Sophie Baggaley (born 29 November 1996) is an English 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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

. She has previously played for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

and

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

, and has been capped internationally by England at youth level. In 2019, Baggaley won FA WFA Players' Player of the Year and was named in the

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

Career

Early career

Born in

Newton, Derbyshire Newton is a village in the Bolsover district of Derbyshire, England, about a mile south of Tibshelf. Population details are included in the civil parish of Blackwell. Other Newtons Newton is the commonest placename in England, there being 87 ...

, Baggaley first became a goalkeeper by chance, volunteering for the position when the boys' team she was playing for found itself short of one for a game. She came through the

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

Centre of Excellence.

Birmingham City

Baggaley moved to the

academy in June 2013. In 2014 she was promoted to the senior team as a backup to

Rebecca Spencer Rebecca Leigh "Becky" Spencer (born 22 February 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for FA WSL club Tottenham Hotspur and the Jamaica women's national team. After coming through the ranks at Arsenal, she had spent sh ...

, named as an unused substitute for all 14 WSL matches. She made her senior debut on 1 May 2014 in a 2–1 win over

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

group stage and made her only other appearance of the season in the same competition against second division

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

. During the 2015 season, Baggaley started four WSL games, conceding only one goal to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, and grew in her role as cup keeper, playing five League Cup games. Following the departure of Spencer to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in January 2016, Baggaley began the 2016 season as the undisputed starter. However, the arrival of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

international

Ann-Katrin Berger Ann-Katrin Berger (born 9 October 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for English club Chelsea and the Germany national team. Early life At the age of four, Berger began playing football in the KSG Eislingen. As ...

from

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

in June 2016 meant Baggaley only played in 3 of the remaining 9 WSL fixtures that season.

Bristol City

Having been appointed Birmingham manager in December 2016, Marc Skinner announced Berger as first choice keeper and encouraged Baggaley to go out on loan to play first-team football. She joined

on a season-long loan in August 2017 ahead of the incumbent Caitlin Leach and Aimee Watson. She started 17 of 18 WSL matches. At the end of the season, Baggaley won

The FA Women's Football Awards The FA Women's Football Awards is an award ceremony hosted by The Football Association in England. The inaugural edition took place in 1999. Top Goalscorer Below is a list of all the recipients of this award: Players' Player of the Year Below ...

Save of the Year for a save against Arsenal's

Jordan Nobbs Jordan Nobbs (born 8 December 1992) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays for Women's Super League club Aston Villa W.F.C., Aston Villa and the England women's national football team, England women's national tea ...

. She permanently joined

in the summer of 2018. In September 2018, Baggaley was awarded both the FA WSL Player of the Month and the inaugural FA WSL PFA Fans Player of the Month. She won the award again in January 2019. At the end of the 2018–19 season she won the FA WFA Players' Player of the Year award and was named in the

having kept six clean sheets, helping Bristol to 6th place, their best finish since 2013. The following two seasons, Baggaley led the league in saves with 70 and 95 respectively as Bristol City struggled to cope defensively against the league's top sides. Most notably, Bristol were on the receiving end of a record 11–1 defeat at the hands of

in December 2019. The following season Bristol were beaten 9–0 by

and 8–1 by

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. During the 2020–21 season Bristol reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the 2020–21 League Cup for the first time in their history, but were beaten 6–0 by Chelsea. Baggaley left Bristol City in July 2021 after their relegation to the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Manchester United

On 23 July 2021, Baggaley signed with

on a two-year contract with an additional option year. Having started the season as a backup to

Mary Earps Mary Alexandra Earps (born 7 March 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Manchester United W.F.C., Manchester United in the Women's Super League and the England women's natio ...

in the league, Baggaley made her club debut on 14 October 2021 in a 2–2 away draw with Championship side

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

in the 2021–22 League Cup group stage opener. Manchester United took the bonus point with a 5–3 penalty shootout victory.

International career

Baggaley has played for the England team at every age grouping up to

under 23 Under-23 sport is a competitive age category grouping within sports for athletes under the age of twenty-three. An extension of age categories found in youth sports, the under-23 category is for adults who are still in a developmental stage within ...

level. In October 2016, Baggaley was called up to the senior England national team for the first time for a friendly against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

but was an unused substitute behind

Karen Bardsley Karen Louise Bardsley (born 14 October 1984) is a US-born English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. She played for Sky Blue FC in the previous top-flight American Women's Professional Soccer league, Linköpings FC in the Swedish Dama ...

and

. Having not been named to the next three England squads, Baggaley was recalled in April 2017 for friendlies against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

but was again unused behind veteran

Siobhan Chamberlain Siobhan Rebecca Chamberlain (born 15 August 1983) is an English sports pundit, commentator, and former professional footballer who last played as a goalkeeper. She joined Manchester United in 2018 after playing for Liverpool. Before joining Li ...

. Much discussion was made of the lack of chances Baggaley had for England with

Phil Neville Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English football manager and former player, who is the head coach of MLS team Inter Miami CF. He is also the co-owner of Salford City, along with several of his former Manchester United teammate ...

preferring the likes of older veterans Bardsley, Earps, Chamberlain and

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in the same direction. With an est ...

despite some resigned to backup roles at club level. By 2019, younger goalkeepers Ellie Roebuck,

Sandy MacIver Alexandra Elena MacIver (born 18 June 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Women's Super League club Manchester City and the England women's national team. Club career Youth career MacIver began her youth ...

and

Hannah Hampton Hannah Alice Hampton (born 16 November 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for FA Women's Super League club Aston Villa and the England national team. Hampton is a product of the Stoke City and Birmingham City ...

had all also claimed starting jobs at WSL clubs and entered the England rotation ahead of Baggaley.

Personal life

Baggaley attended

Tibshelf Community School Tibshelf Community School is a Mixed-sex education, mixed secondary school located in Tibshelf in the English county of Derbyshire. It is a Community school (England and Wales), community school administered by Derbyshire County Council, and se ...

from 2009 to 2013 and later

Solihull Sixth Form College Solihull Sixth Form College is a further education college for students aged 16 to 19. It is situated on the outskirts of Solihull in the West Midlands and draws students from across Solihull and Birmingham. Founded in 1974, the college consis ...

where she attained As and A*s in her

A-Levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

before enrolling at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

to study physiotherapy. In 2019 she became an ambassador for the

sports bra A sports bra is a bra that provides support to the breasts during physical exercise. Sturdier than typical bras, they minimize breast movement and alleviate discomfort. Many women wear sports bras to reduce pain and physical discomfort caused b ...

firm ShockAbsorber.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Birmingham City *

FA Women's League Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Pri ...

runner-up:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

runner-up:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Bristol City *

runner-up:

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 ...

Individual *FA WSL PFA Team of the Year: 2018–19 * FA Women's Football Awards WSL Players' Player of the Year: 2018–19

References

External links

Profile
at the Bristol City F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baggaley, Sophie Living people 1996 births English women's footballers Women's association football goalkeepers Women's Super League players Birmingham City W.F.C. players Bristol City W.F.C. players Manchester United W.F.C. players England women's under-23 international footballers