Marissa James Callaghan (born 2 September 1985) is a Northern Irish football midfielder who has played her entire career for Cliftonville Ladies, and formerly for the Northern Ireland national team, of which she served as captain.
Early career Callaghan started playing football at 13 for the Newington Girls (now known as Cliftonville Ladies). After this, she went to university in the United States on a football scholarship. She returned to Northern Ireland in 2005 and started playing for Cliftonville again. She graduated with an advanced certificate in sports coaching from the University of Ulster in 2017. As a result, she also volunteered as a coach for Cliftonville Ladies. Later she became their academy director.
With Northern Ireland Callaghan made her international debut for the Northern Ireland women's national under-19 football team in 2002. She made her debut for Northern Ireland in 2010. In 2016, Callaghan was awarded the Northern Ireland Women's Football Association Women's Personality of the Year award. A year later she was the tournament ambassador for the 2017 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship being held in Northern Ireland.
Callaghan was part of the squad that was called up to the UEFA Women's Euro 2022. She also captained the Northern Ireland team at Euro 2022.
International goals Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first. No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 4. 9 March 2015 Umag 4, Umag, Croatia 1–0 1–2 2015 Istria Cup 5. 3 June 2016 Solitude, Belfast, Northern Ireland 2–0 4–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying 6. 3–0 7. 13 April 2021 Seaview, Belfast, Northern Ireland 1–0 2–0 UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying play-offs 8. 17 September 2021 Inver Park, Larne, Northern Ireland 1–0 4–0 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification 9. 21 September 2021 Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland 3–0 4–0
Career After leaving university, Callaghan started working full-time in 2010 as a women's football community coach. In 2016, Callaghan was selected as a women's football ambassador for the Irish Football Association. Following this, she worked with Northern Ireland national football team captain Steven Davis to promote participation in women's youth football.
Personal life Callaghan is a Roman Catholic and has discussed representing Northern Ireland and the need of a national anthem that could represent a common identity to both Catholics and Protestants.Northern Ireland should have their own anthem identity - NI women's captain Marissa Callaghan, BBC Sport, 7 December 2021 She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2025 New Year Honours for services to Association Football and to the community in Northern Ireland. She is married to her partner Paula and they have one son together.L-Mag.de: Das sind die 59 lesbischen Stars der Fussball-EM 2022 (German), July 2022
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