Rhian Cleverly (born 11 January 1995) is a Welsh

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 defender and midfielder for

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

. She has a single appearance with the Wales national team.

Early life, youth and college career

Cleverly was born in Griffithstown. She joined the Bristol Academy (now

Bristol City W.F.C. Bristol City Women's Football Club is a women's association football team from the city of Bristol. Formed in 1998 as Bristol Rovers W.F.C., they were renamed Bristol Academy W.F.C. in 2005 following increased involvement of the Bristol Academ ...

) Centre of Excellence. At Bristol, Cleverly progressed through the academy and youth ranks, and captained the reserved side to an FA Reserve Cup title in 2013. She also played for her secondary school, West Monmouth School in Torfaen,

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

. Cleverly played for the women's soccer team at

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of Ne ...

in the United States from 2013 to 2017, and was named to

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

all-rookie team in 2014. She finished her collegiate career with 64 appearances and 1 goal. While at Hofstra, she returned to Bristol for a short spell in 2016.

Senior career

Following graduation from Hofstra, Cleverly joined Le Havre (HAC) in the French 2nd division in June 2018. She started 19 of her 20 league appearances, scoring three goals, and added two more appearances in the Coupe de France Féminine. In July 2019, Cleverly joined

in 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 ...

after leaving Le Havre. and thinking that was the end of her professional football career. She made 11 starts in 12 matches of the 2019–20 season. In the 2020 offseason, Cleverly signed a new two-year contract and was named the senior team captain for the 2019–20 season. She scored her first goal for Lewes in a 1-0 win against

Coventry United Coventry United Football Club is an English association football club based in Coventry in the West Midlands. The team competes in the , the 9th tier of English football and are managed by Carl Nolan The club was founded in 2013 by chairman J ...

on 27 September 2020. In 2021 her record as a player led Lewes to sign a new deal with her and her team mate

Tatiana Saunders Tatiana Saunders (born 3 July 1993) is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Durham playing in the FA Women's Championship after leaving Lewes. Saunders played with the New York Athletic Club, where she was part of the squad that ...

. Cleverly continued as Lewes's captain and joined the club's hall of fame in 2023. She re-signed for another year at Lewes.

International career

Cleverly has represented Wales through the youth levels and played 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 ...

. She earned her first senior cap for Wales in July 2014.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cleverly, Rhian 1995 births Living people Wales women's international footballers Welsh women's footballers Hofstra Pride women's soccer players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Welsh expatriate sportspeople in the United States Welsh expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate women's footballers in France Lewes F.C. Women players Women's association football defenders Women's association football midfielders Le Havre AC players Bristol City W.F.C. players Bristol Academy W.F.C. players Footballers from Pontypool