Ashleigh Plumptre

Ashleigh Plumptre (born 8 May 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Leicester City in the FA Women's Super League. Formerly an England youth international, she received her first call-up for the Nigeria women's national team in July 2021.

Club Career

Youth career

Born in Leicester, Plumptre grew up and attended primary school in Melton Mowbray. She began playing football at age 4 when she joined Asfordby Amateurs. At age 8 she joined the Leicester City Centre of Excellence, spending seven years with the club playing from under-10 to under-15 level. She left Leicester to join Birmingham City's under-17 team in 2013 where she also had the opportunity to train with the senior WSL 1 team. In 2014, Plumptre briefly joined third-tier FA Women's Premier League side Derby County's Centre of Excellence.

Notts County

Plumptre joined WSL 1 side Notts County in 2014. She made her senior debut on 24 August 2014, as a 57th minute substitute for Caitlin Friend in a 1–0 defeat to Liverpool. In doing so she become the youngest Notts County debutant at 16 years 108 days. She made her first start in a 1–1 WSL 1 draw with Manchester City on 3 September. Four days later she appeared as a substitute at the start of extra-time during a League Cup semi-final defeat to Arsenal.

On 1 August 2015, Plumptre was an unused substitute for the 2015 FA Women's Cup Final, the first to be played at Wembley Stadium. She scored her first and only goal for Notts County on 30 August 2015 in a 5–0 League Cup group stage victory at home to second-tier Yeovil Town. Notts County also reached the League Cup final in 2015, losing to Arsenal 3–0 with Plumptre an unused substitute for the second consecutive cup final.

USC Trojans

In 2016, Plumptre moved to the United States to play college soccer at the University of Southern California. As a freshman she made 17 substitute appearances as a midfielder for the USC Trojans including