Jennifer Patricia Beattie (born 13 May 1991) is a Scottish 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 for Arsenal of the FA WSL and the Scotland national team. Beattie is a tall, strong, right-footed player. Although typically a defender or midfielder, she is also an accomplished goalscorer. She is the daughter of former

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and British Lions

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player, John Beattie.

Early life

Beattie began playing football with her brother Johnnie and his friends, while at primary school. She was eventually selected to the Glasgow Primary School select team, as the only girl, and was named captain. Beattie then played with Hamilton Academical's boys' teams.

Club career

Queen's Park

Beattie began her senior career in the

Scottish Women's Premier League The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL 1 and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of the Scottish Women's Football Leag ...

with Queen's Park FC Ladies as a 15-year-old. She helped the club reach the final of the Scottish Women's Premier League Cup in November 2007; Queen's Park lost 4–0 to a Hibernian Ladies team containing Beattie's future Arsenal teammate

Kim Little Kim Alison Little (born 29 June 1990) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a midfielder for and captains Arsenal of the English FA WSL. Before her retirement from international duty in 2021, Little was vice-captain of the Scotland women's n ...

Celtic

In January 2008 Beattie moved to Celtic Ladies. She spent a year and a half with the club before leaving to join Arsenal Ladies.

Arsenal

Beattie joined Arsenal in July 2009; her first goals for Arsenal came on 8 November 2009 where she scored a stunning treble to seal a comeback against Chelsea after being 2–0 down at half-time. In March 2010, Beattie played in attack during Arsenal's 2–0 defeat by

FCR 2001 Duisburg FCR 2001 Duisburg (full name: ''Fußballclub Rumeln 2001 Duisburg'') was a German women's football club from Duisburg. The first team played in the Bundesliga. They originate from a women's team formed in 1977 under the umbrella of FC Rumeln-Kald ...

in the quarter-final of 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 ...

. While at Arsenal, she won the 2009 Women's Premier League, the 2011 and 2012

FA Women's League Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Pri ...

, now called the Continental Cup, and the 2011 and

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FA Cups.

Montpellier

Beattie left Arsenal in July 2013 to join French

Division 1 Féminine The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twel ...

side

Montpellier HSC Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC or simply Montpellier, is a French professional football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitanie. The original club was founded in 1919, while the current ...

on a two-year contract. While at Montpellier, she made 25 regular season appearances with the side, scoring 5 goals in the process.

Manchester City

Beattie returned to England with

Manchester City Women Manchester City Women's Football Club (formerly ''Manchester City Ladies F.C.'') are an English women's football club based in Manchester who play in the FA Women's Super League. They are affiliated with Manchester City F.C. who play in the Pre ...

for the 2015 season. In November 2018, she became the fifth player to reach 100 appearances for the club. She played a role in City's victories in the 2016 FA WSL, the 2016–17 and 2018–19 editions of the

Women's FA 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 rea ...

, and the

2018–19 FA Women's League Cup The 2018–19 FA Women's League Cup was the 8th edition of the FA Women's Super League and FA Women's Championship's league cup competition. It is sponsored by Continental AG, who have sponsored the competition since its creation, and is offici ...

Melbourne City (loan)

Beattie joined Manchester City's sister club Melbourne City during Manchester City's offseason, before the third round of the 2015–16 W-League season. While at Melbourne City, she helped the club during its double W-League and

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

wins, as well as their 100% record season.

Return to Arsenal

Beattie rejoined Arsenal in June 2019.

International career

Beattie represented

at under-17 level, and made her debut for the under-19s at the age of 14. Beattie made her debut for the senior Scotland side in March 2008, against 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 ...

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 ge ...

, as second-half substitute for Leanne Ross. She went on to establish herself in the national side during the 2009 European Championships qualifying campaign. She scored her first international goal as Scotland beat

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

4–1 in a European Championship qualifying game in May 2008. Beattie played in both legs of the qualifying play-off defeat to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

in October and November 2008. After the first leg, Beattie and

were identified by football writer Graham Spiers as talented youngsters. In March 2011, Beattie played as a striker and scored in Scotland's 2–0 win over

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 ...

, the first time Scotland had beaten England since 1977. Beattie became a regular with the Scotland national team. While she was instrumental in helping Scotland reach its first major tournament, the 2017 UEFA Women's Euro Championship, she missed out on the tournament due to injury. She continued her contribution helping Scotland qualify for its first FIFA Women's World Cup, the 2019 tournament in France. On 15 May 2019 Beattie was named to the Scotland's 2019 Women's World Cup squad. At the finals, she scored in the 3–3 tie with

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 ...

. On 27 January 2023, Beattie announced her retirement from international football, having made 143 appearances and scoring 24 goals.

Personal life

Beattie is the daughter of former

and British Lions

player, John Beattie and the sister of former Scottish rugby union international Johnnie Beattie. She attended

Jordanhill School Jordanhill School educates children from age 4–19. It was formerly run by Jordanhill College of Education as its demonstration school, and was previously known as Jordanhill College School. Uniquely among Scottish schools, it is funded direct ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and on signing for Arsenal enrolled at Hertfordshire University. In October 2020, Beattie was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

. She had surgery to remove the lump and, as the cancer had not spread, began radiotherapy instead of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

. Despite treatment Beattie continued to appear for both Arsenal and Scotland. Beattie won the Helen Rollason Award for 2021, in recognition of her work since the cancer diagnosis. Beattie was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2023 New Year Honours The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to association football and charity.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Beattie goal.''

Honours

Melbourne City * A-League Women: 2015–16 Arsenal *

FA Women's Super League 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 ...

: 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011,

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, 2018–19 *

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 ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

* FA WSL Cup /

: 2012, 2022–23 Manchester City *

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: 2016–17, 2018–19 *

, 2018–19

References

External links

Profile
at the SFA *
Profile
at Mancity.com

at

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Beattie, Jen 1991 births Living people Scottish women's footballers Scotland women's international footballers Women's association football defenders Celtic F.C. Women players Arsenal W.F.C. players Montpellier HSC (women) players Manchester City W.F.C. players Melbourne City FC (A-League Women) players Footballers from Glasgow Scottish expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in France Women's Super League players A-League Women players FIFA Century Club Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia Division 1 Féminine players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Queen's Park F.C. (women) players Members of the Order of the British Empire Scottish expatriate sportspeople in France