Amandine Henry

Amandine Chantal Henry (born 28 September 1989) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for National Women's Soccer League club Utah Royals and the France national team.

Henry made her senior international debut for France in 2009 and captained the national team from October 2017 to 2020. At the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, she won the Silver Ball and was named to the All-Star Squad.

With Lyon, she has won 7 UEFA Women's Champions League finals, 13 league titles, and 8 French Cup championships. With the Portland Thorns, she won the 2016 NWSL Shield and 2017 league championship.

In 2022, Henry was nominated for the FIFA Puskás Award.

Career
Henry began her career in 2004, at the age of 15, at Hénin-Beaumont. After one season, she attended the women's section of the Clairefontaine academy for two seasons.

Olympique Lyonnais, 2007–2016
In 2007, at the age of 18, Henry joined Lyon, the most successful women's team in France. During her first season with Lyon, she injured the cartilage in her knee, which kept her out of competition for a year and a half. It was a difficult time, and she considered giving up on football, but with the support of her family, she persevered and returned to Lyon.

With Lyon, Henry was featured in the final match of the UEFA Women's Champions League in three consecutive seasons beginning in 2010.

Portland Thorns, 2016–17
Henry signed with the Portland Thorns in March 2016 and joined the team in June, where she played in 10 matches and started in 9 for the regular season-winning National Women's Soccer League team. She scored her first NWSL goal against Boston on 27 May. In May, she was named to the NWSL Team of the Month. She started in 12 consecutive games between April and July before departing for the UEFA Women's Euro 2017.

During the 2017 season, Henry returned to the Thorns to score in consecutive matches. First, she scored against Kansas City on 16 August, converting her first penalty kick for the Thorns. Then, she played 30 minutes as a substitute in the game against the Houston Dash on 19 August, scoring her third goal of the season.

The Thorns finished the 2017 season in second place, advancing to the playoffs where Henry scored the first goal against the third-place team Orlando Pride. Portland defeated Orlando 4–1. Henry became an NWSL champion when the Thorns defeated the regular-season winning team North Carolina Courage 1–0 in the 2017 NWSL Championship on 14 October 2017.

Paris Saint-Germain (loan), 2017
After undergoing surgery following the 2016 NWSL season, Henry joined Paris Saint-Germain in January 2017 on a short-term loan. She played in four Division 1 matches and one Coupe de France Féminine match before rejoining the Thorns in March.

Olympique Lyonnais, 2017–23
After the 2017 NWSL season, Henry returned to Lyon for the remainder of the 2017–18 Division 1 Féminine season. She was nominated for the 2022 FIFA Puskás Award for best goal in January 2023, in recognition of her long-distance goal against FC Barcelona in the sixth minute of the 2022 UEFA Women's Champions League final.

Henry remained a regular starter with Lyon until suffering a lateral collateral ligament injury in her left knee during a Coupe de France semifinal match against Stade de Reims Féminines on 4 March 2023.

Angel City FC, 2023–2024
On June 1, 2023, NWSL club Angel City FC of Los Angeles signed Henry to a three-year contract with an option for a fourth year. After recovering from the injury that kept her from the France World Cup Squad, Henry made her debut for Angel City on September 1, 2023, coming on as a substitute in a NWSL away match against Kansas City Current. Henry made her first start for Angel City on October 8, 2023 in a must win match against Houston Dash to keep the team in playoffs contention that finished as a 1–2 victory. She would go on to start the rest of the games that season including the clubs first playoffs appearance against OL Reign on October 20, 2023 where the team was ultimately defeated 1–0.

Lille OSC (loan) 2023-24
On November 16, 2023, it was announced that Henry would join Lille OSC on loan from Angel City during the NWSL offseason and would return to Los Angeles to join the team for preseason training in March 2024.

Utah Royals, 2024–
On April 20, 2024, Angel City FC announced that they had traded Henry to Utah Royals FC in exchange for $75,000 in allocation money.

International career
At the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, Henry earned the Silver Ball Award. Henry was named among the best players in Europe in 2015, becoming a finalist in the annual UEFA Best Women's Player in Europe Award, finishing second behind Célia Šašić.

During UEFA Women's Euro 2017, Henry started in all four games for France. France was ranked #3 in the world. France beat Iceland 1–0 on 18 July. On 22 July, Henry scored the goal that drew the game against Austria 1–1, and on 26 July, France drew Switzerland 1–1. This qualified France to advance to the quarter-finals where they lost to England 1–0 on 30 July. Henry received the player of the match award for the quarter-final match against England.

In May 2022, Henry was omitted from the French selection for UEFA Women's Euro 2022 by manager Corinne Diacre despite her form for Lyon in national and Champions League club play. This continued a trend since 2020 of Diacre omitting Henry from the selection. France Football writer Théo Troude considered the omission a "scandal" and indicative of Diacre's management style. In February 2023, Wendie Renard withdrew from the squad "to preserve (her) sanity", Kadidiatou Diani withdrew and called for "profound changes", and Marie Katoto suspended her international career while also calling for change. The French federation fired Diacre on 9 March 2023.

On 6 June 2023, the French national team managed by Hervé Renard included Henry in the selection for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. However, on 7 July 2023 the federation announced that Henry would be forced to withdraw due to an injury to her left calf.

Personal life
Henry was born in Lille and started playing football at the age of 5. There were no girls' teams for such young players, so she played with boys until she was 13 years old.

Honours
Lyon
 * Division 1 Féminine: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021–22
 * Coupe de France Féminine: 2007–08, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2018–19, 2019–20
 * UEFA Women's Champions League: 2010–11, 2011–12, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021–22

Portland Thorns
 * NWSL Championship: 2017
 * NWSL Shield: 2016

France
 * Cyprus Cup: 2014
 * SheBelieves Cup: 2017

Individual
 * FIFA Women's World Cup Silver Ball: 2015
 * FIFA Women's World Cup All-Star Team: 2015
 * FIFPro: FIFA FIFPro World XI 2015
 * IFFHS Women's World Team: 2018, 2019
 * IFFHS UEFA Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020
 * FIFA Puskás Award: 2022 nominee