Gillian Coultard
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Gillian Coultard is a retired English football player, and former England captain. She is England Women's most capped international, with 119 appearances; she is also the second highest capped England international ever, with only Peter Shilton gaining more with 125. She is one of only six footballers (Bobby Moore, Billy Wright, Bobby Charlton and David Beckham are the others) to have reached over 100 caps for England, and she is the only woman and amateur player to have done so.
Coultard, a midfielder initially, though moving back to sweeper towards the end of her career, made her international debut in a 3-1 win over the Republic of Ireland in 1981, at the age of 18. She went on to score 30 goals at international level, including 2 in England's first ever World Cup finals match, a 3-2 win over Canada in Sweden, in 1995[1]. England went on to be knocked out at the quarter-final stage by eventual tournament runners-up, Germany. She was also part of the England squad which finished runners-up to Sweden in the first UEFA final in 1984, losing the final on penalties. She was also a non-playing member of the England side which suffered their record defeat - an 8-0 loss away to Norway in June, 2000. In October, 2000, she announced her international retirement in order to concentrate on a coaching role in the National Women's Football Academy in Durham.
At club level, she won two National League titles and six FA Women's Cup finals with Doncaster Rovers Belles.
On October 19, 2006, she was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ FIFA Women's World Cup Sweden 1995 Match Report. fifa.com. Retrieved on April 1, 2008.
[edit] External links
- Gillian Coultard at The National Football Museum Hall of Fame Pages
- "First Female Centurion", Gillian Coultard interview at the FA website
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