Rachel Furness
Rachel Furness (born 19 June 1988) is an English-born Northern Irish footballer who plays for FA Women's Championship club Liverpool and the Northern Ireland national team. A powerful central midfielder, she featured as a winger or striker earlier in her career. Furness' ex-manager at Sunderland, Mick Mulhern, described her as "a strong and determined player." Club career. Early career. Furness attended Usworth Comprehensive School and represented Durham at County level. By season 2002–03 she was already playing for Chester-le-Street Ladies, alongside several other youngsters and former England striker Aran Embleton. Senior career. In  2004 Furness moved to Gateshead College to study sports development and fitness. She began playing for the women's football academy at the college and Sunderland. Jill Scott was a teammate in both sides. In 2006 Furness moved to Northumbria University to study sports development with coaching, and swapped Sunderland for Newcastle United. However, she had by then suffered a serious knee injury, which required two operations and the removal of most of the cartilage. Doctors advised Furness to stop playing football but she nevertheless resumed playing for Newcastle United. In December 2009, Furness scored one and made the other  for Mel Reay, as Newcastle drew 2–2 at OOH Lincoln Ladies in the FA Women's Cup—only to miss her penalty in the shootout defeat. Furness spent the 2010 summer season in Iceland with Grindavik, then rejoined Sunderland – making her second debut for the club in a 4–0 Premier League Cup win over Newcastle in October 2010. After helping Sunderland win the Premier League title, Furness joined FA WSL club Lincoln Ladies on loan. She made a quick debut in Lincoln's 1–0 home defeat to Chelsea in May, the last game before the WSL mid–season break. She  returned to parent club Sunderland before the WSL re–started in July. In January 2017, Furness left Sunderland for Reading shortly after the Lady Black Cats reverted to part-time status. Furness joined Tottenham Hotspur on a season-long loan from Reading on 6 September 2019. On 28 December 2019, Furness joined Liverpool, after being recalled by Reading. International career. Chester-le-Street director of coaching Bill Godward alerted the Football Association to Furness' potential at an early stage. However, she was overlooked by England because she was not attached to a club with a centre of excellence or academy . Furness then accepted a call-up from Northern Ireland, and represented them in an U17 tournament in Spring 2004. Although born and raised in Tyne and Wear, Furness was eligible for Northern Ireland as her mother was born in Belfast. After representing her adopted homeland at U17 and U19 level, Furness progressed to the senior international team. In November 2005 she scored against Slovakia, in Northern Ireland's first competitive home match for 20 years. Following a two-year absence from the national team caused by injury, Furness returned in time for the 2011 World Cup Qualifying campaign. She contributed  four goals, including a hat-trick against Croatia, as Northern Ireland ultimately finished third in their group behind France and Finland. In November 2011 Furness scored in Northern Ireland's shock 3–1 Euro 2013 qualifying win over former World and Olympic champions Norway. Furness also represented Irish Universities at the World University Games, playing in the 2009 tournament in Belgrade. Two years later she was named in the Great Britain Universities squad for the event in Shenzhen. The 2021 UEFA Women's European Championships Qualification saw record-breaking success for the Northern Ireland Women's National Team, and Furness played  a key part in the squad. Several goals by Furness throughout normal qualification helped NI reach their first ever play-offs for a major tournament, a record in itself. This included the winning goal in a game away to Belarus , all the more vital given that NI had their keeper sent off within the first 30 minutes of the game. Then, little expection was placed upon the squad to overcome this final obstacle to reach the tournament, given the higher-ranking opposition. Yet, the whole team kept the dream of qualification, and inspired girls all over the country in their  battle. In the first leg, away to Ukraine, Furness scored a vital goal to help NI to a truly surprise 2-1 victory. In the second leg, at home, Furness again made the starting team, but was forced off after an injury. Still, she cheered on passionately from the side-lines, watching as the girls managed to pull off another win, and in doing so, securing their place in the 2022 tournament. The whole campaign sums up the ideology brought to the national team by manager Kenny Shiels: it is one of hope, dreams and belief in self and others  . A documentary was recently released entitled "A New Dream" (can be found on Youtube), which captures some of the essence of this new phase in Northern Ireland women's international football. In November 2021, in back-to-back FIFA Women's World Cup qualifiers against North Macedonia, Furness scored historic goals to equal, then break, the Northern Ireland goalscoring record. In the first game, away, Furness notched a hatrick to equal the record; then in the home fixture, scored twice more to take the record outright. Overtaking the record of 36 goals for Northern Ireland, formerly held by David Healy , Furness firmly cemented her place in national footballing history. With several 2023 World Cup qualifiers remaining, as well as the 2022 European Championships (2021 delayed) to come in 2022, she will surely hope to add to her tally. In December 2021, Furness was awarded the NI BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2021 for her contribution to the national team's historic year .