Noelle Maritz

Noelle Maritz (born 23 December 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Aston Villa of the FA WSL. She previously played for Arsenal in the WSL, VfL Wolfsburg in the German Bundesliga, and FC Zürich in Switzerland's Nationalliga A. Born in the United States, she represents Switzerland at international level.

Youth
Noelle Maritz started playing football at age four in Newport Beach, California. When her family moved to the East Coast, she transferred to the Players Development Academy in New Jersey. After playing in the United States up to U13, she returned to her ancestral homeland, Switzerland, in the summer of 2005.

There she first played for the local club FC Amriswil in the D-Jugend before moving to FC Staad in the summer of 2007. There she was able to recommend herself for the Swiss youth selection and spent three years in the training center of the Swiss Football Association in Huttwil. At the same time, Maritz played at FC Wil in youth football with the boys U13, U14, and U15.

FC Zürich
After these three years, she signed her first player contract with FC Zürich for the 2011/2012 season. There she gave her senior debut in the National League A on August 6, 2011 against SC Schwyz. She played 28 games in two years and scored one goal for Zurich in the NLA before signing for German treble winners VfL Wolfsburg.

Wolfsburg
As the first transfer of the summer, Wolfsburg coach Ralf Kellermann signed 17-year-old Maritz on May 20, 2013 on the strength of her first national team performances in Cyprus. She made her debut for the club on October 3, taking to the field as a starter in the match won 8-1 over VfL Sindelfingen. In her first year at VfL Wolfsburg, Maritz played in 15 of 22 Bundesliga games and won the double with the club this season, consisting of a championship and a Champions League.

Arsenal
Maritz joined Arsenal FC for the 2020/21 season. She made her Arsenal debut in the 2-1 loss to PSG in the Champions League quarter final on 22 August 2020, before making her league debut in their opening game against Reading on 6 September 2020, playing the whole 90 minutes. On 16 May 2021, Maritz scored twice in a 9-0 defeat of Crystal Palace in the FA Cup.

Aston Villa
On 6 January 2024, it was announced that Maritz had signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Aston Villa with the option to extend for a further year. She made her debut for the club on January 13 and played a full 90 minutes in the 3-0 loss against Everton in the FA Cup.

International career
Noelle Maritz has been a senior Switzerland international since 2013, after taking part in the 2012 U17 European Championship in Switzerland and the 2017 U20 World Cup in Japan. She made her senior international debut on March 6, 2013 against the Canada national team as part of the Cyprus Cup.

In 2013/14 Maritz qualified with the Swiss national team for the 2015 World Cup in Canada, where she was in the starting line-up in each of the four World Cup games, but was eliminated by a 0-1 defeat in the round of 16 against the hosts. In qualifying for the Euro 2017 she had four missions. The Swiss were also able to qualify for European Championship finals for the first time, where they played in the three group games. With one win, one draw, and one defeat each, they were eliminated after the group stage.

In qualifying for the 2019 World Cup, she played in the twelve games played by the Swiss. They ultimately missed out on their second appearance at the World Cup after losing twice in the playoffs of the runners-up to European champions Netherlands. They had previously missed out on direct qualification due to a goalless draw in the last group match against Poland.

Maritz took part in the 2022 European Championship and was in the starting line-up for the Swiss in all three group games. Switzerland was eliminated after the preliminary round. She was in the squad for the 2023 World Cup and started all four games. Switzerland was eliminated in the round of 16.

Personal life
Maritz was born in the United States, growing up in Newport Beach, CA and Hillsborough, NJ, and moved to Switzerland in the canton of Thurgau when she was ten. Therefore, she has dual citizenship.

Because she was born in California, her name is officially spelled without accents as "Noelle", instead of the usual "Noëlle", according to the state's naming laws where names should only consist of letters in the English alphabet.

Honours
FC Zürich
 * Swiss Women's Super League: 2012, 2013
 * Swiss Women's Cup: 2012, 2013

VfL Wolfsburg Arsenal
 * Bundesliga: 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20
 * DFB-Pokal: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
 * UEFA Women's Champions League: 2014
 * FA Women's League Cup: 2022–23