Grace Joana Ella Jale (born 10 April 1999) is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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 ...

who plays for

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

and the

New Zealand women's national football team The New Zealand women's national football team, nicknamed the Football Ferns, is governed by New Zealand Football (NZF). The New Zealand national team qualified for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, held in China in September 2007, sending the te ...

. She has previously played for

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

and

Canberra United Canberra United Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the southern Canberra suburb of Wanniassa, Australian Capital Territory. Founded in 2008 by Capital Football, the club was an inaugural member of the W-League and t ...

Early life

Born and raised in Auckland to a Fijian father and New Zealand mother, Jale started playing football (soccer) at age 7. She attended

Mt Albert Grammar School Mount Albert Grammar School, commonly known as MAGS, is a co-educational state secondary school in Mount Albert in Auckland, New Zealand. It teaches students in year levels 9 to 13. , Mount Albert Grammar School is the second largest school in ...

where she helped the team to a national First XI championship. She also played for the Eastern Suburbs premier women's team. During her first year playing for the Bay Olympic Club Team, she was named Player of the Year and was awarded a Variety Gold Heart Scholarship.

Club career

In August 2018, Jale was offered a contract with Czech first-division club

AC Sparta Praha ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

, but opted to attend and play for

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

in the United States. On 19 October 2021 Jale signed with the newly formed

team to play in their inaugural season of the 2021–22 A-League Women league. In July 2022, following a successful season with Wellington Phoenix, Jale joined for Australian A-League Women club

on a two-year contract. In August 2023, Jale was signed by A-League Women club

International career

Jale made her debut for the senior national team and scored her first international goal during a match against

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

at the 2018 OFC Women's Nations Cup. She previously represented New Zealand on the under-17 and under-20 national teams. She competed at the

2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournam ...

in Jordan and

2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 8th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tourname ...

in Papua New Guinea.

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup

In June 2023, Jale was selected as part of the 23 player

Football Ferns The New Zealand women's national football team, nicknamed the Football Ferns, is governed by New Zealand Football (NZF). The New Zealand national team qualified for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, held in China in September 2007, sending the t ...

squad for the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is scheduled to be the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the quadrennial international women's football championship contested by the women's national association football teams organised ...

, which was co-hosted in Australia and New Zealand. She played two matches in the group stage.

International goals

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jale, Grace 1999 births Living people New Zealand women's association footballers Association footballers from Auckland New Zealand women's international footballers Women's association football midfielders New Zealand people of Fijian descent New Zealand Māori sportspeople New Zealand Māori women Wellington Phoenix FC (A-League Women) players Canberra United FC players Perth Glory FC (A-League Women) players Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia New Zealand expatriate women's association footballers 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players