Heather O’Reilly wasn’t with us for a long time, but she was certainly here for a good time. Aged 31 when she arrived in north London, she was a World Cup winner and a three-time Olympic Gold medallist with the US National Team. 

“I had an edge and a confidence that I wanted to bring to Arsenal,” she goes on to tell us. O’Reilly also had a long-standing ambition to play for one of England’s great institution clubs. However, Heather, known to friends and fans as “HAO” (her middle name is Ann), says she was lucky to be born into a very developed soccer culture in the US. 

“I grew up in New Jersey. There were a lot of immigrants in the New York New Jersey area and there were a lot of English coaches and coaches from all over. It was an area that also produced a lot of great male players. I also had three older brothers, so I was hauled to the field for their practice before I could even walk. 

“It was a bit of luck that I grew up in an area where soccer was respected and there was a decent amount of girls’ soccer. I never had to play on a boys’ team. I was from a generation where there were great opportunities for girls to play. I was quite good; I think that came from playing with my brothers in the back yard. That was really good for my self-esteem and that encouraged me a lot.”

Like a lot of American soccer players, HAO benefitted from playing other sports. If football was her major, basketball was her minor: “I played basketball from age eight through 18. Basketball was a nice complement to soccer because it’s indoors and it gets cold on the East Coast in the winter. Basketball gave me a good, broad athletic base. I was moving my body in a different way and it kept me fresh for the soccer season. It gave me a different group of friends, too. 

“I played through high school and made the National Team in high school. My school had no concerns about me playing both sports. I don’t think that would happen now with loading and injury risks. But they just wanted me to be a kid and have a normal teenage experience. They also saw the advantages of me staying fit and fresh and excited for soccer too. Obviously at a certain point you choose, and I chose soccer. I was five foot five so a WNBA career was less likely!” 

Heather went on to attend the University of North Carolina, where she majored in Education. UNC – whose graduates are affectionately known as Tar Heels – has a rich history of producing elite women’s soccer talent.  

“A lot is to do with Anson Dorrance, who is the godfather of women’s soccer in the US,” O’Reilly explains. “He coached the USWNT when they won the World Cup in 1991 but he coached UNC at the same time. His presence at the national team and UNC sort of blended and turned UNC into an academy of sorts in those early years before academies began to exist all over the country.”

Arsenal have benefitted from UNC’s soccer heritage to this day. “Myself, Tobin Heath, Emily Fox, Alessia Russo and Lotte Wubben-Moy are all alumni. Hopefully there will be more for Arsenal in the future! But I loved it so much that I live here in Chapel Hill still and I am raising my family here. 

"It’s a special place because of the support for women’s sports and crowds were always good here. I wanted to win and to develop and play with other good players and UNC was the place to do that.” 

Her school sports backgrounds in football and basketball fostered Heather’s confidence and competitive spirit. A pacy winger, she was known for her stamina and worth ethic: “I think there was something about being the youngest in my family. I was always trying to impress my brothers and that made me really competitive. I was always trying to surprise people.” 

But HAO says the 1999 USWNT who won the World Cup on home soil, now known as the 99ers, really opened her eyes to the possibilities in football. “I was 14 for the 1999 World Cup so it was a very formative time of my self-development. I went to some of the early rounds and I watched Brandi Chastain score the winning penalty in the final in LA on TV. That tournament was critical for people of my generation.

“Afterwards, the players were on Wheaties boxes and on the covers of magazines and Mia Hamm was in Nike commercials with Michael Jordan. These women became stars. It impacted us at a deep level; it made it cool to compete and want to be the best and there is nothing wrong with wanting that and saying it out loud. It shed a lot of insecurity for female soccer players in the US. I had a budding competitive nature due to my family; but the 99 World Cup ignited it and then I really found my pack at UNC.” 

HAO went on to win 231 caps for her country. But as well as on-field success, O’Reilly and her contemporaries were known for the mainstream personalities their success spawned, as well as their advocacy, with players such as Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, Hope Solo, Alex Morgan and countless others becoming big names with big voices. 

“We’re really proud of that. We reminded ourselves and each other many times that winning gave us the platform and people view us as winners, which gave us relevance. First and foremost, we wanted to take care of business on the field. With winning and big crowds comes an opportunity. People weren’t searching for things to be outspoken about; they were coming into our world.

“We were playing World Cups on artificial turf and nobody was saying anything about it, so we thought we would say something. There was a history of that in the team before us too with players like Julie Foudy. It was embedded into the culture of the US team: first and foremost take care of your business on the field, then if you want to and you can, use your voice in the right way. We hope that has inspired other players and other countries to do the same.” Having already won three Olympic golds, O’Reilly became a World Cup winner at the 2015 tournament in Canada. 

She says it was something of a culmination for her and many of her team-mates: “It was my third World Cup. I would likely have made the team in 2003 as a young player but I got injured and missed out. In 2007, we finished third, in 2011 we lost the final on penalties to Japan after being ahead twice in the game. We couldn’t have got much closer.  

