Lloyd, Carli (1982-…), was an outstanding United States soccer player. She helped the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) win gold medals at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games. In each Olympic final, Lloyd scored the winning goal for the United States. She also helped the USWNT win a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympic Games were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lloyd, a midfielder, was known for her dynamic skills as a scorer and playmaker. In soccer, a playmaker controls a team’s offense, often coordinating scoring chances through precise passing. For a discussion of soccer positions and formations, see Soccer (Players and officials).
In 2015, Lloyd led the United States to a FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament championship. FIFA stands for Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football). FIFA is the governing body for soccer, which is called football in many parts of the world. Lloyd scored three goals—a feat known as a hat trick—in the U.S. team’s 5-2 defeat of Japan in the World Cup final. She was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player. In 2015 and again in 2016, Lloyd earned the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award as soccer’s best female player. Lloyd again starred on the U.S. team that won the World Cup in 2019. She previously played on U.S. World Cup teams in 2007 and 2011.
Carli Anne Lloyd was born on July 16, 1982, in Delran, New Jersey. She began playing soccer when she was 5 years old. She starred in soccer in high school and at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, where she set school records for scoring. Lloyd played on U.S. national youth teams before debuting for the U.S. Women’s National Team in 2005.
Lloyd played for three teams in the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league: the Chicago Red Stars in 2009, New Jersey’s Sky Blue FC (football club) in 2010, and the Atlanta Beat in 2011. After the WPS ceased operations in 2012, Lloyd joined the newly formed National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). She played for the Western New York Flash until joining the Houston Dash in 2014. In February 2017, Lloyd signed a temporary contract to play for Manchester City WFC (women’s football club) of the Football Association Women’s Super League in the United Kingdom. In 2018, she returned to Sky Blue FC (now NJ/NY Gotham FC), of the NWSL. Lloyd retired from playing soccer in 2021.
