Mackenzie Arnold

Mackenzie Arnold
Mackenzie Elizabeth Arnold (born 25 February 1994) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Women's Super League club West Ham United, whom she captains and the Australia national team. She previously played for Arna-Bjørnar in Norway's Toppserien as well as Brisbane Roar, Perth Glory, Western Sydney Wanderers, and Canberra United in Australia's W-League.
Early life
Arnold was born and raised on the Gold Coast. She played junior football for Burleigh Heads as well as Robina City and attended Palm Beach Currumbin State High School in her teenage years.
Club career
In 2012, Arnold joined Canberra United from Perth Glory ahead of the 2012–13 W-League.
Arnold joined Western Sydney Wanderers in 2013. However, she was later ruled out for a significant amount of the season after suffering a deep cut to the leg in the carpark following a match in the 2013 AFC U-19 Women's Championship.
Arnold returned to Perth Glory in August 2014.
Arnold was approached to switch codes and play Australian rules football in the newly formed AFL Women's in 2016, but chose to remain in soccer.
In October 2016, Brisbane Roar announced that they had signed Arnold.
In March 2018, she signed with Arna-Bjørnar in the Toppserien.
In July 2019, she played for the Chicago Red Stars, in the NWSL.
On 9 July 2020, Arnold signed for English club West Ham United of the FA Women's Super League. On 18 April 2021, Arnold was handed a surprise 20-minute cameo in midfield during an 11–0 win over Chichester & Selsey in the fourth round of the Women's FA Cup.
International career
Arnold received her first call-up to the Australian national team for a tour of the United States in 2012. She made her debut in November that year, keeping a clean sheet in a win over Chinese Taipei in the 2013 EAFF Women's East Asian Cup preliminary round 2. She soon began to feature regularly in national squads in 2013, with previous incumbent goalkeepers Melissa Barbieri and Lydia Williams unavailable. Following their returns, Arnold was not included in the national setup for some time, before returning for the 2015 Cyprus Cup in March 2015.
Mackenzie was included as one of three goalkeepers in the Matildas squad for the 2015 World Cup in Canada.
Arnold was selected in the Australia squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics as one of two goalkeepers in the squad along with Lydia Williams. She played one match in the tournament, a group stage win over Zimbabwe.
Arnold was named to the Matildas squad for the 2019 World Cup in France.
Arnold was a member of the Matildas Tokyo 2020 Olympics squad. The Matildas qualified for the quarter-finals and beat Great Britain before being eliminated in the semi-final with Sweden. In the playoff for the Bronze medal they were beaten by the USA.
Arnold is a member of the Matildas 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup squad, goalkeeping for all of Australia's Group B matches. She was named player of the match after saving three spot kicks in the quarter-final penalty shoot out to see the Matildas progress to the final four for the first time. This led to many internet memes praising her performance, with some online describing her as the "Brick Wall" and the "Minister for Defence". Other nicknames she has been given include "Macca" and "Kenz".
Career statistics
Club
International
Honours
Australia
AFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament: 2016
Perth Glory
W-League Premiership: 2014
Brisbane Roar
W-League Premiership: 2017–18
Individual
W-League Goalkeeper of the Year: 2012–13, 2014, 2017–18
See also
List of Perth Glory FC W-League players
List of Western Sydney Wanderers Women players
List of foreign FA Women's Super League players
Personal life
Arnold has been dating fellow West Ham player Kirsty Smith since 2022. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Arnold discovered she has significant hearing loss and she now wears hearing aids off the pitch. She is also a supporter of the Broncos
References
Further reading
Grainey, Timothy (2012), Beyond Bend It Like Beckham: The Global Phenomenon of Women's Soccer, University of Nebraska Press,
Stay, Shane (2019), The Women's World Cup 2019 Book: Everything You Need to Know About the Soccer World Cup, Books on Demand,
Theivam, Keiran and Jeff Kassouf (2019), The Making of the Women's World Cup: Defining stories from a sport’s coming of age, Little,
Various (2019), Stand Up for the Future, Penguin Random House,
Williams, Jean (2007), A Beautiful Game: International Perspectives on Women's Football , A&C Black,
Williams, Lydia (2019), Saved!, Allen & Unwin,
External links
Living people
1994 births
Australian women's soccer players
Perth Glory FC (A-League Women) players
Canberra United FC players
Western Sydney Wanderers FC (A-League Women) players
Brisbane Roar FC (A-League Women) players
A-League Women players
2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players
Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Australia women's international soccer players
Women's association football goalkeepers
Olympic soccer players for Australia
Sportspeople from the Gold Coast, Queensland
Soccer players from Queensland
2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players
Australian expatriate sportspeople in England
West Ham United F.C. Women players
Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Australian expatriate sportspeople in Norway
Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Australian expatriate women's soccer players
Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States
Expatriate women's footballers in Norway
Expatriate women's footballers in England
Sportswomen from Queensland
2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players
Australian LGBT soccer players