Ali Riley

Ali Riley
Damallsvenskan Gold 2013
Personal information
Full name Alexandra Lowe Riley[1]
Date of birth (1987-10-30) 30 October 1987[1]
Place of birth Los Angeles, California, United States[2]
Height 1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Playing position Defender / Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Chelsea
Number 11
Youth career
1998–2004 Westside Breakers
2004–2006 Real So Cal
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2009 Stanford Cardinal 83 (7)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009 Pali Blues 7 (0)
2010 FC Gold Pride 24 (0)
2011 Western New York Flash 16 (0)
2012–2018 FC Rosengård 132 (4)
2018– Chelsea 0 (0)
National team‡
2006 New Zealand U20 11 (5)
2007– New Zealand 95[3] (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of July 9, 2018
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 10:26, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

Alexandra "Ali" Lowe Riley (born 30 October 1987) is an American-born New Zealand association football player who plays for Chelsea F.C. Women in the FA WSL. Riley is a member of the New Zealand women's national football team.[4] She captained the Stanford soccer team to two NCAA semi-finals and one final.

Early life

Born in Los Angeles, California to parents John Graham Riley and Beverly Fong Lowe, Ali attended St. Matthew's Parish School in Pacific Palisades and Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood, California. She was named captain of the soccer team during her senior season and was a two-time Mission League Offensive MVP as well as a two-time first-team San Fernando Valley selection. As a senior, she helped lead the Wolverines to the 2006 Southern Section Division I final and was named to the All-CIF Southern Section Division I first team. Riley also competed for local soccer clubs, LA Breakers FC [5](formerly Westside Breakers) and Real SoCal (formerly SoCal United.[6]

Stanford University

Riley attended Stanford University and played for the Stanford Cardinal from 2006 to 2009. During her freshman year, she started in fifteen of the eighteen matches she played. She played forward and made four goals with two assists. As a sophomore, she played sixteen games and started in fourteen of them. She scored two goals and had two assists. During her junior year, Riley converted from her position at forward to an outside back, which is what she plays for the New Zealand National Team. As a senior, Riley started in each of the twenty-four games and scored one goal with one assist.[6]

Club career

FC Gold Pride

In January 2010, Riley was selected as the tenth pick in the first round of the 2010 WPS Draft by FC Gold Pride. While she plays on her natural right wing-back position for the NZ Women's National Team, she plays professionally as a left wing-back and had three assists in the 2010 run to the WPS championship by FC Gold Pride. Riley won the WPS Rookie of the Year award.

Western New York Flash

Riley signed for Western New York Flash for the 2011 season becoming a free agent after FC Gold Pride failed to find financial backers.[7]

In the 2011 season Riley was a finalist for Defender of the year as the Flash swept both the league season title and then won the 2011 WPS Championship.

In 2012, Riley re-signed with Western New York Flash for the 2012 season, however, the league folded before play began.

LdB FC Malmö/FC Rosengård

With the suspension of the WPS, she signed in 2012 with LdB FC Malmö, 2011 Swedish League Champions. In her first game, (the Super Cupen) she assisted on the winning goal. She played her first full season in the Damallsvenskan in 2013. With LdB FC Malmö she finished top of the table.

In September 2013 Riley re-signed with LdB FC Malmö (since December 2013 renamed FC Rosengård) for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. FC Rosengård again won gold in the Damallsvenskan.

In March 2015 she played both at full-back and forward in her second Super Cupen victory with FC Rosengård. In September 2015 she re-signed with FC Rosengård. The team went on to win the Damallsvenskan for the third straight year earning Riley earned her fifth league championship in her eight-year career.

Chelsea F.C. Women

On June 26, 2018, it was announced that Riley would be leaving FC Rosengård in July to join Chelsea F.C. Women in the FA WSL.[8]

International

Riley playing for New Zealand in May 2011

Ali Riley's father is from New Zealand.[9] Riley represented New Zealand at the 2006 Women's U-20 World Cup finals. She was named Player of the game v. Russia. She made her Football Ferns debut in a 0–5 loss to Australia on 6 February 2007,[10] and represented New Zealand at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup finals in China,[11] where they lost to Brazil 0–5, Denmark (0–2) and China (0–2).[12]

Riley also played every minute for the New Zealand squad in the 2008 Summer Olympic games where they drew with Japan (2–2) before losing to Norway(0–1) and the United States (0–4).[13] Riley's first international goal was scored in the final of the OFC Women's Nations Cup as New Zealand qualified for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup with an 11–0 win over Papua New Guinea. [14]

On 27 June 2011 Riley earned her 50th A-international cap in a 2–1 loss to Japan in New Zealand's opening group stage match at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.[15] In the final seconds of extra time in the match v. Mexico she assisted on the tying goal that gave the Football Ferns their first point in a World Cup final.

