Nicole Althea McClure (born 16 November 1989) is an American-born Jamaican

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 goalkeeper for Northern Irish club Sion Swifts and the Jamaica women's national team.

Early life

McClure was born in Jamaica, Queens, on the state of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. Her parents hail from Jamaica, in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. She grew up playing in the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL) for the Auburndale Strikers from 1998 to 2003 and the East Meadow Shooting Stars from 2003 to ’07. With the Shooting Stars, she won the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) Girls-Under-15 State Open Cup final in 2005. Nicole also played for Eastern New York's Olympic Development Program (ODP). (AuburndaleSoccerclub.org)

College career

McClure attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the University of South Florida.

Club career

During her college career, McClure played for Tampa Bay Hellenic. After that, she left the United States and played exclusively for clubs in Europe and Israel.

International career

McClure made her senior debut for Jamaica in 2009. She was a key player in the first ever Jamaican qualification to a

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

(the 2019 edition). Similar to Tim Krul for the Netherlands against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

in the 2014 FIFA Men's World Cup quarter finals, McClure was brought on by

Hue Menzies Hue Alphanso Menzies (born 10 March 1964) is a football manager and former player. Menzies is most well known for leading the Jamaica women's national team to the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup as its head coach and technical director, which was ...

as a 120th-minute substitute for the penalty shootout against Panama in the

2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship The 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship was the 10th edition of the CONCACAF Women's Championship (also known as the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup or the CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament), the quadrennial international football champio ...

third place play-off. She saved two of the four penalties she faced as Jamaica won 4–2.

References

External links