Drew Spence facts for kids
Spence in 2022.
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 23 October 1992 | ||||||||||||
| Place of birth | London, England | ||||||||||||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||||||||||||
| Club information | |||||||||||||
| Current club | Tottenham Hotspur | ||||||||||||
| Number | 24 | ||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||
| Arsenal | |||||||||||||
| Fulham | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | ||||||||||
| 2008–2022 | Chelsea | 223 | (49) | ||||||||||
| 2022– | Tottenham Hotspur | 6 | (3) | ||||||||||
| National team‡ | |||||||||||||
| 2015 | England | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||
| 2021– | Jamaica | 7 | (1) | ||||||||||
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Honours
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† Appearances (Goals). |
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Drew Spence (born 23 October 1992) is an English-born Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for FA WSL club Tottenham Hotspur and the Jamaica women's national football team. She played for the England women's national football team in 2015.
Club career
Chelsea
Chelsea and England teammate Gilly Flaherty recalled playing alongside Spence in the Arsenal Centre of Excellence. Spence progressed to Fulham's youth team, before signing for Chelsea in 2008.
Spence and Chelsea reached the FA Women's Cup final for the first time in 2012, but were eventually beaten by Birmingham City in a penalty shootout after twice taking the lead in a 2–2 draw. Spence's effort was saved by Becky Spencer. In 2015, Spence won her first ever major trophy, in the 2015 FA Women's Cup Final at Wembley Stadium. Spence secured her first FA WSL title as her team beat Sunderland 4–0 in October 2015 to secure the League and Cup "double". At the end of the season Spence signed a new two-year contract with Chelsea.
During a 5–0 thrashing by Arsenal in October 2018, Spence left Kim Little nursing a broken leg with what Arsenal's website described as a "heavy tackle". The match officials were criticised for failing to send off Spence, who left Little ruled out for around ten weeks. In 2020 Spence signed a new contract that will see her stay with Chelsea until 2022.
Tottenham Hotspur
In June 2022, Spence signed a two-year contract with Tottenham Hotspur, leaving Chelsea as their longest serving player.
International career
National coach Mark Sampson gave Spence her first senior call up in October 2015, in an understrength squad for the 2015 Yongchuan International Tournament. She won her first England cap on 23 October 2015, as a substitute in England's 2–1 defeat by China in Yongchuan.
In September 2017, Spence's Chelsea team-mate Eniola Aluko was pursuing allegations of racial discrimination against The FA through the pages of The Guardian newspaper. Spence was drawn into the controversy when she was revealed as the previously-anonymous "The Player" who was said to have been "upset and offended" by Mark Sampson on the trip to China.
In November 2022, Spence was recognized by The Football Association as one of the England national team's legacy players, and as the 192nd women's player to be capped by England.
Spence also qualifies for Jamaica through her heritage and gets her first call-up to Reggae Girlz for June international break camp. She made her debut on 24 October 2021.
Personal life
Spence's brother Lewwis Spence is also a professional footballer.
Honours
Chelsea
- FA Women's Super League (5): 2015, 2017–18, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22
- FA WSL Spring Series (1): 2017
- Women's FA Cup (4): 2014–15, 2017–18, 2020–21, 2021–22
- FA Women's League Cup (2): 2019–20, 2020–21
- Women's FA Community Shield (1): 2020
Individual
- CONCACAF W Championship Best XI: 2022
