Ella Copple Masar (formerly Ella Masar McLeod; born April 3, 1986) is an American-Canadian former professional soccer player who is currently an assistant coach for the

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...

in the National Women's Soccer League. She previously played for

FC Rosengård FC Rosengård, formerly Malmö FF Dam (1970–2007) and LdB FC Malmö (2007–2013), is a professional football club based in Malmö, Scania, Sweden. The team was established as Malmö FF Dam in 1970. It started out with playing 7 seasons in th ...

Houston Dash The Houston Dash is a professional women's soccer team based in Houston, Texas. It joined the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the 2014 season, and is affiliated with the MLS team Houston Dynamo FC. History Establishment On November ...

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

, magicJack, and

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

. She made one appearance for the

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles ( 1991, 1999, 2015, an ...

in 2009.

Early life

Born in

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the 38th-most populous municipality in Illinois. It ...

, Masar attended Urbana High School, where she holds the school record for most goals in a season (40) and career (92). Masar also played club soccer for Little Illini Soccer Club (now Illinois FC). Her mother was diagnosed with

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

when Ella was a teen, and her parents later divorced. Her father died from a heart attack in October 2011 while Ella was playing in France.

University of Illinois

Masar enrolled at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

in 2004. She was a college walk-on and played for the

Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

for four years. In 2006, she was named

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Offensive Player of the Year and

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 ...

Second Team All-American. During Masar's senior year, she was named All-Big Ten First Team and Lowe's All-American First Team. Over the course of the 2007 season, Masar tallied 12 goals and 3 assists. Throughout her career, Masar compiled a total of 20 assists – the second most in the program's history. She also added 27 goals, good for fourth most.

Club career

W-League

Masar started to play in the W-League in 2004 with Windy City Bluez. She appeared in just one game for the team, playing the full 90 minutes. In 2005, Masar switched to the Chicago Gaels, for whom she appeared in seven games for (650 minutes). She scored 9 goals and added an assist. She stayed with the team the following season and played in 9 more games (791 minutes). In 2006, she scored 1 goal and 1 assist.

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Mar ...

marked the next stop for Masar, who played for the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

team in 2007. She appeared alongside

Cori Alexander Corinne Renae Callahan (; born May 6, 1985) is an American soccer coach, artistic photographer and former goalkeeper. University career Callahan had a standout career at the University of Portland from 2003 through 2006, where she backstopped ...

Tiffeny Milbrett Tiffeny Carleen Milbrett (born October 23, 1972) is an American former professional soccer forward who was a longtime member of the United States women's national team. In May 2018 the National Soccer Hall of Fame announced Milbrett will be en ...

Jill Oakes Jill Pauline Oakes (born July 18, 1984) is an Americans, American retired association football, soccer defender (association football), defender who last played for Chicago Red Stars of Women's Professional Soccer. Oakes was originally drafted ...

, and

McCall Zerboni McCall RaNae Zerboni (born December 13, 1986) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for and captains NJ/NY Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Early life Born in Camarillo, California, to par ...

. She played in eight games (632 minutes) and scored one goal and assisted on five others. Masar moved to

Washington Freedom Washington Freedom was an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Germantown, Maryland, that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The Freedom was founded in 2001 as a member of the defunct Women's Uni ...

in 2008, where she appeared in seven games (321 minutes) and scored three goals, while helping the Freedom to a first-place finish in the Northeast Division.

Team Strømmen, 2008

After the 2008 W-League season, Masar played in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

with

Team Strømmen LSK Kvinner Fotballklubb is a Norwegian women's football club from Lillestrøm. They currently play in Toppserien, the top division of Norwegian football. The club was founded as Setskog/Høland Fotballklubb on 10 October 1989. History The cl ...

for part of the

2008 Toppserien The 2008 season of the ''Toppserien'', the highest women's football (soccer) league in Norway, began on 12 April 2008 and ended on 2 November 2008. 22 games were played with 3 points given for wins and 1 for draws. Number eleven and twelve were r ...

. The team advanced to the

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football ...

final, where they lost to

Røa IL Røa IL is a Norwegian sports club from Røa in the borough of Vestre Aker, Oslo. It was founded on 11 November 1900, and has sections for football, gymnastics, bandy, and cross-country skiing. Football, bandy, and Nordic skiing have been do ...

, 3–1. Masar scored Strømmen's sole goal in the final.

Chicago Red Stars (WPS), 2009–10

With the introduction of top-flight women's soccer back to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in the form of

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

, Masar declared herself eligible for the WPS. She was drafted in the second round (9th overall) to the

in the 2008 WPS General Draft on October 6, 2008. In the inaugural

2009 Women's Professional Soccer season The 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season served as the inaugural season for WPS, the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. The regular season began on March 29 and ended on August 9, with the postseason being held ...

, Masar appeared in 16 games (five starts, 655 minutes) and recorded two assists. However, her season was hampered by a hip injury sustained on June 7, 2009 during a match against

FC Gold Pride FC Gold Pride was an American professional soccer club based in the San Francisco Bay Area, which participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The club replaced the San Jose CyberRays of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association as the top-le ...

, which resulted in four torn muscles. It was announced on September 28, 2009 that Masar's contract option had been picked up by Chicago, who held her playing rights for the

2010 Women's Professional Soccer season The 2010 Women's Professional Soccer season was the second season for the WPS, the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. Regular season champion FC Gold Pride won the WPS Championship on September 26 with a 4-0 victor ...

magicJack (WPS) and Paris Saint-Germain, 2011

During the 2011 WPS season, Masar played for magicJack. She made 16 appearances for the club and scored 4 goals. Masar was the only player to condemn publicly the team owner,

Dan Borislow Daniel Marc Borislow (September 21, 1961 – July 21, 2014) was an American entrepreneur, sports team owner, inventor, and thoroughbred horse breeder. Borislow was born and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended Widener Universi ...

