Sophie Ingle

Sophie Ingle
OBE

Ingle in October 2020
Personal information
Full name	Sophie Louise Ingle[1]
Date of birth	(1991-09-02) 2 September 1991 (age 33)
Place of birth	Llandough, Penarth, Wales
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Defender / Defensive Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Chelsea
Number	5
Youth career
	Vale Wanderers
	Dinas Powys
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2007–2012	Cardiff City
2012–2013	Chelsea	22	(0)
2014–2015	Bristol Academy	27	(2)
2015–2018	Liverpool	42	(0)
2018–	Chelsea	101	(6)
International career^‡
	Wales U17
	Wales U19
2009–	Wales	139	(3)
2021–	Great Britain	4	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18 May 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11 June 2024

Sophie Louise Ingle OBE (born 2 September 1991) is a Welsh footballer who plays for the Women's Super League club Chelsea and is a former captain of the Wales national team. She has previously represented Bristol Academy, Cardiff City, and Liverpool. Ingle plays as either a defender or defensive midfielder.

In 2020, her Chelsea goal against Arsenal was nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award.^[2]

Club career

Ingle began her football career with boys' team Vale Wanderers. Despite making an appeal to the Football Association of Wales (FAW), rules prevented Ingle from playing with the boys beyond the age of 12. She spent a year away from football and then had brief spells with Vale Wanderers' girls and Dinas Powys Ladies. This preceded the teenage Ingle's move to Cardiff City Ladies.^[3]

After a period in the reserves, Ingle broke into Cardiff's FA Women's Premier League team during season 2007–08. After winning the Welsh Cup twice with Cardiff, Ingle signed for WSL outfit Chelsea Ladies ahead of the 2012 campaign.^[4]

On 11 March 2012, she made her Chelsea debut against Brighton in a FA Cup match, helping Chelsea to a 3–0 win.^[5]

Chelsea manager Matt Beard deployed Ingle as a central defender and praised her impact after Chelsea's 2012 FA Women's Cup Final defeat to Birmingham: "Sophie Ingle, we initially brought in as a left back but you can see from her quality on the ball and distribution and reading of the game is good as well, she has created a few goals for us with balls in behind which something we haven’t had before."^[6]

In February 2014, Ingle left Chelsea and moved nearer to home by joining Bristol Academy.^[7] She rose to captain The Vixens, but the club were relegated after the 2015 season.^[8] Ingle became a transfer target for other clubs and decided to join Liverpool in December 2015: "Liverpool is a massive club and once I was aware of their interest there was only one team I wanted to sign for".^[9]

In June 2018, Ingle returned to Chelsea after 5 years, signing a two-years deal with the Blues. ^[10]

In November 2023 she became the WSL record appearance holder, with 184 appearances.^[11]

International career

Ingle was called-up to represent Wales at Under-17 level,^[12] and later rose to captain the Under-19 squad.^[13] Ingle won her first senior cap for Wales in a 2–1 World Cup qualifying defeat to Azerbaijan, played in Baku on 28 October 2009.^[14]

In December 2011, Ingle was named in the preliminary Team GB squad for the 2012 Olympics.^[3] She won her 50th cap for Wales in July 2014, during a 1–1 friendly draw with Scotland in Dumfries.^[15]

Wales manager Jayne Ludlow named Ingle the new national team captain ahead of the 2015 Istria Cup, replacing Jess Fishlock who was surprisingly dropped from the squad.^[16]

On 22 September 2020, Ingle played her 100th match for Wales against Norway during the UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifiers.^[17] On 27 May 2021 it was announced that Ingle had been selected as the only Welsh player in the Great Britain women's Olympic football team for the 2020 Olympics.^[18]

In April 2024, Ingle stood down as Wales captain after nine years in the role.^[19]

Personal life

Ingle is openly lesbian.^[20][21]

Career statistics

As of 14 November 2024^[22]

Club	Season	League			National cup[a]		League cup[b]		Continental[c]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Gwalia United F.C.	2007-08	Adran Premier	?		?		?		—		?
	2008-09								—
	2009-10								—
	2010-11								—
	2011-12								—
	Total		?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Chelsea F.C.	2012	Women's Super League	13	0	?	?	1	0	—		14	0
	2013		9	0	?	?	3	0			12	0
	Total		22	0	?	?	3	-	?	?	26	0
Bristol Academy FC	2014	Women's Super League	13	1	?		5	0	-		18	1
	2015		14	1			5	0	6	0	25	1
	Total		27	2	?	?	10	0	6	0	43	2
Liverpool F.C.	2016	Women's Super League	16	0	?		—		—		16	0
	2017		8	0			2	0			10	0
	2017-18		18	0			5	0			23	0
	Total		42	0	?	?	7	0	?	?	49	0
Chelsea F.C.	2018-19	Women's Super League	14	0	?	?	5	0	8	0	27	0
	2019-20		15	4	?	?	4	0	-	-	19	4
	2020-21		18	0	1	0	5	2	5	0	29	2
	2021-22		19	0	5	0	3	0	5	0	32	0
	2022-23		21	2	5	1	3	0	9	2	33	5
	2023-24		14	0	2	0	2	0	6	1	24	1
	2024-25		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		101	6	13	1	22	2	33	3	164	12
Career total			192	18	16	1	41	3	39	3	288	14

International

Statistics accurate as of match played 2 August 2021.

