Roxanne Kimberly Barker (born 6 May 1991) is a South African

soccer player 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 Dutch club

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...

and the South Africa women's national team.

Early life

Pepperdine University

Barker trained at the university level in the United States playing for the

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and t ...

women's

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

team.

Playing career

Club

After completing her studies, Barker was selected by

Portland Thorns FC The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Uni ...

in the

2013 NWSL College Draft The 2013 NWSL College Draft was the first annual college draft held by the National Women's Soccer League to assign the NWSL rights of college players to the eight NWSL teams. It took place on January 18, 2013 at the National Soccer Coaches Asso ...

. Portland Thorns preferred

Adelaide Gay Adelaide Anne Gay (born November 3, 1989) is an American soccer 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 d ...

as understudy to their experienced goalkeeper

Karina LeBlanc Karina Chenelle LeBlanc (born March 30, 1980) is an American-born Canadian former professional soccer goalkeeper and current general manager of the Portland Thorns FC. She played for the Canadian national team and multiple professional women's ...

. Barker played for the W-League club

Pali Blues Pali Blues was an American women's soccer team, which played from 2008 to 2014. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues USL W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada. The team played in the Western Co ...

during her university holidays. She then returned to South Africa and played ten games for Maties FC, before taking up a professional contract in Iceland. Earlier in her career, Barker had played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Durban Ladies FC as well as in the position of goalkeeper. Barker signed up with the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild club

Þór/KA Þór/KA is an Icelandic women's football team based in Akureyri. It is a joint team fielded by Þór Akureyri and Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar and currently competes in Úrvalsdeild kvenna. On September 29, 2017, they won their second Icelandi ...

for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Roxy won Most Valuable Player for the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild club

2015 season. She signed with

SC Heerenveen vrouwen SC Heerenveen Vrouwen is a Dutch women's soccer, women's football (soccer) club based in Heerenveen representing SC Heerenveen in the Vrouwen Eredivisie, the top women's league in the Netherlands. Founded in 2007, Heerenveen was a founding member ...

in the Dutch league for the 2016–2017 season.

International

Barker made her

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

debut in a 6–0 win over

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

in July 2010. She represented the senior national team (also known as "Banyana Banyana") at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

.Roxanne Barker
nbcolympics.com Barker had represented South Africa in 28 games when she was called into the squad for the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

References

External links

*
Profile
at Connect World Football * 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Pietermaritzburg Women's association football goalkeepers South Africa women's international soccer players South African women's soccer players Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players of South Africa South African expatriate soccer players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States USL W-League (1995–2015) players Pepperdine Waves women's soccer players White South African people South African people of British descent Expatriate women's footballers in the Netherlands Eredivisie (women) players SC Heerenveen (women) players Portland Thorns FC draft picks

Roxanne Barker Roxanne Kimberly Barker (born 6 May 1991) is a South African soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Dutch club SC Heerenveen and the South Africa women's national team. Early life Pepperdine University Barker trained at the university ...

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