In the 2012 Olympics Riley played every minute of the Football Ferns' four games. In the preliminary round games the Ferns lost 0–1 to Great Britain and Brazil and beat Cameroon 3–1. This was the first victory by a NZ football team in the Olympics. With the victory the Ferns advanced to the second round based on goal differential. In the quarter-final the Ferns played the USA losing 0–2.

In 2013 Riley started for New Zealand in a series of games establishing the Football Ferns as a growing force in international competition. The Ferns won the Vallais Cup beating #4 Brazil 1–0 and #16 China 4–0 and also had ties playing #10 Australia, #3 Japan and #1 USA.

She featured in all New Zealand's three matches at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada.[16]

In the 2016 Rio Olympics Riley played every minute of the Football Ferns' three games. The Ferns lost 0–2 to USA, 0–3 to France and beat Colombia 1–0.

Riley has been the captain of the Football Ferns since the 2017 Cyprus Cup.

Honours

Club

FC Gold Pride
Western New York Flash
LdB FC Malmö / FC Rosengård

Individual

International Level
  • Nike Junior Women's Player of the Year 2006
  • Nike National Women's Player of the Year 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
  • Oceania Football Confederation Women's Player of the Year 2009, 2010
World ranking (voted by professional players)
  • 2016 FIFPRO World XI short-list (55 players)
  • 2017 FIFPRO World XI short-list (55 players)[17]
USA College Soccer (Stanford University)
2009
  • All American (NSCAA, Top Drawer Soccer and Soccer America)
  • Scholar All American (NSCAA)
  • All Pac10 First team
  • All Pac10 Scholar Athlete of the year
2010
  • Stanford University, Pat Strathairn Best Competitive Athlete Award
Professional Football
USA Women's Professional Soccer League (WPS)
2010
  • Rookie of the year
  • All Pro selection (First XI)
2011
  • Finalist, Defender of the year
  • All Pro selection (First XI)[18]
Damallsvenskan (Swedish League)
  • 2013 All Star Selection (First XI)
  • 2014 All Star Selection (First XI)
  • 2015 All Star Selection (First XI)
  • 2016 All Star Selection (First XI)
  • 2017 All Star Selection (First XI)

References

  1. 1 2 3 "List of Players – 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  2. ↑ Profile Archived 22 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. at NZF
  3. ↑ "Profile". FIFA.com. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  4. ↑ "Caps 'n' Goals, New Zealand Women's national representatives". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
  5. ↑ "LA Breakers FC".
  6. 1 2 "Ali Riley player profile". Stanford University. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  7. ↑ "Western New York snaps up Riley". NZ Football. 13 December 2010.
  8. ↑ "Ali Riley: Chelsea Women to sign New Zealand defender from FC Rosengard". June 26, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Sixty seconds with: Ali Riley". Herald on Sunday. 15 May 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  10. ↑ "Caps 'n' Goals, New Zealand Women's national representatives". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
  11. ↑ "New Zealand Squad List, 2007 Women's World Cup". FIFA. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
  12. ↑ "Tournament Statistics – New Zealand". FIFA. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  13. ↑ "Olympic Football Squads Named". New Zealand Olympic Committee. 4 July 2008. Archived from the original on 5 July 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2008.
  14. ↑ "Football Ferns reach World Cup in style". NZFootball.com. 8 October 2010.
  15. ↑ "Football Ferns move on". Archived from the original on 3 July 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  16. ↑ "FIFA player's stats". FIFA. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  17. ↑ "FIFPRO 2017 Voting on World Best XI".
  18. ↑ "WPS announces best XI of 2011". WPS. 7 September 2011. Archived from the original on 14 January 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
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