Pao Hsin-hsuan (; born 1 September 1992), known as Michelle Pao, is a Taiwanese

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

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 ...

for

Taiwan Mulan Football League The Taiwan Mulan Football League () is referred to as TMFL, Taiwan's top-division a Women's association football, Women's football / soccer league. It is run by the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA). History During the 2020 season, the ...

club Taichung Blue Whale and the Chinese Taipei women's national team. Pao played collegiate soccer for Pepperdine University.

Youth career

Michelle Pao played for Pepperdine during her college years between 2010 and 2014; and is the first player of the university to earn four-time All-WCC first team honors; and was also four-time NSCAA All-West Region pick.

Professional career

Vittsjö GIK

Pao was the 24th selection in

2014 NWSL College Draft The 2014 NWSL College Draft was the second annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select eligible college players. It was held on January 17, 2014, at the NSCAA Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was ope ...

by Sky Blue FC. However, Michelle Pao did not join Sky Blue and instead went to play for

Vittsjö GIK Vittsjö Gymnastik- och Idrottsklubb is a football club from Vittsjö, Sweden. They play in the highest level of women's soccer leagues in Sweden, the Damallsvenskan The Damallsvenskan, Swedish for ''ladies all-Swedish'' and also known as OB ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara

In February 2016, Japan Women's Football League Division 2 club Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara announced that the club had signed Pao. Pao finished the 2016 season as the top scorer with 11 goals in the 2016 L. League Division 2. Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara finished first in the Division 2 and thus promoted first in history to the Division 1. On 8 December 2017, Pao announced her retirement from professional soccer career at the end of the 2017 season.

Taiwan women's league

Since 2018 season, she joined Taichung Blue Whale, a semi-professional club playing in

. Due to cancellation of matches starting in May 2021 just after her 29th birthday in September she said would be leaving Taichung Blue Whale to return to California.

International

Michelle Pao played for Chinese Taipei women's national football team in

2016 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament The 2016 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament was the 4th edition of the AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the quadrennial international football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to determine which women ...

and scored a goal in the second round against

Jordan women's national football team The Jordan women's national football team ( ar, منتخب الأردن لكرة القدم للسيدات) is the official women's national football team of the country of Jordan. The team was established in , and is controlled by the Jordan Foo ...

International goals

Honors

Individual

* 2016 L. League Division 2 : Top scorers

Club

Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara * 2016 L. League Division 2 : Champion

Personal

Michelle is the daughter of Yao-kuo Pao and Liven Lin and has two siblings, Wayne and Jessie; and attended

Monta Vista High School Monta Vista High School is a four-year Public school (government funded), public high school located in the Silicon Valley city of Cupertino, California, Cupertino, California, US. Part of the Fremont Union High School District, the school serves ...

in Cupertino, California. She graduated from Pepperdine University majoring in sports medicine.

References

External links

* 1992 births Living people American women's soccer players Chinese Taipei women's international footballers Damallsvenskan players Expatriate women's footballers in Japan Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara players Pepperdine Waves women's soccer players NJ/NY Gotham FC draft picks Sportspeople of Chinese descent Taiwanese women's footballers Vittsjö GIK players Women's association football midfielders Asian Games competitors for Chinese Taipei People from Hsinchu County Nadeshiko League players {{US-women-footy-bio-stub