Sophie Elizabeth Bradley-Auckland (born 20 October 1989) is an English former international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

defender who played for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

, Lincoln Ladies,

Doncaster Rovers Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an England, English women's association football, women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's admin ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, and,

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. Bradley has played for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on over 25 occasions since her debut against

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 ...

in August 2010, including appearances at the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, which won the right to host the even ...

. She also featured in the

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

squad 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 ...

Club career

Bradley began her career at Nottingham Forest, before joining

in 2006. She became a regular in her first season and helped Leeds to the

FA Women's Premier League Cup The Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). It was renamed the FA Women's Premier League Cup from 1994 to 2018. The first edition of the Cup includ ...

final in March 2007. Bradley, aged 17, was named Player of the Match in Leeds' 1–0 defeat by

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 ...

Glanford Park Glanford Park is a football stadium in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, and is the current home of team Scunthorpe United. Opened in 1988 at a construction cost of £2.5 million, it was the first new purpose-built Football League stadi ...

. In 2007–08 Leeds reached the

FA Women's 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 ...

final, played in Bradley's home town of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

. The Whites were beaten 4–1 by Arsenal. Bradley progressed to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Leeds to their 2010 Premier League Cup win over Everton, having scored in the semi-final win over

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 August 2010 Bradley signed a contract with

FA WSL 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 ...

club Lincoln Ladies. She was instrumental in persuading several Leeds teammates to join her at Lincoln. At the end of the 2011 WSL season she returned to Nottingham Forest on loan. Ahead of the

2014 FA WSL The 2014 FA WSL was the fourth season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 30 March and ended on 12 October. Liverpool L.F.C. are the defending champions from the 2013 FA WSL. The top two teams q ...

season, Lincoln moved to Nottingham and reconstituted as Notts County Ladies. Bradley remained with the club but suffered a severe knee injury in a July 2014 match against

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 ...

, which caused her to miss the entire

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

season, including the

2015 FA Women's Cup Final The 2015 FA Women's Cup Final was the 45th final of the FA Women's Cup, England's primary cup competition for women's football teams. The showpiece event was the 22nd to be played directly under the auspices of the Football Association (FA) and ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, which County lost 1–0 to

. Bradley returned to pre-season training for the 2016 FA WSL after a 19-month injury lay-off and undergoing three operations on her knee and ankle. After failing to regain her fitness, she was released by Notts County on the expiry of her contract in January 2017. In September 2017, Bradley signed for Doncaster Rovers Belles ahead of their 2017–18 FA WSL 2 campaign.

International career

England

Bradley represented

at youth level and captained the Under–19s. She made her senior debut in August 2010, against

, as a half-time substitute for

Faye White Faye Deborah White, (born 2 February 1978) is an English former footballer who captained Arsenal Women in the FA Women's Super League and is the longest-serving female captain of England to date. Her Lionesses career spanned 15 years and five ...

. Bradley was named to the

squad, and appeared as a late substitute for White in the 1–1 draw with

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and the 2–1 win over

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 ...

. She started the final group match with

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, playing the full 90 minutes of England's 2–0 win. With Faye White restored to the lineup, Bradley was an unused substitute as England were eliminated by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

at the quarter final stage.

Great Britain Olympic

In June 2012 Bradley was named in the 18–player

squad for the

. She was drafted into the starting line up when

Ifeoma Dieke Ifeoma Nnenna Dieke (born 25 February 1981) is an American-born Scottish Association football, football Defender (association football), defender, currently playing for Apollon Ladies F.C. of the Cypriot First Division (women), Cypriot First Div ...

was injured, playing alongside Lincoln teammate

Casey Stoney Casey Jean Stoney (born 13 May 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of San Diego Wave FC. A versatile defender, she was capped more than 100 times for the England women's national footbal ...

in Team GB's 1–0 win over

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 ...

Personal life

In 2007 Bradley won a scholarship to

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

development centre at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

, through the government

Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme The Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme, known as TASS, is a scheme of Sport England (UK government-funded) to find and support prospective talented athletes. History Over five hundred athletes are supported by this scheme, in around thirty spor ...

. In August 2008 the

British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both ...

took 152 young athletes including Bradley to the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Although paid by Lincoln and possessing an England central contract worth £16,000 per year, Bradley maintained her part-time job in the care home owned by her family while playing in the WSL.

Honours

Individual

Liverpool Women's Player's Player of the Year: 2019

References

External links

Sophie Bradley
at The FA website

at Leeds Carnegie Ladies * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley-Auckland, Sophie 1989 births Living people Footballers from Nottingham English women's footballers Leeds United Women F.C. players Notts County L.F.C. players Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. players Liverpool F.C. Women players England women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Alumni of Loughborough University Women's Super League players 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic women's footballers of Great Britain Women's association football defenders Nottingham Forest Women F.C. players Sheffield United W.F.C. players Women's Championship (England) players England women's youth international footballers