Milly Clegg

Milly Clegg
Clegg with Racing Louisville in 2024
Personal information
Full name Emily Louise Foy Clegg
Date of birth (2005-11-01) 1 November 2005 (age 19)
Place of birth Auckland, New Zealand
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Racing Louisville
Number 18
Youth career
Ellerslie
Bucklands Beach
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
–2022 Auckland United
2022–2023 Wellington Phoenix FC 16 (4)
2023–2024 Western Sydney Wanderers 1 (0)
2024– Racing Louisville 0 (0)
International career‡
2022 New Zealand U17 3 (2)
2022 New Zealand U20 7 (2)
2023– New Zealand 6 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 7 December 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18 September 2024

Emily Louise Foy Clegg (born 1 November 2005) is a New Zealand footballer who plays for Racing Louisville in the NWSL.[2][3]

Early life

Milly Clegg grew up in Auckland,[4] and Olympic field hockey player Kylie Clegg (née Foy) is her mother.[5] When young, Clegg played football for Ellerslie, Bucklands Beach AFC, and at Mount Albert Grammar School;[4] she watched the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup while a student there and was inspired.[6]

Club career

Youth career

Clegg joined Bucklands Beach AFC at the end of 2019 as a striker for a boys NRFL Youth League team, scoring the most goals for the team in 2020.[7]

Senior career

Clegg played senior football with National League side Auckland United, helping them to win the Kate Sheppard Cup in 2022 before making her National League debut with them.[4]

She then joined the Wellington Phoenix, the only New Zealand team in the Australian top-flight women's league, for the 2022–23 season. She was not paid while playing with the Phoenix, in order to retain amateur status and so maintain NCAA eligibility, considering playing college soccer in the United States in the future. Becoming the team's top scorer with four goals, she was offered different options to continue with them, including a multi-year professional contract, but rejected the Phoenix to join their rivals, Australian side Western Sydney Wanderers FC.[8] She has also declined to be paid by this club.[4]

In January 2024, NWSL club Racing Louisville announced the signing of Clegg on a three-year contract.[9]

International career

As a youth international, Clegg represented New Zealand at the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups.[8] At the 2022 Under-20 Women's World Cup, she scored in the third minute of their 2–2 draw with Colombia, the last match as they exited in the group stage. At the 2022 Under-17 Women's World Cup later that year, she scored New Zealand's only goals in two 1–3 defeats.[4]

With New Zealand looking for more goalscoring threats ahead of their home Women's World Cup,[4] Clegg was called up and made her debut for the senior team on 7 April 2023 in a friendly against Iceland.[10][11][12] On 30 June 2023, Clegg was called up to the New Zealand squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup,[13] the youngest player in the team.[8] The tournament is her third World Cup in under 12 months,[4] a feat matched by Colombia's Linda Caicedo,[14] leading Clegg to be described as "an absolute unicorn" by New Zealand sports podcast The Niche Cache.[15]

Career statistics

International

As of match played on 14 July 2023.[16]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
New Zealand 2023 4 0
Total 4 0

International goals

No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 3 June 2024 Estadio Nueva Condomina, Murcia, Spain  Japan 1–0 1–4 Friendly

Honours

Auckland United

References

  1. ^ "FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ Squad Lists" (PDF). FIFA. 11 July 2023. p. 19. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 December 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  2. ^ Voerman, Andrew (13 July 2023). "FIFA Women's World Cup: The rapid rise of Milly Clegg, the newest Football Fern". Stuff. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  3. ^ "'Point of difference': Teen eyes World Cup selection amid Football Fern goal shortage". NZ Herald. 15 July 2023. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Voerman, Andrew (13 July 2023). "FIFA Women's World Cup: The rapid rise of Milly Clegg, the newest Football Fern". Stuff. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  5. ^ Ross, Jonathan (8 December 2022). "A star in the making and the world is at her feet". New Zealand Football Foundation. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Teen prodigy leads special selections for Football Ferns". NZ Herald. 29 July 2023. Archived from the original on 28 July 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  7. ^ Plummer, Ben (16 July 2023). "Ex-BBAFC players to suit up for Football Ferns". Times. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Rollo, Phillip (11 July 2023). "Football Ferns rising star Milly Clegg not returning to Wellington Phoenix". Stuff. Archived from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  9. ^ "Racing signs teen New Zealand international Clegg". Racing Louisville FC. Archived from the original on 23 January 2024. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  10. ^ "Milly Clegg". New Zealand Football. Archived from the original on 16 July 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  11. ^ "Football Ferns teen Milly Clegg eyes World Cup windfall". 1News. 5 July 2023. Archived from the original on 16 July 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  12. ^ "Fifa Women's World Cup: Teenager Milly Clegg hopes to bring the goals amid Football Ferns' strike shortage". New Zealand Herald. 6 June 2023. Archived from the original on 16 July 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  13. ^ "Football Ferns squad named for FIFA Women's World Cup". New Zealand Football. 30 June 2023. Archived from the original on 16 July 2023. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  14. ^ Anzidei, Michael Cox and Melanie. "Three World Cups in a year after cancer at 15 - maybe Caicedo really is 'from another planet'". The Athletic. Archived from the original on 19 August 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  15. ^ "Milly Clegg Is An Absolute Unicorn Of A Kiwi Centre-Forward Prospect". The Niche Cache. 30 January 2023. Archived from the original on 12 July 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  16. ^ "2018-now". ultimatenzsoccer.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
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