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The North Carolina Courage have announced the transfer of midfielder and captain Denise O’Sullivan to Liverpool, ending an almost nine-year spell for O’Sullivan in North Carolina. The teams have not disclosed the transfer fee.
O’Sullivan is North Carolina’s all-time leader in appearances with 186 appearances in all competitions. She helped the Courage win three NWSL Shields and two NWSL Championships, plus two Challenge Cups. O’Sullivan arrived at the Courage in 2017 and was part of North Carolina’s short dynasty on the court.
The Courage won three consecutive Shields from 2017-2019, and the NWSL Championship in 2018 and 2019. In 2018, the Courage lost just once in all competitions, while winning both league trophies and the inaugural Women’s International Champions Cup, a scaled-down (by invitation) precursor to the upcoming Club World Cup.
“It is difficult to put into words what this club has truly meant to me,” O’Sullivan said in a statement. “North Carolina will always be my home, and I am forever grateful to the club, my teammates and the incredible fans who supported me every step of the way and believed in me. I am now taking on a new challenge, but I will always be a part of Courage Country. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything.”
O’Sullivan joins a Liverpool team battling to stay in the Women’s Super League, England’s top flight.
Liverpool, which is coached by former Manchester City coach Gareth Taylor, is winless in the first twelve games of the season and has only four points. Liverpool are last and currently in the relegation places in the play-offs, although West Ham only have 5 points.
O’Sullivan has been the subject of rumors about possible transfers to England in recent times. She said this on the Liverpool club website that the move is also important for her large family, who are now a short flight away.
She is an Irish international midfielder who helped her country qualify for the Women’s World Cup for the first time in 2023.
O’Sullivan first arrived at the Courage in 2017 as a distance wire pickup after the Houston Dash waived its midseason. The Courage picked up Sullivan and she found immediate success in North Carolina.
Ahead of the 2023 season, O’Sullivan became the second captain of the franchise’s North Carolina era (which began as the Western New York Flash).
“Denise has been an integral part of this club from the beginning and she has helped define the Courage way,” North Carolina chief soccer officer Ceri Bowley, who joined the club last year, said in a statement. “She has been a leader both on and off the field, and the standard of excellence she set for herself, her teammates and everyone at this organization will be her legacy. She will be missed, but we understand her desire to be closer to home and wish her all the best in her next chapter.”
Prior to her move to the NWSL – originally with the Dash, for 2016 and part of 2017 – O’Sullivan played in Ireland and Scotland, where she also found success.
O’Sullivan played with several clubs in the UEFA Women’s Champions League and was part of the Glasgow City team that reached the quarter-finals of the UWCL in the 2014–15 season, becoming the first Scottish team to reach that stage.
Glasgow City won three consecutive Scottish league titles during O’Sullivan’s time there, along with multiple cup titles.
She was loaned out to Australia twice during the NWSL off-season. She also previously played briefly in the Women’s Super League on loan to Brighton in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, a loan that allowed her to compete globally for Ireland in uncertain times.
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