Cloé Lacasse

Cloé Zoé Eyja Lacasse (born July 7, 1993) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Women's Super League club Arsenal and the Canada national team.

Early life
Lacasse began playing soccer at age five with the Sudbury Canadians before moving on to Brampton Brams United in 2010. She attended École secondaire Macdonald-Cartier, where she helped her team with the provincial OFSAA championship twice in 2010 and 2011. In her youth, she made the national team for taekwondo, where she is a black belt, before deciding to focus solely on soccer at age 12.

College career
Lacasse began attending the University of Iowa, where she played for the women's soccer team on a scholarship. In her freshman season in 2011, she led the team in scoring with 12 goals, appearing in all 20 of the team's games, also being named Big Ten Freshman of the Week twice,  and was named the team's Most Valuable Offensive Player and to the Big Ten All Freshman Team. In 2012, she was named to the NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region second team and was the co-winner of Iowa’s Most Valuable Player award and was named team’s Offensive Player of the Year again. In 2013, she was a Second-team All-Big Ten selection and a Second Team NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region selection. In her senior season, she was named to the All Big Ten First Team and was also a First Team NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region, First Team All-Big Ten, was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team, and was named Iowa’s Offensive MVP for a fourth straight season.

Lacasse was the school's top scorer during all her four seasons there. She led the Hawkeyes to their first two Big Ten Tournament Championship games in her final two years at Iowa, and their first NCAA national tournament berth in 2013. Lacasse finished her Iowa career tied for the school record with 112 points (43 goals and 26 assists), while ranking second all-time with 43 goals. She also finished tied for first in shots (306) and second in game-winning goals (13) and assists (26).

Club career
In 2012, Lacasse played with the Toronto Lady Lynx in the USL W-League.

After receiving offers to play for teams in the United States and Europe, Lacasse signed with Icelandic club ÍBV in the Úrvalsdeild kvenna in 2015. In 2016, she won the League Cup and in 2017, she won the Icelandic Cup with ÍBV. In 2018, the team were runner-ups in the Super Cup and she was named IBV's Player of the Year, and was she was named the league's best player by the newspaper Morgunblaðið.

Benfica
After being spotted by a Portuguese agent while playing in Iceland, Lacasse signed a two-year contract in July 2019 with Portuguese club Benfica in the Campeonato Nacional Feminino. On November 17, 2021, she became the first player to score a goal for a Portuguese club in the group stage of the UEFA Women's Champions League after scoring the opening goal in a 2-1 victory over BK Häcken FF. In 2021, she extended her contract until 2024. With Benfica, she is a three-time Campeonato Nacional Feminino winner (2020–21, 2021–22, 2022-23), a three-time Taça da Liga winner (2020, 2021, 2022), and a two-time Supertaça de Portugal winner (2019, 2022). In the 2022-23 season, she was voted top player in the league by the players union. In her final season with the club, she scored 35 goals and added 18 assists in 43 games across all competitions. Over her four seasons, she scored over 100 goals and won eight trophies.

Arsenal
On 29 June 2023, Lacasse signed for Women's Super League giants Arsenal. She called the move a "dream", citing a desire to be part of a team with strong internal competition for playing time. On 6 October 2023, Lacasse came on as a substitute in an away match against Manchester United, scoring her first Arsenal goal in second-half stoppage time to help salvage a point in a 2–2 draw. Lacasse scored a goal in the 3–1 victory against Manchester United in front of the first sold out crowd for a Super League match at Emirates Stadium.

International career
In August 2012, Lacasse attended a training camp with the Canada U20 team for the first time, but did not make the team's final roster for their upcoming matches.

After being granted Icelandic citizenship in June 2019, the head coach of the Iceland national team, Jón Þór Hauksson, stated that she would be considered for a call-up for the team's next games. Lacasse applied to FIFA and UEFA to be eligible to represent Iceland internationally, however, it was confirmed in July 2020 that her application was denied, as it was ruled she did not meet FIFA's residency requirements to be eligible to represent a new national association.

In April 2021, Lacasse was called-up to Canada ahead of friendlies against England and Wales, but did not appear in either match. She was one of the final players cut from the final selections for the Canadian Olympic team for Tokyo shortly afterward, thus missing the team's eventual gold medal win. Given her minimal experience with the national team to that point, she later acknowledged "I knew it was ambitious" to hope to make the squad. She then made her debut for the national team on November 27, 2021 in a friendly against Mexico and was named Canada's player of the match.

Lacasse made her first appearance at a major international tournament as part of the national squad for the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship, winning the silver medal, after a loss to the United States. She later scored her first goal for the national team on October 6, 2022 in a 2–0 victory over Argentina in a friendly.

Continuing to make appearances with the team into 2023, Lacasse was named to the Canadian roster for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. She appeared in all three of the team's matches, before Canada was eliminated in the group stage. Following the disappointing results at the World Cup, coach Bev Priestman sought to reorganize the team, and opted to start Lacasse in both of the team's next matches, the CONCACAF Olympic qualification playoff against Jamaica. In the second match, held on home soil at BMO Field, Lacasse scored in the first half to equalize a game that Canada would eventually win 2–1, clinching their fifth consecutive Olympic berth.

Personal life
In 2017, Lacasse stated she was working towards applying for Icelandic citizenship, and said it would be an honour for her to be named to the Icelandic national team. In June 2019, the Icelandic Judicial Affairs and Education Committee recommended that Lacasse's application to be granted Icelandic citizenship be approved. On June 19, 2019, she was officially granted Icelandic citizenship.

Honours
ÍBV
 * Icelandic Women's Football Cup: 2017
 * League Cup Women A: 2016

Benfica
 * Campeonato Nacional Feminino: 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23
 * Taça da Liga Feminina: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2022–23
 * Supertaça de Portugal Feminina: 2019, 2022, 2023

Arsenal
 * FA Women’s League Cup: 2023–24

Canada
 * CONCACAF W Championship runner-up: 2022
 * SheBelieves Cup runner-up: 2024

Individual
 * Campeonato Nacional Feminino Player of the Year: 2022–23
 * Campeonato Nacional Feminino Golden Boot: 2019–20, 2022–23
 * WSL Goal of the Month: October 2023