Sh'Nia Demetrice Gordon (born April 9, 1997) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Ft. Lauderdale United of the

USL Super League The USL Super League (USLS), officially known as the Gainbridge Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional women's soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system, alongside the National Women's Socce ...

Youth career

Gordon played for

Elite Clubs National League The Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) is a national youth soccer developmental league in the United States. It was founded in 2009 as a girls' league and added a boys' league in 2017. Competition format The ECNL is divided by age groups from U- ...

teams D'Feeters of

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, and Gwinnett SA of

Gwinnett County, Georgia Gwinnett County ( ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It forms part of the Atlanta metropolitan area, being located about northeast of Atlanta city limits. In 2020, the population was 957,062, making it the ...

. She was ranked 52nd in the 2015 Girls IMG Academy 150 player rankings, fifth among forwards in the Texas region, and 22nd among forwards nationally. Gordon also played high school soccer for Richmond Hill High School, where she scored a school-record 59 goals as a senior, and scored 34 goals in 13 matches as a junior.

College career

Gordon appeared in 95 matches for the

West Virginia Mountaineers women's soccer The West Virginia Mountaineers are the intercollegiate women's soccer team representing West Virginia University. The Mountaineers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) as members of the Big 12 Conference ...

team, starting in all of them, and scored 25 goals and 15 assists. As a sophomore in 2016, Gordon was named to the NCAA College Cup All-Tournament Team and

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

All-Tournament Team.

Club career

FC Metz

Inspired by her West Virginia teammates

Ashley Lawrence Ashley Elizabeth Marie Lawrence (born June 11, 1995) is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, full-back or a midfielder for Women's Super League club Chelsea F.C. ...

and Kadeisha Buchanan, who played professionally after college at

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

and

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

, respectively, Gordon also planned to play professionally in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. She also entered the

2019 NWSL College Draft The 2019 NWSL College Draft was the seventh annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select newly eligible college players for the 2019 NWSL season. It was held on January 10, 2019, in conjunction with the United S ...

but was not selected.

FC Metz Football Club de Metz () is a Football in France, French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 1, the highest division in the French football league system, for the 2025–26 Ligue 1, ...

extended her an offer, and she accepted and played with the team until its relegation to

Division 2 Féminine The Seconde Ligue ( ) is a professional women's association football league at the second level of the French football league system, and is run by the '' Ligue féminine de football professionnel'' (LFFP). Its annual competition features twel ...

after the 2019–20 season.

Dijon FCO

Following FC Metz's relegation, Gordon joined

Dijon FCO Dijon Football Côte d'Or (; ), commonly referred to as Dijon FCO or simply as Dijon, is a French Football in France, football club based in Dijon. The club was founded in 1998 as a result of a merger between two local clubs in the city, and co ...

on a two-year contract. She played for Dijon in the

2020–21 Division 1 Féminine The 2020–21 Division 1 Féminine season, also known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, was the 47th edition of Division 1 Féminine since its establishment in 1974. The season began on 5 September 2020 and ended on 5 June 2021. Lyon were the ...

season, where she scored seven goals in 22 league appearances.

CSKA Moscow

In August 2021,

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

bought Gordon's contract from Dijon FCO, where she played until the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, which started while the team was training in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. One of her matches with CSKA Moscow was a

2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League The 2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League was the 21st edition of the European women's club football championship organised by UEFA, and the 13th edition since being rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League. It was the first edition to fe ...

qualification match against Apollon Ladies F.C., then managed by

Kim Björkegren Lars Kim Björkegren (born 18 December 1981) is a Swedish football manager who was most recently manager of Racing Louisville FC in the U.S. National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). He was hired from Cyprus champions Apollon Ladies FC after the 2 ...

Racing Louisville FC

With special dispensation granted from

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

to foreign players to void overseas contracts due to the invasion, Gordon accepted a two-year contract offer on March 15, 2022, from Björkegren, now

Racing Louisville FC Racing Louisville Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Louisville, Kentucky, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It began playing in 2021 at Lynn Family Stadium. The team i ...

's head coach, who was also familiar with Gordon during her career in France. CSKA Moscow had reportedly requested a large transfer fee prior to FIFA's contract exception. Gordon's move was so sudden that she left clothing and personal items behind in Russia. She debuted for Racing on March 25, 2022, as a substitute in the 80th minute of a

2022 NWSL Challenge Cup The 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup was a league cup competition that took place during the 2022 National Women's Soccer League season. It was the third iteration of the NWSL Challenge Cup tournament. In the 2022 championship game, the North Carolina C ...

match against

Houston Dash The Houston Dash are an American professional soccer team based in Houston, Texas, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Dash began play in the 2014 season. The team plays its home games at Shell Energy Stadium. His ...

. On July 27, 2022, Racing Louisville FC announced that Gordon had mutually terminated her contract with the club to pursue playing opportunities in Europe.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

Racing Louisville FC profile

West Virginia Mountaineers profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, ShNia 1997 births Living people American women's soccer players Women's association football forwards West Virginia Mountaineers women's soccer players FC Metz (women) players Dijon FCO (women) players ZFK CSKA Moscow players Racing Louisville FC players National Women's Soccer League players Soccer players from Florida Expatriate women's footballers in France Expatriate women's footballers in Russia Le Havre AC (women) players Première Ligue players USL Super League players 21st-century American sportswomen Fort Lauderdale United FC players