Football Fern Katie Rood will play in next season’s UK Women’s Championship after helping her Southampton side win their promotion play-off final against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Southampton beat Wolves 1-0 in a tense final, in which Rood came off the bench and almost scored straight away with a curling shot that was saved by the Wolves ‘keeper.
Rood’s team had qualified for the play-off by winning the Southern Premier League, while Wolves had won the Northern Premier League.
The Championship is women’s football’s second-tier competition in the UK, one step away from the Women’s Super League.
Rood has had a winning touch throughout her career, having won titles before with Marist Whangarei, Glenfield Rovers, Northern Football and Juventus.
The striker joined the Saints from Lewes FC earlier this season.
She first played in the United Kingdom in 2012 when she joined Lincoln Ladies in the FA WSL as a teenager, having played seven seasons at Auckland’s Glenfield Rovers.
She made her full international debut in 2017, and signed for Italian club Juventus the same year. A move to Bristol City followed and then a loan spell at Lewes which became a full move in 2019.
More football stories