, accusing him of mistreating players, including her. Masar played with

for the 2011–2012 season. She made 17 appearances (1107 minutes) and scored six goals.

Chicago Red Stars (WPSLE, NWSL), 2012–13

Masar rejoined the Red Stars for the 2012 WPSLE season, and was re-signed by the Stars for the 2013 NWSL season.

Houston Dash (NWSL), 2014–2015

Masar was left unprotected by the

during the 2014 NWSL Expansion Draft and on January 10, 2014 was one of 10 players selected by the

. In the 2015 season, Masar took over as Dash captain from her girlfriend

Erin McLeod Erin Katrina McLeod (born February 26, 1983) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Stjarnan of the Icelandic Besta deild kvenna. She first appeared for the Canada women's national soccer team at the 2002 Algarve Cup and ...

(whom Masar married in July 2015), who was on

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 ...

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 ...

squad. In November 2015, the Dash waived Masar at her request. She cited a desire to be close to McLeod, who was pursuing a chance to play for a club competing in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

. Masar ended her time with the Dash with 37 appearances and 5 goals.

FC Rosengård 2016–2018

In December 2015,

announced the signing of Masar for the 2016 season. McLeod had previously told the press that the two would be playing together in Sweden. For the 2016 season she was tied, with Marta, for most goals. As of October 17, 2017 she has tied her season high of 13 goals from last year, and is tied for 2nd with most goals in Sweden's Damallsvenskan. There are 3 league games remaining.

VfL Wolfsburg 2018–2019

At the beginning of the year 2018 Masar comes free transfer from the Swedish record champion

and signs a contract with

Vfl Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

until 2019.

International career

Masar's international career began in 2007 with the U-21 Women's National Team. She appeared in 12 games, scoring two goals and adding an assist. In 2008, the U-21 team switched to being a U-23 team. For the newly re-branded U-23 Women's National Team, Masar appeared in eight games and scored three goals, her last appearance coming in 2009 before she became ineligible due to age. Masar's made her debut for the

on October 29, 2009 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 ...

, where she was a 73rd-minute substitute for

Amy Rodriguez Amy Joy Rodriguez Shilling (; born February 17, 1987) is an American retired professional soccer player who last played as a forward for North Carolina Courage in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She previously played for NWSL teams ...

. Masar and

Kacey White Kacey Dell White (formerly Burke; born April 27, 1984) is an American professional soccer midfielder and coach. She most recently played for the Atlanta Beat of Women's Professional Soccer and the United States women's national soccer team. Ea ...

were late additions to the squad due to the retirement of

Angela Hucles Angela Khalia Hucles Mangano (; born July 5, 1978) is an American sports executive and former professional soccer player. Hucles Mangano is currently the vice president of player development and operations at Angel City FC of the National Women's ...

and an injury to

Megan Rapinoe Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger and captains OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), as well as the United States ...

Coaching career

Masar joined the coaching staff of National Women's Soccer League club

Kansas City Current Kansas City Current is an American professional women's soccer team based in Kansas City, Kansas. It began play as an expansion team in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2021. History Establishment Kansas City last had an NWSL t ...

on February 7, 2022. In January 2023, she joined as an assistant coach for the

Personal life

Masar is a Christian. Masar

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 ...

as lesbian on March 17, 2015. On July 6, 2015, Masar married Canadian teammate

in Vancouver following the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. The two co-hosted a regular online web show called ''The Ella and Erin Show'' while playing for the Chicago Red Stars and later the Houston Dash in order to promote home games and give away tickets to fans. Masar and McLeod underwent an amicable separation in 2019, followed by divorce. Masar is currently in a relationship with German soccer player

Babett Peter Babett Peter (born 12 May 1988) is a German professional footballer. She plays as a defender for Real Madrid CF. She has also played for Germany. Club career Turbine Potsdam Peter started playing football in primary school. At the age of nin ...

. In September 2020, Masar gave birth to a baby boy. She married her partner Babet Peter on 21 July 2022. An American citizen by birth, Masar received Canadian citizenship on December 29, 2015, by virtue of her previous marriage to McLeod. In 2019, Masar co-founded Doyenne Sport, an agency for female footballers.

Honours

FC Rosengård *

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

: 2016–17, 2017–18 VfL Wolfsburg * Frauen-Bundesliga: 2018–19 *

DFB Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

: 2018–19

References

External links

US Soccer player profile

WPS player profile

Chicago Red Stars player profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Masar, Ella 1986 births Living people American women's soccer players United States women's international soccer players Washington Freedom players Illinois Fighting Illini women's soccer players MagicJack (WPS) players Expatriate women's soccer players in Canada American expatriates in Canada American expatriates in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in Germany Chicago Red Stars players Expatriate women's footballers in Norway LSK Kvinner FK players Toppserien players Expatriate women's footballers in France American expatriates in France Paris Saint-Germain Féminine players National Women's Soccer League players Women's Professional Soccer players Houston Dash players Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden FC Rosengård players Damallsvenskan players People from Urbana, Illinois LGBT association football players American LGBT sportspeople Women's association football defenders Women's association football forwards American twins Twin sportspeople LGBT people from Illinois Frauen-Bundesliga players VfL Wolfsburg (women) players Division 1 Féminine players LGBT Christians Lesbian sportswomen Kansas City Current non-playing staff Chicago Red Stars non-playing staff Women's Premier Soccer League Elite players