expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in Spain UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players