Helen Jane Ward (née Lander; born 26 April 1986) is an international

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 ...

striker who is currently playing club football for

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

. Ward previously spent three seasons with

Chelsea Ladies Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Norbiton that competes in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England. Since 2004, the clu ...

, whom she joined from

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in 2010. Born in the

London Borough of Brent The London Borough of Brent () is a London boroughs, London borough in north-west London. It borders the boroughs of London Borough of Harrow, Harrow to the north-west, London Borough of Barnet, Barnet to the north-east, London Borough of Camden ...

, Ward began her career with 14 years at Watford Ladies where she was a prolific goal scorer and team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. Ward played for the

England women's national under-23 football team The England women's national under-23 football team, also known as England women Under-23s or England women U23(s), is an association football team operated under the auspices of The Football Association. Its primary role is the development of p ...

in 2007, but chose to represent

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

at senior level in 2008. With 44 goals, she is the Welsh national team's all–time record goal scorer.

Club career

Ward began her career with Watford Ladies, joining at the age of nine and progressing to become captain of the senior side. She left to join

Arsenal Ladies Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is an English professional women's football club based in Islington, London, England. The club plays in the Women's Super League, the top tier of English women's football. Arse ...

in January 2009, scoring on her debut later that month as Arsenal beat

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

in the

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

. Ward moved to

in September 2010. In December 2013, Ward announced a

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

from Chelsea to Reading. There she was reunited with former Arsenal and Wales teammate

Jayne Ludlow Jayne Louise Ludlow (born 7 January 1979) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is currently the technical director of Manchester City Girls' Academy. In 2018, she was inducted on to the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame Roll of Honour alo ...

, who was Reading's manager. Ward returned to training ahead of the

2015 FA WSL The 2015 season of the Women's Super League was the fifth season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season was played from 25 March to 4 October. Liverpool were the defending champions from the 2014 FA WSL. Chel ...

2 season, after giving birth to daughter Emily in September 2014. On 8 February 2017, Ward joined newly promoted

FA WSL 1 The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

side Yeovil Town Ladies, but was forced to withdraw from her contract after announcing she was pregnant with her second child. The forward joined home town

Watford F.C. Women Watford F.C. Women are an English women's football club affiliated to Watford F.C., that play in the FA Women's National League South. They played in the FA Women's Super League (FA WSL) 2nd Division since the league's inception in 2014, after f ...

, ahead of the 2017–18 season, before signing a contract extension ahead of the 2018–19 campaign with the club. In February 2021, Ward joined

London Bees London Bees is an English women's football club affiliated with Barnet F.C. They play in the FA Women's National League South. The club has been in existence under several names since 1975, originally being called District Line Ladies F.C.. Th ...

on a short-term dual registration basis, whilst her parent club waited for their season to resume due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

International career

In July 2007, Ward made a 10-minute substitute appearance for the

in a 4–1 Nordic Cup defeat by

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Ward represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at Under-23 level, but, due to her Welsh maternal grandfather, she made her senior debut for

against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

on 30 September 2008. Wales came from behind to win 6–1, with Ward scoring the second goal. In August 2010, Ward scored six goals in Wales' 15–0 win over

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. She was listed as a Chelsea player. By the time of Ward's 50th cap, against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

in September 2013, she had scored 30 international goals. As of October 2021, Ward is the all-time top scorer for Wales with 44 goals in 99 appearances. On 8 April 2022, Ward played her 100th match for Wales in a 2–1 defeat to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process determines 30 of the 32 teams which will play in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the co-hosts Australia and New Zealand qualifying automatically. It is the ninth FIFA Women's World Cup, ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Wales's goal tally first.''

References

External links

Profile
at the

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, Welsh national foo ...

(FAW)
Profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Helen 1986 births Living people Welsh women's footballers Wales women's international footballers Watford F.C. Women players Arsenal W.F.C. players Chelsea F.C. Women players FA Women's National League players Footballers from the London Borough of Brent Women's Super League players England women's under-23 international footballers Barnet F.C. Ladies players Reading F.C. Women players Yeovil Town L.F.C. players English women's footballers Women's association football forwards Women's Championship (England) players FIFA Century Club