Rebecca Katie Smith (born 17 June 1981) is an international footballer who played for New Zealand. Smith was a World Cup and Olympic footballer captaining the New Zealand women's national football team, and culminating her club career winning The Triple with

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

as UEFA Champions League, German League, and German Cup Winners up until her retirement in 2013.

Early life

Smith was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, California to New Zealand parents and attended high school at

Chadwick School Chadwick School is a nonsectarian independent K-12 day school located in an unincorporated area on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Specifically it is located at the top of the neighborhood referre ...

Palos Verdes The Palos Verdes Peninsula (''Palos Verdes'', Spanish for "Green Sticks") is a landform and a geographic sub-region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, within southwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. Located in the S ...

, California and played soccer there during her first year. She lettered in basketball, waterpolo and softball all years at Chadwick. She graduated in 1999 with the highest honor in her class, The Headmaster's Award.

Football career

Smith captained NCAA Div 1 Duke University side and graduated with an Economics and Spanish degree before deciding to pursue her football career abroad, landing a professional contract in Germany with then European Champions, FFC Frankfurt. Smith then played for the Sunnanå SK in Sweden and then

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 Australian ...

in the inaugural W-League in Australia, before being signed by

on 2 February 2009. While at VfL Wolfsburg, Smith helped the club win the coveted Treble (Triple), the Frauen-Bundesliga in 2012–2013, the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

in 2012–2013 with a 1–0 win over Lyon in the finals, and the

DFB Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

as well as the Ladies First Cup in 2013 with a 2–0 win over Barcelona in the finals. In 2013, she ended her career due to knee problems.

International

Smith made her Football Ferns debut in a 15–0 victory over

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

on 7 April 2003, and captained New Zealand at the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but th ...

finals in China, where they lost to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

0–5,

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

(0-2) and China (0-2). Smith was also included in the New Zealand squad for the 2008 Summer Olympics where they drew with Japan (2-2) before losing to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

(0-1) and USA (0-4). Smith's solid performances in New Zealand's rearguard earned her a FIFA Women's World Player of the Year nomination in 2007 and New Zealand Player of the Year in 2007. She was also named Oceania's Player of the Year twice in both 2011 and 2013. Smith played her 50th international in a friendly against Australia on 12 May 2011. Smith captained New Zealand for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup finals in Germany. Smith again captained the New Zealand team that reached the quarter-finals at the 2012 Summer Olympics. On 18 September 2013, Smith announced her retirement from football.

International goals

Professional life

FIFA

When Smith retired from football, she transitioned into working at FIFA, managing their women's competitions.

COPA90

Smith joined COPA90, in December 2018 as the Global Executive Director of Women's Game for COPA90.

The Players Podcast

COPA90 launched The Players Podcast, with BBC, which Smith hosts and sits down with some of the biggest players and personalities in the sport and beyond to talk about topics through the lens of football but that go way beyond football.

Honours

;Individual * IFFHS OFC Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020

References

External links

*
NZ-Soccer Profile

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Rebecca 1981 births Living people American people of New Zealand descent Damallsvenskan players Duke Blue Devils women's soccer players Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Newcastle Jets FC (A-League Women) players New Zealand expatriate women's association footballers New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Germany New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Sweden New Zealand women's international footballers New Zealand women's association footballers Olympic association footballers of New Zealand Soccer players from Los Angeles Sunnanå SK players VfL Wolfsburg (women) players Women's association football defenders 1. FFC Frankfurt players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players Ajax America Women players American expatriate soccer players in Germany American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden American expatriate sportspeople in Australia American expatriate women's soccer players