Laura Bassett

Laura Bassett (born 2 August 1983) is an English former football defender who represented England internationally. She played for FA WSL club Notts County, Birmingham City (two separate spells), Arsenal, Leeds Carnegie, Chelsea, and Australian W-League club Canberra United.

Laura Bassett
Bassett in 2017
Personal information
Full name Laura Bassett[1]
Date of birth (1983-08-02) 2 August 1983[1]
Place of birth Nuneaton, England[2]
Height 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Playing position(s) Defender[1]
Youth career
1993–1997 Bedworth Girls
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–2000 Coventry City Ladies
2000–2008 Birmingham City Ladies
2006 → New York Magic (loan)
2008–2009 Arsenal Ladies 17 (0)
2009–2010 Leeds United Ladies 16 (0)
2010–2013 Birmingham City Ladies 39 (0)
2014 Chelsea Ladies 13 (0)
2015–2017 Notts County 29 (0)
2017–2018 Canberra United 12 (1)
National team‡
2003–2017 England 61 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 February 2018[3][4]
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 June 2017

Bassett acquired over 60 caps for the national team between 2003 and 2017, being part of the squad at UEFA Women's Euro 2009, the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, UEFA Women's Euro 2013, the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and UEFA Women's Euro 2017.

Club career

Bassett grew up in Bulkington and joined Bedworth girls as a nine-year-old. At 14 she joined Coventry City and played in the FA Women's Premier League Northern Division while still a pupil at North Warwickshire and Hinckley College.[5] She then moved to Birmingham City and became captain,[6] while on a scholarship at the FA Player Development Centre at Loughborough University. She spent summer 2006 playing in the W-League with New York Magic.[7]

Bassett left Birmingham for Arsenal in 2008.[8] She signed for Leeds Carnegie in October 2009[9] and helped the Yorkshire club win the Premier League Cup in February 2010.[10]

After Leeds' funding and FA WSL bid collapsed, Bassett spent a period without a club.[11] In October 2010 it was revealed that she had re-signed for Birmingham City.[12] In April 2012 Bassett was appointed as one of eight digital media ambassadors, one from each team, who wear their Twitter account name on their shirt sleeves to raise the profile of the WSL.[13] At the end of the 2013 season, club captain Bassett rejected Birmingham's offer of a new contract and joined Chelsea.[14]

With Bassett Chelsea finished as runners-up in the 2014 FA WSL, but she signed a three-year contract with Notts County ahead of the 2015 campaign.[15]

Following Notts County's folding in April 2017,[16] Bassett became a free agent. She joined Australian club Canberra United for the 2017–18 Australian W-League season.[17]

Bassett sat out the 2018–19 season to give birth to her daughter Saede. On 3 June 2019 she announced her retirement.[18][19]

Bassett was part of the BBC's commentary team for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.[20]

International career

Bassett represented England at youth level,[5][7] including at the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship. When she made her senior debut against Italy in February 2003,[21] she became the first Birmingham City Ladies player to play for England at full international level.[22]

In May 2009, Bassett was one of the first 17 female players to be given central contracts by The Football Association.[23] She made her FIFA Women's World Cup debut in July 2011, replacing Ellen White for the final minute of England's 2–0 group B win over Japan.[24]

Bassett scored a last-minute equaliser in England's opening UEFA Women's Euro 2013 match against Spain, but Karen Bardsley's injury time own goal gave the Spanish a 3–2 win.[25]

Under new coach Mark Sampson, Bassett started England's first game at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, a 1–0 defeat by France. She sustained a black eye after being elbowed in the face by Camille Abily, but the French player controversially escaped any punishment.[26] During added time in the semi-final match against Japan, Bassett lobbed the ball into England's goal while trying to clear it to prevent Japan from taking an open shot, resulting in a 2–1 defeat.[27]

