Michele O'Brien (born 28 June 1980) is a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and former striker, who played for the W-League club Chicago Red Eleven. Since making her debut for the

Republic of Ireland women's national football team The Republic of Ireland women's national football team () represents the Republic of Ireland in competitions such as the FIFA Women's World Cup and the UEFA Women's Championship. The team played in their first World Cup at the 2023 FIFA Women' ...

in 2003, she gained over 50

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 ...

College career

O'Brien played varsity soccer during four seasons at

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

. She remains the program's all–time record goalscorer.

Club career

In 2000 O'Brien started playing for the Long Island Lady Riders. She remained with them until 2007, with a spell at

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 2003. During her time at the English club, O'Brien played in the Women's Premier League and the semi–final of the

UEFA Women's Cup 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. T ...

. In 2007 O'Brien joined the

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

club

QBIK QBIK is a Swedish football team from Karlstad. In 2005 they achieved promotion to the Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leag ...

. She then spent time back in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

with Watford Ladies, before joining Jersey Sky Blue for the 2008 W-League season. The following season O'Brien moved to Chicago Red Eleven and scored four goals in 11 games in 2009. In 2010, she scored one goal in three games for the Red Eleven.

International career

O'Brien debuted for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

in 2003 and went on to accumulate more than 50 caps. In 2005 O'Brien was named the FAI Player of the Year.

Coaching career

O'Brien coached soccer at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

(2004–2005) and

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

(2005–2007). She was named assistant soccer coach at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

in February 2009. She was promoted to head coach at DePaul in June 2021.

Personal life

Born with a congenital heart defect, in 1995 O'Brien suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

after a High School P.E. lesson and required open heart surgery. She refused to quit soccer, reportedly telling her concerned parent: "Mom, I might as well die doing something I like".

References

External links

Michele O'Brien
at

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

Michele O'Brien
at FAI
Michele O'Brien
at Chicago Red Eleven {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Michele Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers FA Women's National League players 1980 births Living people Arsenal W.F.C. players People from Plainview, New York Soccer players from Nassau County, New York Expatriate women's footballers in England Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden QBIK players Damallsvenskan players Watford F.C. Women players Chicago Red Eleven players USL W-League (1995–2015) players American women's soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen FIU Panthers women's soccer players Women's association football forwards Long Island Rough Riders (USL W League) players DePaul Blue Demons women's soccer coaches 21st-century Irish sportswomen American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in England American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Irish expatriate women's association footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden American people of Irish descent NYU Violets coaches Columbia Lions women's soccer Columbia Lions coaches