Chelsea Elisabeth Weston (born 27 January 1990) 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 le ...

who plays as a defender for Pink Bari in the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

. She has represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

up to Under-23 level.

Club career

Weston, of

Warndon Warndon is a suburb and civil parish of the City of Worcester in Worcestershire, England. The parish, which includes the villages of Trotshill and Warndon was part of Droitwich Rural District until 1974 when it was annexed to Worcester under the ...

, began playing football for a local boys team, the Droitwich Kestrels and remained with them until reaching the maximum age for mixed football teams. Her struggle to find a team to play for saw her featured on

BBC Midlands Today ''Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the West Midlands. It was launched in 1964 and is presented by Mary Rhodes, Nick Owen, Elizabeth Glinka, Rebecca Wood and Shefali Oza. Overview ''Midlands Today'' is produ ...

where she was spotted by Birmingham City Ladies. She joined their junior side and progressed to play in their Premier League team. Weston left to join Doncaster Rovers Belles in the 2008 close season. In February 2009 she played in the Belles 5–0 defeat against

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 the FA Women's Premier League Cup Final. In December 2010, Weston was revealed to have signed for Birmingham City Ladies'

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 ...

squad. In January 2016 Birmingham manager David Parker revealed that the club had rejected its option to extend Weston's contract, making her a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. On 18 March 2016,

Notts County Ladies Notts County Ladies Football Club was a women's football club based in Nottingham, England. Like the club's male affiliate Notts County FC, they played their home games at Meadow Lane. Notts County Ladies were created in 2014 when Lincoln L ...

confirmed the signing of Weston. Weston picked up an ACL injury and prior to recovery, Notts County Ladies were folded. She signed for London Bees in September 2017 and made her debut the following month.

International career

Weston has represented England at Under-17, Under-19, and Under-20 level. In 2008, she played for England's Under-20 team in the FIFA Under-20's World Cup Finals in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. In 2009, she was a key player as England's Under-19s side won the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

, scoring against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in the group stages. She was named as one of ten 'emerging talents' from the tournament on the UEFA website.

Personal life

Weston attended Elgar Technology College and Worcester Sixth Form College, before enrolling on a sports science degree at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

, on a talented athlete scholarship.

Honours

Birmingham City

* FA Women's Cup (1): 2011–12

References

External links

* * English women's footballers Notts County L.F.C. players Birmingham City W.F.C. players Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. players Alumni of Loughborough University FA Women's National League players Sportspeople from Worcester, England 1990 births Living people Women's Super League players England women's under-23 international footballers London Bees players Women's association football defenders Coventry United W.F.C. players A.S.D. Pink Sport Time players Expatriate women's footballers in Italy English expatriates in Italy {{England-women-footy-bio-stub