Jodie Michalska (née Snelson; born 2 September 1986) is an English

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 ...

who plays as a striker for Barnsley WFC of the

FA Women's National League North 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 ...

. She previously spent four seasons with Lincoln Ladies of the

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 ...

Club career

Michalska scored 75 goals in 25 games during the 2005–06 season for East Midlands Premier League club Sheffield United Community Ladies FC. The team remained unbeaten and secured a League and Cup "

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

", in their most successful season since Tony Currie had founded the club in 2002. During her time at United, Michalska scored a last-minute winner against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

to secure The Blades' first ever win over The Owls in the female

Steel City derby The Steel City Derby (also known as the Sheffield Derby) is a local derby that takes place between Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday, the two professional football league teams based in the city of Sheffield, England. It is widely consi ...

. Michalska earned a summer 2006 transfer to Lincoln City, who competed in the

, then the second tier of

women's football in England Women's football has been played in England for over a century, sharing a common history with the men's game as the country in which the Laws of the Game were codified. Women's football was originally very popular in the early 20th century, b ...

. In 2006–07 Michalska finished as the Northern Premier League's top goal-scorer, collecting the award at that year's

The FA Women's Football Awards The FA Women's Football Awards is an award ceremony hosted by The Football Association in England. The inaugural edition took place in 1999. Top Goalscorer Below is a list of all the recipients of this award: Players' Player of the Year Below ...

. She scored a total of 35 goals in 2007–08 to retain her top goal-scorer award. Although Lincoln narrowly missed out on

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

, Michalska agreed to extend her contract with the club. Club chairman Geoff Adams praised Michalska's ability and loyalty: "it is a huge credit to this player who is, quite frankly, good enough to play for any club presently in the National Division, to show her loyalty to her club and put pen to paper so early." England striker

Amanda Barr Amanda Jayne Maslin-Barr (born 2 May 1982) is an English football striker She scored ten goals in 37 appearances for the England women's national football team after making her international debut in 2001. Barr spearheaded the England attack a ...

joined Lincoln for the 2008–09 season as the club sought promotion to the Premier League National Division. In November 2008 Michalska and Barr scored four goals each in a 9–0 win at

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

. Lincoln missed promotion after finishing second in both 2008–09 and 2009–10, but successfully bid for one of eight licences for the new

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 ...

. Michalska was one of nine players from Lincoln's Northern Premier League squad to be invited back to try out for a place in the club's WSL team. Following the birth of her first child Michalska returned to training with Lincoln ahead of the inaugural

2011 FA WSL The 2011 FA WSL was the inaugural season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 13 April 2011 and ended on 28 August 2011. The league also took a break between 12 May and mid-July to allow preparatio ...

season. In March 2011 she was sent on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

to Sheffield FC Ladies, in order to recover her fitness. Michalska scored on her debut for her home town club and helped the team to promotion from the Northern Combination in her first season. In 2011–12 Sheffield competed at Premier League Northern Division level for the first time, the third tier of English women's football following the introduction of the

. Michalska hit 42 goals across all competitions as the team finished runners-up to

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 ...

in the League. She scored twice in the final against Sheffield Wednesday as the club won the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Cup for the first time. Michalska remained with Sheffield in 2012–13, her 38 goals helping the team to win the Northern Premier League title. At The FA Women's Football Awards in 2013, she secured the award for Northern Premier League top goal-scorer for the fifth time in seven seasons. In November 2013 Michalska scored her 100th goal for Sheffield, in her 86th game for the club. Sheffield's manager Helen Mitchell gave Michalska the

captaincy A captaincy ( es, capitanía , pt, capitania , hr, kapetanija) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule ...

and paid tribute to her achievement: "She's one of a kind, and we are all desperately proud she plays for Sheffield FC. She's already a part of history here, but I am sure there’s a lot more to come yet." Sheffield won the

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 ...

in May 2014, Michalska scoring the fourth goal in a 6–2 win over Cardiff City at the

Pirelli Stadium Pirelli Stadium is an association football stadium on Princess Way in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. It was built in 2005 and is the current home of Burton Albion FC Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association foo ...

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011, it had a ...

. In 2013–14 and 2014–15, Michalska retained her position as Northern Premier League top goal-scorer as Sheffield won the League on both occasions. In the latter season she helped the club beat Southern champions

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in a play-off for the

FA WSL 2 The Women's Championship (formerly The FA Women's Championship) is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2 (WSL 2). WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 d ...

's newly available promotion slot. A

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against Sporting Club Albion on the final day of the regular season took Michalska to 25 goals, 11 more than the League's next highest scorer, and also took her to the 200-goal mark for Sheffield. Sheffield made an unexpectedly poor start in WSL 2, but Michalska scored in their first win at the higher level; a 3–1 home victory over

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

just before the mid-season break in May 2016.

Personal life

In August 2008 Michalska

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

Carmen Michalska. Ex-soldier Carmen became known as the 'angel of Haiti' after rescuing a survivor 11 days after the

2010 Haiti earthquake A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...

. Their first child, a daughter named Faye, was born in December 2010 after a course of

in vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...

References

External links

Profile
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Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Michalska, Jodie 1986 births Living people English women's footballers Women's association football forwards Women's Championship (England) players FA Women's National League players Sheffield F.C. Ladies players Notts County L.F.C. players Footballers from Sheffield Lesbian sportswomen LGBT association football players English LGBT sportspeople Sheffield United W.F.C. players Derby County F.C. Women players