Bio
FIFA Women’s World Cup winner Abby Dahlkemper joined City on a two-and-a-half year deal in January 2021.
The 27-year-old made the move to the Academy Stadium after four seasons with North Carolina Courage in the NWSL, having been named in the division’s Best XI three times during her stay at the Sahlen’s Stadium.
The central defender had represented her homeland on 62 occasions at senior level having made her debut back in 2016 and already boasts a plethora of accolades with the United States.
She became the third American international in the team’s ranks, following in the footsteps of USWNT teammates Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle who joined City the previous August.
Hailing from Menlo Park in Northern California, Dahlkemper played collegiately with the UCLA Bruins, where she helped secure the National Championship in 2013.
In 2014, she won the Honda Award for collegiate women’s soccer, representing the top player in the country reflecting athletic achievement, academic achievement and community involvement.
Following her departure from UCLA, she enjoyed a brief loan spell in Australia with Adelaide United before moving to Western New York Flash where she won the NWSL title in 2016.
Following the club’s sale in 2017, the centre-half became part of North Carolina Courage and played in every minute of their NWSL Shield victory before being named in the season’s NWSL Best XI and voted as the league’s Defender of the Year.
And whilst with the Sahlen’s Stadium outfit, the 27-year-old won back-to-back league titles and secured a hat-trick of Shield successes.
Internationally, Dahlkemper represented her homeland at various youth levels – even captaining their Under-17s side - before being handed her debut for the senior set-up in October 2016.
She has since won the SheBelieves Cup (2018 and 2020), Tournament of Nations and CONCACAF Women’s Championship (2018), FIFA Women’s World Cup (2019) and most recently in 2020, the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament with the USWNT.
The centre-half also played the most minutes of any field player during their World Cup triumph, featuring in 622 of a possible 630 minutes as they lifted the prestigious trophy.