Jody Handley (born 12 March 1979) is an English former

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 ...

from

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

, who most recently played for

FA WSL 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 ...

2 club

Doncaster Rovers Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an English women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's administration is based at the Eco Power St ...

. A pacy and intelligent attacking player, she featured as both a

wide 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 ...

and striker for

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 ...

as well as clubs including Wolves Women, Liverpool Ladies and Everton Ladies. She has featured in four

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 ...

finals with three clubs, losing the first three but captaining Everton Ladies to their win in 2010. On the international stage Handley won 38

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and scored six goals following her debut in July 2002. She took part in the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but th ...

, and was a non-playing squad member at the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

editions of the

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalent ...

Club career

Early career

Handley began her career at Shrewsbury Ladies before moving on to Wolves Women in the middle of season 1993–94. Making nine appearances, she scored five goals to help Wolves take the Northern Premier title. In her first season in the National Premier Division she made 16 appearances and scored two goals including the opener in Wolves' first National Division win against Millwall Lionesses. The rest of Wolves' campaign did not go so well and they were eventually relegated after a further season.

Merseyside and Detroit

Handley remained in the top–flight, having signed for Liverpool Ladies in December 1995. She also made an appearance in the

final in April 1996, which Liverpool lost on penalties to

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

. In 1997 Handley played varsity soccer for the

University of Detroit Mercy The University of Detroit Mercy is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Roman Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 ...

. She registered ten assists and was named league Newcomer of the Year. After her scholarship in the US, Handley returned to Liverpool in March 1998. However, the Reds were kicked out of the 1997–98 FA Women's Cup when Handley played in a win over Millwall without international clearance. In 2000, she left Liverpool for local rivals Everton and was successfully converted from a midfielder to a striker.

Doncaster Belles

She moved to

Doncaster Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an English women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's administration is based at the Eco Power St ...

for season 2001–02 and scored twice on her debut. She went on to play in her second FA Women's Cup final, this time against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. Despite getting on the score sheet Handley had to make do with another runners–up medal; as professional outfit Fulham secured a 2–1 win.

Everton

Handley returned to Everton Ladies in the 2004–05 season and went on to score in the FA Cup semi-final win against Arsenal, however she was to be disappointed once again after a 1–0 loss to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

in the 2005 final. In the 2007–08 season Handley was named Everton captain through the absence of Leanne Duffy. Handley then led Everton to their first silverware in over a decade with a 1–0 win against

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 the Premier League Cup final, where she was named Player of the Match. Season 2008–09 seemed to be full of promise for Handley, but it got off to a bad start when she suffered a broken ankle during the Umbro pre-season tournament. She recovered ahead of schedule and came on as a substitute in the 4–0 FA Cup win against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

before travelling to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

with England for a squad get together. Everton finished second in the league and qualified for 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 ...

. In 2009–10 Handley captained Everton to their FA Women's Cup final win over Arsenal, setting up

Natasha Dowie Natasha Khalila Dowie (born 30 June 1988) is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Women's Super League club Reading. She represented the England women's national football team at the youth level before making her senior internation ...

for the opening goal. The

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

season saw Everton defeat local rivals Liverpool en route to the FA Women's Cup final, but Handley did not play as Arsenal won the final 2–0 at

Stadium mk Stadium MK is a football ground in the Denbigh district of Bletchley in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. Designed by Populous and opened in 2007, it is the home ground of EFL League One side Milton Keynes Dons and FA Women's National ...

. Worse was to follow in September 2014 as Everton were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

out of the top division for the first time in 21 years.

Back to the Belles

On 28 January 2015, Handley announced that she had transferred from Everton back to Doncaster Belles. Unable to shake off injuries picked up in pre-season, Handley retired from playing in May 2015: "I felt it was my body's way of telling me enough was enough". She was studying

physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

through the

Professional Footballers' Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional association footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sport trade union, and has over 5,000 members. The aims of ...

(PFA) and hoped to stay in football in that capacity.

International career

Handley first represented

as a 16-year-old and played in the U-18 national team. She also represented English Universities while a student. Good performances at club level led to further international recognition for Handley. She made her full debut against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

in July 2002 and was named Player of the Match by

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. In October 2003 she got her first goal for the senior England team in a 2–2 draw against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in Moscow. She was on the score sheet in a 5–0 whitewash of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in the 2005 Algarve Cup and was also involved in the World Cup qualifying campaign, scoring a goal in the record 13–0 win against

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 ...

en route to China 2007. She played in the finals, coming on for the last ten minutes of England's third game against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, a 6–1 win which guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals. In May 2009, Handley was one of the first 17 female players to be given central contracts by

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

International goals

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

Personal life

Handley attended

Sir Graham Balfour School Sir Graham Balfour School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Stafford, England. It is named after Graham Balfour, son of the Victorian statistician, who became Director of Education in Staffordshire. The original sch ...

then studied health, diet and fitness at

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

. She was later employed as a health development worker in Knowsley. In 2018 she graduated from the

University of Salford , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

with a degree in

Physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

, the first female

Professional Footballers Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional association footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sport trade union, and has over 5,000 members. The aims of ...

member to graduate through the programme linked between the university and the PFA.

Honours

Club

Everton

(1): 2009–10 *

FA Women's Premier League Cup The Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). It was renamed the FA Women's Premier League Cup from 1994 to 2018. The first edition of the Cup includ ...

(1): 2007–08

Wolves

FA Women's Premier League Northern Division The FA Women's National League Northern Premier Division is a league at the third-level in the women's football league pyramid in England, along with the Southern division. These two divisions are part of the FA Women's National League and bel ...

(1): 1993–94

References

External links

Jody Handley
at the FA website

at the FA WASL website
Jody Handley
at the Everton website {{DEFAULTSORT:Handley, Jody 1979 births Living people English women's footballers Liverpool F.C. Women players Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. players Everton F.C. (women) players England women's international footballers FA Women's National League players University of Detroit Mercy alumni Alumni of Liverpool John Moores University Women's Super League players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Sportspeople from Stafford 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Alumni of the University of Salford Women's association football wingers Women's association football forwards Wolverhampton Wanderers W.F.C. players English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate footballers Detroit Mercy Titans women's soccer players