Martha Harris (born 19 August 1994) 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 full-back for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

of the

FA Women's Championship 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 ...

. Harris has represented England at under-19,

under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

and under-23 level and was named the inaugural

PFA Women's Young Player of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Women's Young Player of the Year (commonly referred to as PFA Young Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is voted to have been the best of the year in English women's football. T ...

in 2014.

Club career

Lincoln Ladies

Harris made her league debut for Lincoln Ladies (since re-located and re-branded as

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

) on 26 August 2012 in a

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 ...

match against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, coming on as a 59th-minute substitute for

Bonnie Horwood Bonnie Elizabeth Horwood (born 16 April 1987) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ipswich Town in the FA Women's National League South. She has previously played for Lincoln City, Reading, Millwall Lionesses and Yeovil Town Y ...

. In all, she made three substitute appearances in the 2012 WSL season, with the team managed by her father Glen Harris. The following season saw new manager Rick Passmore take charge of the team, and this coincided with Harris becoming a key part of the Lincoln first team, making twelve starts and one substitute appearance in the ''Lady Imps fourteen league games.

Liverpool

Her performances in the 2013 season were enough to earn a move to

, where she signed a two-year contract. She also became the first ever winner of the

award in April 2014. In Harris's first season at Liverpool, they retained their WSL title on the final day of the season. She also represented Liverpool in 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 ...

. Harris was ever-present in 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 ...

season but the club limped to a seventh-place finish. In November 2015, she signed a new contract with Liverpool. On 12 May 2016, she was named Liverpool Ladies Player of the Season.

Manchester United

On 13 July 2018, it was announced that Harris was joining

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

for their inaugural season. On 9 September, she made her debut for the club in a 12–0 away victory over

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in the Championship. She scored her first goal for the club on 28 April 2019, a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

in a 5–0 away win against Millwall Lionesses. Having been limited to three appearances in all competitions including one 10 minute substitute appearance in the league during the 2021–22 season, it was announced that Harris would be leaving upon the expiry of her contract in June 2022.

Birmingham City

On 14 July 2022, Harris signed a one-year contract plus an additional option year with newly-relegated Championship side

International career

Harris was part of the England under-19 team who finished as runners-up 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 ...

at the

2013 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA Women's U-19 Championship 2013 Final Tournament was held in Wales between 19 and 31 August 2013. Players born after 1 January 1994 were eligible to participate in this competition. It was the first time Wales played in the final tourname ...

in Wales. In her first season with Liverpool, she was called up to the

squad for the

2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was an international association football tournament and the world championship for women's national teams under the age of 20, presented by Grant Connell, organized by the sport's world governing body FIFA. ...

. She scored in England's opening match, a 1–1 draw with

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, but the next two matches were lost and England went out in the first round. Harris then graduated to the under-23 team.

Personal life

Harris comes from a footballing family in

Scothern Scothern is a small village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated north-east of the county town of Lincoln, and has approximately 1000 inhabitants (892 according to the 2001 Census). At the 2011 ...

, who in 2011 were all associated with

Lincoln Ladies Notts County Ladies Football Club was a women's football club based in Nottingham, England. Like the club's male affiliate Notts County FC, they played their home games at Meadow Lane. Notts County Ladies were created in 2014 when Lincoln L ...

or Lincoln City. Her father Glen Harris had two spells as manager of Lincoln Ladies and later managed

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 ...

, before joining Manchester United as an assistant manager in 2018. Older sister Megan was club captain at Lincoln until quitting football when she became pregnant with twins in 2014. Megan is married to former England captain

Casey Stoney Casey Jean Stoney (born 13 May 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of San Diego Wave FC. A versatile defender, she was capped more than 100 times for the England women's national football te ...

. Younger brother Liam is a youth team player at Lincoln City, and Martha's twin sister Emily plays recreationally, though she was formerly a teammate of Martha's at Lincoln.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Liverpool *

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 t ...

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 ...

Manchester United *

: 2018–19 Individual * PFA FA WSL 1 Team of the Year: 2013–14 *

: 2014 * Liverpool Women's Player of the Season: 2016

References

External links

Profile
at the Manchester United F.C. website * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Martha 1994 births Living people English women's footballers England women's under-23 international footballers Notts County L.F.C. players Liverpool F.C. Women players Manchester United W.F.C. players Women's Super League players Women's association football fullbacks