Claire Mary O'Riordan (born 12 October 1994) is an Irish

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 for club

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

and the Republic of Ireland women's national team. Mainly a defender, she can also operate as a

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 ...

Early years

O'Riordan initially represented

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

at county level in GAA and

camogie Camogie ( ; ga, camógaíocht ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game of hurling (which is played by men onl ...

. She was a late convert to

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

after not having featured at underage level for her country.

Club career

O'Riordan started her senior career at Wexford Youths in the Irish Women's National League (WNL) where she spent five years. While at the club she won the WNL three times.

MSV Duisberg

O'Riordan signed a professional contract for German

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

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jers ...

in July 2018. She played primarily as a centre-half in defence for the club. Claire made her league debut against

SGS Essen SGS Essen are a German multi-sports club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was founded in 2000 from the merger of ''VfB Borbeck'' and ''SC Grün-Weiß Schönebeck''. It is most renowned for its women's football team, which plays ...

on 15 September 2018. She scored her first league goal against

SC Sand SC Sand is a German sport club from Willstätt, Baden-Württemberg. The club was founded on 11 August 1946 and competes in football, aerobics, judo and qigong. The club is most known for its women's football section which plays in the Bundesliga ...

on 17 March 2021, scoring in the 90th minute.

Celtic

After four years in Germany, O'Riordan signed for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in August 2022. She made her league debut against

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

on 14 August 2022. Claire scored her first league goal against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

on 5 February 2023, scoring in the 57th minute. Claire left the club in 2023.

Standard Liège

In 2023, O'Riordan, along with Ireland teammate Amber Barrett, signed for Belgian club

International career

O'Riordan never played for Ireland at youth level, but won her first senior

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

in a 1–0 defeat by

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

at the

2016 Cyprus Women's Cup The 2016 Cyprus Women's Cup was the ninth edition of the Cyprus Women's Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Cyprus. After being initially canceled due to schedule conflicts with both UEFA and AFC qualification for t ...

. She represented Ireland during their

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process decided all 24 teams which played in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the hosts France qualifying automatically. It is the eighth FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international wo ...

campaign.

International appearances

International goals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ORiordan, Claire 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Limerick (city) Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers MSV Duisburg (women) players Women's association football midfielders Wexford Youths W.F.C. players Women's National League (Ireland) players Frauen-Bundesliga players Expatriate women's footballers in Germany Irish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Celtic F.C. Women players Expatriate women's footballers in Scotland Republic of Ireland expatriate women's association footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Scottish Women's Premier League players 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players