International goals
Scores and results list England's goal tally first.
GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.12 July 2013Arena Linköping, Linköping, Sweden Spain2–22–3Euro 2013
2.21 August 2014Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff Wales4–04–02015 FIFA World Cup qualification

Personal life

Bassett is in a long term relationship with Orlando Pride manager Marc Skinner, having met while both coaching for Birmingham's U-14s team.[28] Their daughter, Saede, was born in December 2018.[29]

Honours

England

gollark: What if we run GPT-2 or whatever over esolangs pages? Hmm.
gollark: Which is impractical.
gollark: Like what esolangs will be developed and when.
gollark: The trouble is that a good future message predictor which is generating basically anything but boring things you can expect will always be around needs to also know details of the future.
gollark: No, that's no fun.

References
  1. "FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015: List of players: England" (PDF). FIFA. 6 July 2015. p. 10. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  2. "Behind the scenes". TheFA.com. 4 October 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  3. "Laura Bassett". The FA. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  4. "Laura Bassett". Soccer Way. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  5. Michelle Wilson (18 May 2000). "Meet England's new centre-half – Laura Bassett; football". Coventry Evening Telegraph. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  6. "Laura works hard, plays hard!". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 18 March 2008. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  7. "Nordic squad for Norway". TheFA.com. 22 June 2006. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  8. "Contenders: Bassett". TheFA.com. 24 December 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  9. "Leeds second after frantic finale". Leeds United Ladies. 28 October 2009. Archived from the original on 23 August 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  10. Tony Leighton (11 February 2010). "Leeds Carnegie lift first major trophy with defeat of Everton". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  11. "England prepare for Austria". Women's Soccer Scene. 6 August 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  12. "Hope names Peace Cup squad". TheFA.com. 4 October 2010. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
  13. "Women's Super League launches Twitter kit initiative to raise profile". BBC Sport. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  14. "Laura Bassett quits Birmingham to sign for Chelsea Ladies". BBC Sport. 27 November 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  15. "Notts County Ladies: Laura Bassett & Alex Greenwood join". BBC Sport. 6 January 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  16. "Notts County Ladies: WSL 1 club fold on eve of Spring Series season". BBC Sports. 21 April 2017.
  17. "Laura Bassett: England defender joins Canberra United". BBC Sports. 20 September 2017.
  18. "England Lionesses: Laura Bassett announces retirement". wn.com. 3 June 2019.
  19. "England Lionesses: Laura Bassett announces retirement". 3 June 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  20. Myers, Rebecca (9 June 2019). "Laura Bassett ready to put 2015 World Cup own goal behind her". The Times. News UK. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  21. "Young England beaten by Italy". TheFA.com. 25 February 2003. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  22. "Club History". Birmingham City L.F.C. Retrieved 13 August 2009.
  23. "England Women awarded contracts". BBC Sport. 14 May 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  24. Jonathan Stevenson (5 July 2011). "Women's World Cup: England 2–0 Japan". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  25. Magowan, Alistair (12 July 2013). "England 2 3 Spain". Linkoping, Sweden: BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  26. Taylor, Louise (11 June 2015). "Elbow incident leaves England's Laura Bassett bruised but unbowed". Moncton: The Guardian. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  27. Callaghan, Shane. "Result: Last-gasp Laura Bassett own goal denies battling England". Sports Mole. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  28. Moore, Glenn (6 June 2017). "Laura Bassett is without a club but she doesn't want to play for her partner". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  29. Bassett, Laura. "Laura Bassett tweets birth announcement". Twitter.
  30. "UEFA Women's EURO 2009 - Final". UEFA. 10 September 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  31. Leighton, Tony (13 March 2013). "Rachel Yankey volley earns England women their second Cyprus Cup title". The Guardian.
  32. Lavery, Glenn (11 March 2015). "England 1-0 Canada: Cyprus Cup final match report". The Football Association.
  33. "Match for third place - Match report" (PDF). FIFA. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
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