Julie Ertz has received U.S. Soccer’s top individual honor for the second time in her career.
The U.S. Women’s National Team and Chicago Red Stars midfielder was named U.S. Soccer’s Female Player of the Year for 2019. She also won the award in 2017 and she’s the 10th player in the 35-year history of the award to win multiple times.
Ertz took home the award with 42% of the vote from a pool consisting of National Team coaches, National Team players who earned a cap in 2019, members of the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors, U.S. Soccer Athletes’ Council, National Women’s Soccer League head coaches, select media members and former players and administrators.
She beat out FIFA Women’s Player of the Year Megan Rapinoe, as well as Rose Lavelle, Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, and Alyssa Naeher.
Ertz led the USWNT with 22 starts in 2019 while playing a total of 1,755 minutes. She played 474 minutes of her six starts in the Women’s World Cup, scoring one goal and proving herself to be a vital piece in the team’s midfield. Her defensive play was a major reason that the team only conceded three goals in the entire tournament on their way to a second consecutive world championship.
“It’s been a whirlwind of a year and one that I’m extremely grateful for,” said Ertz. “My team lifted me up in so many ways and our experiences on and off the field in 2019 just encapsulate the love I have for the National Team and for wearing this crest and what it represents.”
She was also a key reason for the Chicago Red Stars’ run to the NWSL Final this summer. She started 14 games and both playoff matches for the club while showing her versatility. She played significant minutes in the midfield, but also spent plenty of time in the back line. She was named to the NWSL Best XI for her efforts, while also being named to FIFA’s Best XI for 2019.
Winner of the Ballon d’Or Féminin and named The Best FIFA Women’s Player in 2019 (Among EVERY female player in the world) USWNT player Megan Rapinoe. Yet, Julie Ertz named U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year……. I guess that is not that hard to explain at all. Haha what a joke
With no malice towards Rapinoe, Ertz is the MVP of the US womens team
Megan is the play-maker for the team and extremely deft in the execution of set plays. She plays extremely SMART. She was exceptional in the display of these qualities during the recent World Cup. Julie is Center Half and as such plays both ways and is one of the main reasons that so few goals were scored against the USWNT, because she helped keep the ball in the other teams end of the field MOST of the time. VERY FEW teams score any goals from their own end of the field. Megan or Julie will always be a good pick for whatever award you would want to bestow.
Chicago native. Beautiful person. Wish she was single and not married to an american football tight end.