Nealy Cameron Martin (born April 22, 1998) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a defender for

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

club

NJ/NY Gotham FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2013 ...

Club career

Born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, Martin began playing soccer from the age of three. She played recreational soccer in the Elite Club National League before joining club side Birmingham United. In 2015, she was part of the Oak Mountain High School side which won the Class 7A state championship game while only conceding a school record six goals throughout the season. Following her senior season, Martin was named as the Birmingham Girls Soccer Player of the Year and was the number 1 ranked prospect in the state of Alabama. Initially wanting to attend

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

, the alma mater of her parents, Martin was recruited by the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

to play

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

with the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a mem ...

during her junior year. She made her debut for the Crimson Tide on August 18, 2016, against the

Sam Houston State Bearkats The Sam Houston State Bearkats are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Sam Houston State University, located in Huntsville, Texas. Sam Houston's colors are orange and white and their sports teams' nickname is the Bearkats. Sam Hou ...

, going on to play 19 games throughout her first collegiate season. She would go on to play a total of 76 matches during her four seasons with the Crimson Tide, scoring 5 goals, and earning the 2019 SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year award.

Racing Louisville

In February 2021, Martin began training with

club

Racing Louisville Racing Louisville Football Club is a National Women's Soccer League team based in Louisville, Kentucky. It began playing in 2021 at Lynn Family Stadium. The team is owned by Soccer Holdings LLC, which also owns Louisville City FC of the USL Cham ...

during their pre-season camp. On April 5, 2021, Martin was signed by Racing Louisville. She made her professional debut for the club on April 10, 2021, in the

NWSL Challenge Cup The NWSL Challenge Cup, currently known as the UKG NWSL Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tournament organized by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-tier women's league in the United States soccer league system. Th ...

against the

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride is a professional women's soccer team based in Orlando, Florida. The team joined the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of women's soccer in the US, for the 2016 season. It became the tenth team to be added to the l ...

. She appeared in 18 matches for the season, starting in 13.

Career statistics

Honors

Individual *2019 SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year

References

External links

Profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Nealy 1998 births Living people American women's soccer players Women's association football defenders Alabama Crimson Tide women's soccer players Racing Louisville FC players National Women's Soccer League players Soccer players from Birmingham, Alabama