West Ham United Women is delighted to confirm the signing of Republic of Ireland international defender Jessie Stapleton.
The 18-year-old makes the move to East London from League of Ireland Women’s Premier League side Shelbourne, where she helped the Dubliners to a league and cup double and featured 71 times, scoring 21 goals.
The promising youngster earned her first senior cap for her country at the age of 17 and is the current captain of the U19s.
Capable of playing in both defence and midfield, Stapleton will join Rehanne Skinner's side as they prepare for the 2023/24 Barclays Women’s Super League season, and Stapleton is excited about the prospect of testing herself in the WSL.
“I’m delighted to join West Ham United”, she told whufc.com.
"It's a massive honour for me to sign for this Club. It's been a dream of mine since I was a little kid to sign for a professional team and I can't wait to get going.
"Every player growing up now wants to play in the WSL, it's one of the biggest and best leagues in the world. You watch the games every weekend over in Ireland.
"There seems to be a great bunch of girls here at West Ham and I'm excited to get started with pre-season training ahead of the new season."
General Manager Aidan Boxall said that he is looking forward to seeing Stapleton develop in east London.
"We are delighted to welcome Jessie to east London. She is a promising defender that we have been watching for a long time and have beaten off some strong competition to secure her services.
"Jessie will need some time to adapt to the WSL but we feel we have a fantastic talent in the building, and I’m delighted she has chosen West Ham as the place that’s best suited to continue her development.
"We’re looking forward to seeing her in action and wish her all the very best throughout the coming season."
Stapleton began her career at Cherry Orchard FC, a Club that are well known for producing well-known players in Ireland in both the women’s and men’s game. She joined the Dublin-based outfit at eight and would stay there for eight years. During that time, she would become the first ever girl to play in the Dublin District Schoolboy’s League.
A brief spell with Peamount United would follow before she signed with Shamrock Rovers, where she captained the Hoops’ U17 side to the Women’s National League Final in December 2020.
In January of the following year, she would make the switch to Shels and impressed in her first senior season where she would play alongside Jess Ziu. She was nominated for Young Player of the Year and named in the Team of the Season as the Reds won the 2021 Women’s National League title.
In the following season, Stapleton was a vital part of the Reds team that followed up the 2021 title win with a League and Cup double. She was crowned Young Player of the Year and retained her place in the Team of the Season.
Stapleton also cored the opening goal and won the Player of the Match award as the Reds beat Athlone Town 2-0 in the 2022 FAI Women’s Cup Final, while also claiming the 1895 Young Player of the Year award for 2022.
On the international stage, Stapleton has captained Republic of Ireland at U15, U16, U17 and currently at U19s level, and was named U-19s Player of the Year at International level at the FAI Awards in 2022; an award she has been nominated for once again this year.
At senior level, Stapleton made her debut against the Philippines as a substitute in June of 2022 in a friendly match in Turkey and was most recently called-up to Pauw’s squad in November 2022.
Stapleton joins Ziu and Izzy Atkinson to become the third player from the Republic of Ireland in our squad ahead of the 2023/24 season and the sixth Irish player to play for the Club.
Everyone at West Ham United would like to welcome Jessie to east London and wish her the very best for her career in Claret and Blue.
