Lia Joëlle Wälti (; born 19 April 1993) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

club

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 captains the Switzerland national team. Before signing for Arsenal in July 2018, she played for Nationalliga A club YB Frauen from 2009 until 2013 and for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club Turbine Potsdam from 2013 until 2018. She has been a member of the Switzerland national team since August 2011. As an Under-19 international she played the 2009 U-19 European Championship and the 2010 U-20 World Cup.

Club career

Early career

In her childhood, Wälti played ice hockey as well as football. In 2002, at the age of 8, she started playing for FC Langnau, a boys football team coached by her father. In 2007 she was admitted to the Huttwill Training Centre and, half a year later, she joined Team Bern West. In 2009 she moved to

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

, where she played for a year in the U16 boys' team.

FC Köniz (2008–2009)

At the same time she played for Team Bern West, Wälti joined

FC Köniz FC Köniz are a football team from Köniz, Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the no ...

of the

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League (known as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the wi ...

BSC YB Frauen (2009–2013)

In 2009, Wälti joined BSC YB Frauen, where, in 2011, she won the Nationalliga A. In the same year, she debuted in 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. ...

Turbine Potsdam (2013–2018)

In 2013, Wälti signed a contract with

1. FFC Turbine Potsdam 1. Frauenfußballclub Turbine Potsdam 71 e. V., commonly known as 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam (or Turbine Potsdam outside of Germany), is a German women's football club located in Potsdam, Brandenburg. They are one of the most successful women's footb ...

of the

Frauen-Bundesliga The Frauen-Bundesliga (German language, German for ''Women's Federal League''), currently known as the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of league competition for women's association football in Germany. I ...

. She was named captain in her second season and played 110 games between 2013 and 2018.

Arsenal (2018–)

After 110 appearances with the German team, Wälti signed a contract with

in July 2018. Wälti was instrumental in Arsenal's 2018–2019 WSL league winning season although only played half of the season after she suffered a LCL injury which kept her out of football for 9 months In April 2019. She was included in the 2018-2019 PFA Team of the Year. On 13 December 2019, Wälti signed a long-term contract with the club.

International career

Youth

Wälti played in the 2008 U-17 European Championship. She also played for the Switzerland U19 team in 2008 and 2009. She reached the

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

in the 2009 U-19 European Championship. The next year, she joined the U20 team at the 2010 U-20 World Cup.

Senior

On 21 August 2011, Wälti made her debut for the Switzerland senior team in a match against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. In 2015, she played at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

. In 2019 after the retirement of Lara Dickerman, she was named captain.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Wälti goal.''

Honours

BSC YB Frauen * Nationalliga A: 2010–11 Turbine Potsdam *

DFB-Pokal Frauen The DFB-Pokal Frauen is the main national Women's association football, women's football cup competition in Germany, held annually by the German Football Association in knockout format. It was created in 1980, and since 1991 includes Eastern teams ...

runners-up: 2014–15 Arsenal *

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

: 2018–19 *

FA Women's League Cup The Women's League Cup, also known as the Subway Women's League Cup due to sponsorship reasons, 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 t ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

; runners-up: 2018–19, 2019–20 *

: 2024–25 Individual *

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 Football in England, En ...

: 2018–19 *Swiss Female National Player: 2021, 2023 *

Player of the Month: January 2024

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walti, Lia 1993 births Living people 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam players Swiss women's footballers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swiss expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in England Switzerland women's international footballers Women's association football defenders Women's association football midfielders Arsenal W.F.C. players Women's Super League players People from Emmental District Frauen-Bundesliga players BSC YB Frauen players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's Super League (Switzerland) players Footballers from the canton of Bern UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players FIFA Women's Century Club UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players Swiss expatriate women's footballers Swiss LGBTQ footballers 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players 21st-century Swiss sportswomen UEFA Women's Champions League–winning players