Karen Bardsley: Biography, Career Stats, Clubs, Net Worth, Other Facts

Karen Bardsley is a renowned female goalkeeper who plays for Manchester City as well as for the English national team. A world-class goalkeeper with years of experience under her belt, Karen has maintained her position as the number one goalkeeper for City for consecutive seasons while she is also a member of England Women’s National Football Team.

Thus far, she is the most capped goalkeeper for the English team and has gone to the  2011 and 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup and has been named part of the squad for the 2019 tournament.

Karen Bardsley Biography

Karen was named Karen Louise Bardsley at birth and was born in Santa Monica, California on the 14th of October 1984. She developed interest in sports at a tender age and started training. She claimed to have grown up watching the ‘US women team winning the 1999 World Cup and thinking she would love to be a part of something like that.

Karen was born at a time when female football wasn’t very popular and her father was reluctant to register her for youth camp to take football lessons and practice.

Karen attended ‘Ruben S. Ayala High School’ and proceeded to ‘California State University’ to study graphic design. She was a student-athlete and played for ‘Cal State Fullerton Titans’ Women’s soccer program.

Career Stats

Karen’s football career started in college. She was so passionate about the sports that after her first season, she received the honor of being the Big West Conference Freshman of the Year. She couldn’t play for a while due to a broken leg injury but soon bounced back in 2004 that she received again the “Big West Conference Goalkeeper of the Year” in 2005.

After graduating from the University, Karen Bardsley signed with “Ajax American Women” in preparation for ‘WPSL season of 2007. She moved on in February 2008 to join “Pali Blues” for the W-League season. She proceeded to “Sky Blue FC” as a third-round pick in 2009 ‘WPS Draft’. She appeared in 4 games in the inaugural season for the club before they won the Women’s Professional Soccer Playoffs (2009). She had a total of 17 appearances for the club.

In 2011, Karen joined Linkoping (a Swedish club) and made 3 appearances for the club. Next, she moved to Europe to explore greater opportunities and initially played for Norway before moving to “Lincoln Ladies” in 2013 where she appeared in 14 games. She then signed a two-year deal with “Manchester City” which started successfully with a win of the “2014 Continental Cup”. As at 2018, she has had a total appearance of 52 appearances for the club.

While her parents are from the United States and despite growing up in Santa Monica, Karen opted to play for England as she felt that she had more ties and connection to England.

Her first appearance for England was in the ‘UEFA Women Under -19 Championship’ (2003). Her first senior match for England was in March 2005 (Algarve Cup) where they had a 4-0 victory. She also played in the ‘UEFA Women’s Euro’ for 2009.

Karen’s training, hard work, and resilience did pay off and by 2011 World Cup. She was made first choice goalkeeper for the English team. So far, Karen has had about 75 appearances in all for England. She was also part of the 18 player squad who played in the ‘London Olympics (2012).

She has had some wins under her belt. They include “FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 (third place), SheBelieves Cup (2019) amongst others.

Karen delved into coaching as a volunteer in her college before getting hired as an assistant coach for the University of San Diego.

See Also: Christine Sinclair Biography, Husband, Salary, And Net Worth

Net Worth

The whole of Karen’s career has been in football. With the number of years she has invested, it is certain that she has an impressive net worth. Although nothing has been confirmed yet. She has successfully hidden this information from the media.

Other Facts About Karen Bardsley

1. Karen understands that everyone’s football career comes to an end at some point, she has started putting plans in place for her retirement. She is presently studying a ‘Master of Sport Directorship (MSD) at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has shared her excitement about the program as she believes women sport are underrepresented at various levels.
2. She is a veteran goalkeeper and her wealth of experience can’t be overlooked. While she has been number one goalkeeper for Manchester City and England for a decade now. She now has to compete for the shirt at both ends as she is getting older. Her boss “Nick Cushing continues to express his confidence in her though. He believes she maintains the ability to be a big keeper in big moments and has helped them win trophies. Karen seems to be unperturbed by all this. She believes the club needs a succession plan.
3. With Manchester City, she has won all the available domestic competitions.
4. Karen has an impressive height for a goalkeeper. She is 5 feet 11 inches (1.81m) tall.