Claire Elizabeth Falknor (born May 12, 1993) is an American professional

soccer player 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 Spanish

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

club Granadilla Tenerife. She previously played for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, where she was named third-team

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 30 ...

All-American and first-team All- SEC in 2015 and second team all-SEC in 2014.

Early life

Born in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, Falknor attended Centerville High School (class of 2012) and played with the Ohio South State Olympic Development Program (ODP) team from 2008 to 2010 and with the Ohio Elite Soccer Academy club side from 2010 to 2012.

Playing career

Club

In January 2016, Falknor joined

Frauen-Bundesliga The Frauen-Bundesliga (German for ''Women's Federal League''), currently known as the FLYERALARM Frauen-Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of league competition for women's association football in Germany. In 1990 the German Foo ...

side Bayern Munich. She made her professional debut on February 13, coming on as an 83rd-minute substitute for

Mana Iwabuchi is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder for Women's Super League (WSL) club Tottenham Hotspur on loan from Arsenal and the Japan national team. She previously played for Aston Villa, Bayern Munich, ...

against

Köln Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

. Falknor and Bayern Munich mutually dissolved her contract in December 2016, and Bayern announced that she was returning to the United States. On February 24, 2017, Falknor signed with the Houston Dash. On June 18, 2018, Falknor was waived by the Dash to make room on the roster for the newly acquired

Sofia Huerta Sofia Christine Huerta (born December 14, 1992) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a right back for OL Reign in the National Women's Soccer League and the U.S. women's national soccer team. Huerta played collegiately for the ...

and

Taylor Comeau Taylor Kay Rene Comeau (born July 21, 1993) is an American retired soccer player who played as a midfielder. She played for Portland Thorns FC, Chicago Red Stars, and Houston Dash in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Early life Taylor Co ...

. On July 4, 2018, it was announced that Falknor would be joining

EDF Logroño EDF may refer to: Organisations * Eclaireurs de France, a French Scouting association * Education for Development Foundation, a Thai charity * Électricité de France, a French energy company ** EDF Energy, their British subsidiary ** EDF Luminus, ...

in the

in Spain. She left the team at the end of the season.

International

In May 2015, Falknor was named to the United States under-23 national team for the Four Nations Tournament in Norway. She played in two of the three matches.

References

External links

University of Florida profile

US Soccer profile

Bayern profile
* 1993 births Living people Women's association football defenders American women's soccer players Soccer players from Ohio Sportspeople from Dayton, Ohio Florida Gators women's soccer players Frauen-Bundesliga players FC Bayern Munich (women) players 2. Frauen-Bundesliga players National Women's Soccer League players Houston Dash players Liga F players Dux Logroño players American expatriate women's soccer players Expatriate women's footballers in Germany American expatriate soccer players in Germany American expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Sevilla FC (women) players UD Tenerife players {{US-women-footy-bio-stub