Year	Wales		Great Britain
	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
2009	?	?	—
2010	?	?	—
2011	7	1	—
2012	5	0	0	0
2013	12	0	—
2014	10	0	—
2015	?	?	—
2016	4	0	—
2017	12	0	—
2018	12	0	—
2019	2	0	—
2020	?	?	—
2021	3	0	4	0
2022	12	0	-
2023	17	3	-
2024	13	0	-
Total	105	4	4	0

International goals

No.	date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	21 August 2010	Latham Park, Newtown, Wales	Azerbaijan	10–0	15–0	2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
2.	20 November 2011	Ness Ziona Stadium, Ness Ziona, Israel	Israel	2–0	2–0	UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying
3.	26 October 2021	Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Wales	Estonia	4–0	4–0	2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
4.	26 November 2021	Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli, Wales	Greece	1–0	5–0
5.	8 April 2022		France	1–2	1–2
6.	12 July 2024	Stadion Branko Čavlović-Čavlek, Karlovac, Croatia	Croatia	2–0	3–0	UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying

Honours

Ingle was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to association football.^[23]

Club

Chelsea

External videos
Ingle's FIFA Puskas Award Nominated Goal retrieved 20 January 2021

• FA Women's Super League: 2019–20,^[22] 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
• Women's FA Cup: 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23
• FA Women's League Cup: 2019–20^[22]
• FA Community Shield: 2020^[22]

Individual

• Liverpool Women's Players' Player of the Season: 2017,^[24] 2018^[25]
• FIFA Puskas Award Nominee: 2020^[2]

Notes

1. Includes Women's FA Cup
2. Includes FA Women's League Cup
3. Includes UEFA Women's Champions League

References

1. "Squad list - Women's Olympic Football Tournament Tokyo 2020" (PDF). FIFA. 7 July 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 October 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
2. "Sophie Ingle Goal FIFA Puskas Award 2020". FIFA. Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
3. "Barry footballer signs for Chelsea – and is picked for GB football squad!". Barry and District News. 29 December 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
4. Daniel Clarke (7 February 2012). "THREE NEW SIGNINGS FOR CHELSEA LADIES". Chelsea FC. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
5. "Chelsea Ladies v Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C 11 March 2012 Report". FA WSL. 11 March 2012. Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
6. "FA Women's Cup Final 2012 – Reaction from Chelsea". She Kicks. 28 May 2012. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
7. "Chelsea midfielder joins Bristol". BBC Sport. 6 February 2014. Archived from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
8. "Sophie Ingle opitimistic for Bristol Academy next season". FA WSL. 4 October 2015. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
9. "Sophie Ingle: Liverpool Ladies sign Wales and Bristol captain". BBC Sport. 17 December 2015. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
10. "INGLE ADDED TO WOMEN'S SQUAD". Chelsea FC. 14 June 2018. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
11. "Chelsea midfielder Ingle sets new WSL record". BBC Sport. 18 November 2023. Archived from the original on 3 December 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
12. "Vale hot-shot Jordan hoping Sky's the limit". South Wales Echo. 6 February 2008. Archived from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
13. "CITY SLICKERS". South Wales Echo. 2 September 2009. Archived from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
14. "Azerbaijan 2–1 Wales". UEFA. 28 October 2009. Archived from the original on 1 December 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
15. "Scotland v Wales – Women's International Friendly – Game Drawn". Football Association of Wales. 17 July 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2015.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
16. Matheson, Sian (20 February 2015). "Ingle looking forward to leading out Wales in March's Istria Cup". Media Wales. Archived from the original on 21 April 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
17. "Chelsea's Sophie Ingle on brink of winning 'incredible' 100th Wales cap". BBC Sport. 20 September 2020. Archived from the original on 22 April 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
18. "Team GB: Steph Houghton, Sophie Ingle and Caroline Weir in Olympics squad". BBC Sport. 27 May 2021. Archived from the original on 27 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
19. "Sophie Ingle: Chelsea midfielder steps down as Wales captain". BBC Sport. 7 April 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
20. "England Lionesses Leah Williamson and Beth Mead among LGBTQ+ heroes on New Year Honours List 2023". PinkNews. 30 December 2022. Archived from the original on 14 January 2024. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
21. "Pinc List 2022: Wales' most influential LGBT+ people". Wales Online. 20 August 2022. Archived from the original on 3 November 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
22. Sophie Ingle at Soccerway
23. "No. 63918". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2022. p. N13.
24. "Sadio Mane takes top prizes at LFC Players' Awards". Liverpool FC. 9 May 2017. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
25. "Mohamed Salah takes top prizes at LFC Players' Awards". Liverpool FC. 10 May 2018. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2019.

External links

• Profile at Chelsea F.C. Women
• Sophie Ingle at Soccerway
• Sophie Ingle on Twitter