Sarina Isabel Calpo Bolden (born June 30, 1996) is a professional

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

A-League Women A-League Women (known as the Liberty A-League for sponsorship reasons), formerly the W-League, is the top-division women's soccer league in Australia. The W-League was established in 2008 by Football Australia (then known as Football Federatio ...

club

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

. Born in the United States, she represents the Philippines women's national team. Bolden holds the distinction of having scored the first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup goal for the Philippines. On July 25, 2023, Bolden scored a header against co-host

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

to clinch the country's historic first World Cup win.

Early life and education

Sarina Isabel Bolden was born on June 30, 1996 in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

, U.S. to Sherry and Robert Bolden and has a younger brother. Her mother is from

Pangasinan Pangasinan, officially the Province of Pangasinan ( pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Pangasinan, ; ilo, Probinsia ti Pangasinan; tl, Lalawigan ng Pangasinan), is a coastal province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region of Luzon. Its capit ...

. Her father is

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

. She attended

Milpitas High School Milpitas High School (MHS) is a public four-year comprehensive high school in Milpitas, California, a suburban community north of San Jose. It is one of two high schools within the Milpitas Unified School District. As of 2013, Milpitas High Scho ...

and later the

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...

Youth career

She played for Milpitas High School's women's soccer and softball teams. With the Milpitas High School Trojans, Bolden led her high school soccer team to the 2015 SCVAL El Camino Division title. She was named as part of the first team All-SCVAL selection for three years from 2013 to 2015. In the club level, Bolden played for MVLA Mercury Black '96 helping the club reach the 2014 ECNL National Playoffs and helped the

De Anza Force De Anza Force Soccer Club, is an association football club in Saratoga, California, with nearly 80 boys' and girls' teams from under-7 to under-18 level. History Founded in 1999, the De Anza Force has grown into one of the largest American soccer ...

'95 win the 2013 and 2015 ECNL North West Conference championships.

Collegiate career

Bolden attended the

where she played for the school's women's soccer team. In 2016 she scored six goals for her college team and she was named as part of the All-West Coast Conference First Team and the NSCAA All-West Region.

Club career

Bolden in 2020 played for Xinbei Hangyuan in the

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 ...

. She later played for the

San Francisco Nighthawks San Francisco Nighthawks is an American women's soccer team, founded in 1995. The team is a member of the Women's Premier Soccer League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada. The team plays in the North Division of th ...

of the

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is the top amateur league for women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, below only National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). T ...

in the United States. In June 2021, Bolden was signed in by Elfen Saitama of the

WE League The , officially the , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top flight of women's association football in Japan, starting from the 2021–22 season. It is the first fully-professional women's soccer league in Japan. History On 3 J ...

of Japan. She debuted in Saitama's 1–4 lost to Tokyo Verdy Beleza on October 10, 2021, after she was brought in as a substitute in the 62nd minute. Bolden, whose native language is English, was limited on her ability to connect with her teammates. In December 2022, Bolden mutually terminated her contract with Elfen Saitama and transferred to Australian club

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

. Ahead of the 2023–24 A-League Women season, it was understood that Western Sydney Wanderers didn't re-sign Bolden. Bolden says she received offers from various clubs, but she preferred to remain in the A-League and not make any "big, far moves abroad" at that point in her career. For the meantime, she largely relied on playing time with the Philippine national team to maintain her fitness. After five rounds of the 2023–24 season, Bolden was signed by

and played the match the day she was signed, scoring a brace.

International career

Bolden's performance with the Loyola Marymount University women's soccer team led to her being invited to participate in a training camp in Orlando, Florida in April 2017 which was organized by the

United States women's national under-23 soccer team The United States U-23 women's national soccer team is a youth soccer team operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the full Women's National Team. The team competes in a var ...

. In late 2017, she was able to participate in training camps organized by the

Philippines women's national football team The Philippines women's national football team represents the Philippines in international women's football. It is managed by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), the governing body of football in the country. The women's national foot ...

and caught the attention of Richard Boon, then head coach of the national team. She was later named in the final line up for the Philippine national team that participated at the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup. In the Philippines' first group stage match against host Jordan, Bolden had her first international cap. She scored the winning goal for the Philippines in their 2–1 victory against the hosts. Bolden was named in the lineup for the Philippine national team that participated at the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup. The Philippines advanced to the

knockout stage A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

of the

AFC Women's Asian Cup The AFC Women's Asian Cup (formerly known as the AFC Women's Championship) is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football ...

for the first time. During the quarterfinals against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

, which ended in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

following a 1–1 draw, Bolden scored the winning penalty which resulted in the Philippines qualifying for their first-ever

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 2023 edition. On 25 July 2023, she scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over World Cup co-host

, to be her country's first ever goal and victory in the competition.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results list the Philippines' goal tally first.''

Honors

Philippines *

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

third place:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

AFF Women's Championship The AFF Women's Championship is the competition in women's football organised by the ASEAN Football Federation, contested by the national teams of nations in Southeast Asia and Australia. The official tournament started in 2004, hosted by Viet ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Individual * Ms. Football:

2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***''Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney's fi ...

(as member of the Philippine national team)

Personal life

Bolden identifies as LGBT, describing herself as "

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

" and a "

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

woman". Her cousins

Jalen Brown Jalen Brown (born January 23, 1995) is an American soccer player who plays as a forward for Stumptown Athletic in the National Independent Soccer Association. Career Brown played fours years of college soccer at Xavier University between 201 ...

and

Ryanne Brown Ryanne Alyse Brown (born January 21, 1999) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defender for OL Reign of the American National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Club career OL Reign drafted Brown as the No. 21 overall pick of ...

are also professional footballers.

Notes

References

External links