After a long journey to get to this place, Jessie Fleming comes into the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup as not just the most promising midfielder in Canada, but one of the most promising in the whole tournament.
The 21-year-old was born March 11, 1998 and is from London, Ontario. Growing up, Fleming’s first taste of big silverware came when she was crowned Ontario Cup champions with London Nor’West’s U18 team, at the age of 16.
In 2014, Fleming committed to the UCLA Bruins, where she still plays now and has made 53 appearances, scoring 22 goals from midfield. She led them to the NCAA Division I Championship Final in 2017, where they fell 3-2 to Stanford.
Fleming made her debut the Canada women’s national team at the age of 15 years and 278 days against Chile as she became the second youngest player to represent the country.
She captained the women’s team to a silver medal in the CONCACAF U17 Women’s Championship and later on featured at the U17 FIFA Women’s World Cup where they were defeated in the quarter-finals against Venezuela.
She made a real push for the World Cup squad when she got her first goal for the nation’s senior team on March 4, 2015 in a 2-0 win over Scotland in the Cyprus Cup as they went on to lose to England in the final.
A few months later, Fleming earned a spot in the 2015 roster for the World Cup in Canada. She made two appearances as Canada fell to England in the quarter-final.
The following year she attended the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro as Canada earned a bronze medal after a 2-1 win against the host country.
Fleming made her 50th appearance for the Canada national team on March 7, 2018 where she scored a goal against South Korea in a 3-0 win at the Algarve Cup.
She comes into the World Cup this summer as a key contributor to Kenneth Heiner-Møller’s side having made 65 appearances, scoring eight goals.
Fleming scored a goal in their 3-0 win over Mexico on May 18 at BMO Field and has started 14 of Canada’s last 16 games.
Honours
NCAA
2016 Third-Team All-American
2016 First-team NSCAA All-Pacific Region
2016 First-team All-Pac-12 and All-Freshman selection
2017 All-West Region and All-Pac-12 honouree
2017 Pac-12 All-Academic honours
2017 First-Team All-American
2017 Hermann Trophy Finalist
2017 NCAA Division I Championship Runner-Up
Canada National Teams:
2013 U17 CONCACAF Golden Ball
2013 U17 CONCACAF Best XI
2014 U17 Canada Player of The Year
2015 U20 Canada Player of The Year
2016 U20 Canada Player of The Year
2017 U20 Canada Player of The Year
2017 CONCACAF Best XI
2018 CONCACAF Women’s Championship Best XI
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