Havana Marguerite Solaun (born 23 February 1993) is a Jamaican professional

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 ...

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

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 ...

of the American National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the Jamaica women's national team. Solaun began her professional career with the NWSL's

Seattle Reign FC OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...

in 2015. After two years, she was traded to the

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit is an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that participates in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the W-League and cont ...

. Solaun is a former United States youth international, most recently at the U23 level.

Early life

Solaun's family moved back to the United States when she was two. She attended

Buchholz High School F. W. Buchholz High School (commonly referred to as Buchholz (pronounced ) or BHS) is a high school in Gainesville, Florida, United States. Buchholz is one of seven high schools in Alachua County. Opened in January 1971, it is the largest public ...

in Gainesville, Florida. From 2008 to 2010, she was named to the All-Area Girls Soccer first-team by ''

The Gainesville Sun ''The Gainesville Sun'' () is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. The paper is published by Lynni Henderson, the paper's Executive Editor is Douglas Ray and the edi ...

''.

University of Florida Gators, 2011–2014

Solaun attended 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 ...

from 2011 to 2014 where she played soccer for the Florida Gators and was a four-year starting midfielder. Solaun earned All-Southeastern Conference first team honors in 2014 and 2013 and also appeared on the NSCAA All-South Region teams those same seasons. As a senior in 2014, Solaun registered collegiate best totals for goals(9), assists (9) and points (27) to finish second among the Gators in each category.

Club career

Seattle Reign FC, 2015–2016

Solaun was selected 15th overall by

during the

2015 NWSL College Draft The 2015 NWSL College Draft was the third annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 16, 2015 at the NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia, PA. Format *Draft order wa ...

. After signing with the team a few months later, Seattle Reign FC head coach Laura Harvey said, "Havana is a young, talented player who is very good on the ball. The most important thing for us is she is also very comfortable in possession, whether under pressure or not, she can keep control of the ball and move it in the way that we want her to." Solaun made her debut for the Reign during 2–0 win over the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

during preseason play but sat out the season after suffering an injury. During the team's first 2016 pre-season match against the Portland Thorns, Solaun scored the game-winning goal in the 75th minute helping the Reign win 2–0. She made her debut for the club during its season opener against

Sky Blue FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2013 ...

on April 17. She scored her first goal during a match against the

leading the Reign to a 1–0 win. Carsonpickett havanasolaun

Washington Spirit, 2017–2018

Solaun's player rights were traded to the

in November 2016 in exchange for Spirit players Christine Nairn and

Madalyn Schiffel Madalyn Terese Schiffel (born September 19, 1994) is a retired American professional soccer goalkeeper who previously played Seattle Reign FC in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and for Avaldsnes IL of the Norwegian Toppserien. Early ...

. She signed with the team in December. Solaun would become a regular starter for the Spirit, earning 24 appearances and scoring 5 goals during her first season.

Klepp IL, 2019

Despite a new contract offer from

, Solaun elected to join Norwegian club Klepp IL on a free transfer for 2019.

Paris FC, 2020

On January 12, D1 Féminine team

Paris FC Paris Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional football club based in Paris, that competes in the Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Paris FC play their home matches at the Stade C ...

announced they had signed Solaun.

Apollon Ladies, 2020

Unable to appear for Paris FC due to the coronavirus pandemic, Solaun signed for Cypriot club Apollon Ladies for their

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 ...

campaign.

North Carolina Courage, 2020–2022

Solaun signed a short-term contract to play for

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York ...

during the 2020 NWSL Fall Series. In January 2021, she signed a one-year contract with a one-year option for the team. In September 2022, the club bought out the remainder of her contract and released her to free agency.

Houston Dash, 2023–

In January 2023, Solaun joined

on a two-year contract.

International career

Born in Hong Kong to

Afro-Cubans Afro-Cubans or Black Cubans are Cubans of West African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community and the combining of native African and other cultural el ...

father (Felix Solaun, born in the United States shortly after his parents Félix Solaun and Hilda Luis moved from their native

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

) and a Jamaican mother (Sandra Brower, formerly Solaun, Phillips), Solaun was originally eligible to play for the national teams of Hong Kong, the United States, Cuba or Jamaica.

Youth national teams

Solaun represented the United States on the under-17 (

2010 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship The 2010 CONCACAF Under-17 Women's Championship was held in Costa Rica from March 10–20, 2010. This was the second edition of the U-17 women's championship for CONCACAF. The first and second placed teams qualified for the 2010 FIFA U-17 Women ...

), under-20 and under-23 national teams. As Solaun had previously lived in Canada (also in Singapore), she participated in a centralized camp of the Canadian national team in February 2015.

Jamaica senior national team

Following the historic FIFA Women's World Cup qualification by the

Jamaica women's national football team The Jamaica women's national football team, nicknamed the "Reggae Girlz", is one of the top women's national football teams in the Caribbean region along with Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti. In 2008, the team was disbanded after it failed to get ...

, Solaun was named to its training camp roster in January 2019. She made her debut on March 3 that year in a 3–2 friendly win against

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 ...

. On June 18, 2019, Solaun scored Jamaica's first-ever goal in a FIFA Women's World Cup shortly after coming on as a second-half substitute against Australia.

International goals

''Scores and results list Jamaica's goal tally first''

Personal life

Solaun's first name, Havana, is a tribute to her paternal grandparents' birthplace.

References

External links

*
Player profile
at

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. I ...

Washington Spirit player profile

Florida Gators player profile (archived)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Solaun, Havana 1993 births Living people Jamaican women's footballers Jamaica women's international footballers Hong Kong women's footballers People with acquired Jamaican citizenship Women's association football midfielders Klepp IL players Toppserien players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Jamaican people of American descent Jamaican people of Cuban descent Jamaican expatriate women's footballers Jamaican expatriates in Norway Expatriate women's footballers in Norway People with acquired American citizenship Sportspeople from Gainesville, Florida Soccer players from Florida American women's soccer players Florida Gators women's soccer players OL Reign draft picks OL Reign players Washington Spirit players National Women's Soccer League players United States women's under-20 international soccer players American sportspeople of Cuban descent American sportspeople of Jamaican descent American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Norway North Carolina Courage players Houston Dash players Hong Kong people of Cuban desent Hong Kong people of Jamaican descent