But I felt, personally, going from bronze to silver, in 2015 I thought things must be aligning to go one step further again.” The USA won a swashbuckling final 5-2 against Japan, having found themselves 4-1 up at half time: 

“My place in the team had evolved. I didn’t play as many minutes in 2015 and I was on the bench for the final. I was No9 and Carli Lloyd was No10 so our spaces were together in the locker room. We’ve known each other since we were 13 and we both grew up in New Jersey. We were ahead at half time and she had scored a hat-trick already. I leaned over and said, ‘Carli, you just scored a hat-trick in the final and one of the goals was from the halfway line!’ 

We had to pull ourselves together because the game wasn’t done. “But for me that World Cup felt like mission accomplished. We won three Olympic golds and were multiple years ranked FIFA number one. It’s not like we weren’t winning but we couldn’t get it over the line at the World Cup level, and for players like myself, Abby Wambach and Shannon Boxx it felt like we had finally gotten it done. It was a feeling of finality.”

HAO retired from international duty in September 2016 and signed for Arsenal a few months later. At the time, it was less common for players from the US to come to England. “It was always on my radar,” she says. “A few of my USWNT team-mates would go for short spells at Lyon, but it was risky. It wasn’t encouraged to leave the US to play. 

“I was so sensitive about my spot with the US team so I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardise that. Games in other countries weren’t on TV so the coach could not see you as well in other countries.” 

For Heather, the chance to experience English football culture at a huge club like Arsenal was a bucket list aspiration for her career. She says her spell in north London quickly corrected her club allegiances too. “I was actually a Manchester United fan. [Fellow New Jersey native] Tim Howard played for them and they were really the only English team you could watch in America. 

!As soon as I got to Arsenal I remember talking to Lianne Sanderson and told her I was switching. She told me, ‘You can’t do that!’ but my affiliation was so weak before and with Arsenal it became so strong. I am definitely still a Gooner! It was exotic to me – a different experience. I was really drawn to the  culture and everything around football in England. I wanted to be in London too."

HAO was a regular at men’s games during her spell at Arsenal, getting to the Emirates whenever she could to experience the club culture in any way she could. “It was huge for me. Playing and training was my number one priority, but on a human level I wanted to really embrace the football culture. I didn’t know how long my stint would last so I wanted to get everything I could from it.” 

HAO signed at a transitional time for the club and played under Pedro Losa and Joe Montemurro, both of whom wanted to use her experience and leadership to help a young team with lots of emerging talent. “I wasn’t in my absolute prime as a player but I was still a useful player on and off the pitch. Women’s football in England was still searching for its identity; I think Sarina Wiegman has really provided that. She is another North Carolina player by the way – she spent a year there! 

"I had an edge and a confidence that I wanted to bring to some of those younger players. Leah Williamson was my room-mate on away trips. They would see my recovery, going to the ice bath and things like that. I wanted the younger players to see you could have fun at training and be competitive and be brash and bold with what you want to do and that’s OK. I tried to bring that energy. If I was able to impact them in a positive way that is a huge honour and I don’t hold that loosely.”

O’Reilly retired in 2019 but returned for a brief stint at Shelbourne in Ireland in 2022. At the 2022 Soccer Aid, she was coached by Arsène Wenger, who suggested she could still cut it at a high level. HAO scored the winner in the UWCL qualifying round against Slovenian side Pomurje. She explains her brief spell at Shelbourne was another bucket list item. 

“I had never played in the Champions League and that was a gap in my resume. Arsenal didn’t qualify and it was an irritating thing so I had a little comeback to scratch that itch!” Nowadays, Heather has tried her hand at punditry, coaching, as well as some executive roles. She still sees her future in football.  

“Like a lot of former players I’m seeking something I love as much as playing,” she explains. “Also as a player you don’t get to try things like a lot of university students do. I have tested coaching and television work;  I was with Como 1907 as head of women’s football for two years. I’m super-proud I helped them to claw their way up from the fourth division and now they are second in Serie A. 

“I know I want to stay in football and I’ve jumped around a bit in different roles. But my priority is being a mom right now, I have a six-year-old, William, and a four-year old named Jack and I’m being present for them to hopefully guide them in their early years of football!” 

While HAO had an impact on players like Leah Williamson, Danielle Carter and Beth Mead, she appreciates how the club has developed and had an impact on the wider game since her departure in 2018: “When I see the crowds at the Emirates now, I think, ‘OK, I was a small part of that.’” For Arsenal, as well as the USWNT, HAO was first and foremost one of the best and most admired players of her generation. 

You simply do not play over 200 matches for the USWNT without possessing a rare talent and work ethic to go with it. Heather also recognised the bigger picture of playing for the US and a huge English club like Arsenal: “There is a responsibility that comes with wearing that uniform.” Few wore those uniforms with greater distinction and responsibility than HAO.