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Michelle Anne Akers (formerly Akers-Stahl; born February 1, 1966) is an American former soccer player who starred in the 1991 and 1999 Women's World Cup and 1996 Olympics victories by the United States. At the 1991 World Cup, she won the Golden Shoe as the top scorer, with ten goals.
Akers is regarded as one of the greatest female soccer players in history. She was named FIFA Female Player of the Century in 2002, an award she shared with China's Sun Wen. In 2004, Akers and Mia Hamm were the only two women named to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living soccer players selected by Pelé and commissioned by FIFA for that organization's 100th anniversary.
Akers is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, inducted in 2004.
Akers scored 15 goals in 24 games for the U.S. from 1985 to 1990, before scoring a team-record 39 goals in 26 games in the 1991 season. In 1990 and 1991 she was named the Female Athlete of the Year by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). Akers was also the lead scorer in the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup in China in 1991, scoring ten goals, including five in one game. This led the U.S. women's team to the first women's world championship, defeating Norway 2–1 in the final. Akers scored both U.S. goals in the final.
Throughout most of her career, Akers was afflicted by chronic fatigue syndrome, repeatedly considering retirement only to continue playing in some of U.S. Soccer's most significant matches.
After the 1991 World Cup, she shifted from striker to central midfielder, in part to minimize the beatings doled out by opposing defenders. Despite the precautions, Akers suffered a concussion and a knee injury early in the 1995 World Cup, and was hampered by the knee in the U.S.'s semifinal loss to Norway.Michelle Akers Biography http://www.biography.com/people/michelle-akers-21321911#national-superstar Michelle Akers enjoying life after soccer http://www.cfs-info.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=712&Itemid=79
In 1996, Akers was again a member of the U.S. women's national team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where it won the first gold medal in Olympic Women's Soccer. She played with a torn medial collateral ligament in the holding central midfielder role, anchoring the team's defense, dominating in the air, and playmaking out of the back to maintain possession and generate goal-scoring opportunities. After the tournament her knee required reconstructive surgery for the third time. She was also a member of the gold medal-winning 1998 Goodwill Games team. On June 7, 1998, she was awarded the FIFA Order of Merit, FIFA's highest honor in the global game of soccer, for her contributions to the game of soccer on and off the field; she was the first woman ever to receive it. Akers again was a leader and member of the 1999 Women's World Cup team, where the team won their second World Cup championship. Despite playing with a dislocated shoulder, caused by a fan in the quarterfinals, she was awarded the Bronze Ball of the tournament by FIFA.
Shortly before the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Akers retired from the game due to injuries incurred before and during the 1999 FIFA World Cup. She was the U.S. national team's second all-time leading scorer (behind Mia Hamm) with 105 goals, 37 assists and 247 points.
Since her retirement from the USWNT in 2000, she has also continued to promote the game of soccer as a spokesperson, advocate, and leader on various platforms.Cardenas, Natalia. Michelle Akers. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved June 10, 2018.Scavuzzo, Diane. (June 12, 2015). Women in Soccer: Michelle Akers. Goal Nation. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |||
| United States | 1985 | 2 | 2 |
| 1986 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1987 | 9 | 3 | |
| 1988 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1990 | 6 | 9 | |
| 1991 | 26 | 39 | |
| 1993 | 12 | 6 | |
| 1994 | 12 | 11 | |
| 1995 | 20 | 17 | |
| 1996 | 17 | 7 | |
| 1997 | 2 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 15 | 5 | |
| 1999 | 20 | 6 | |
| 2000 | 7 | 1 | |
| Exhibition match |
| 1–3 |
| 6–0 |
| 4–0 |
| ?–0 |
| 4–0 |
| 4–2 |
| 8–0 |
| ?–0 |
| ?–0 |
| 3–0 |
| ?–0 |
| 3–0 |
| ?–0 |
| 8–0 |
| ?–0 |
| ?–0 |
| 3–0 |
| 2–0 |
| 5–0 |
| 4–0 |
| 5–0 |
| 1991 CONCACAF Women's Championship |
| 4–0 |
| 12–0 |
| ?–0 |
| 10–0 |
| ?–0 |
| 10–0 |
| ?–0 |
| 5–0 |
| 2–0 |
| 5–0 |
| Friendly |
| 3–1 |
| 4–2 |
| 4–2 |
| 1–2 |
| 2–2 |
| 3–0 |
| 2–0 |
| 3–0 |
| 2–0 |
| 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup |
| 3–0 |
| 2–0 |
| 7–0 |
| 2–0 |
| 3–0 |
| 5–0 |
| 6–0 |
| 2–1 |
| 2–1 |
| Friendly |
| 7–0 |
| 7–0 |
| 3–0 |
| 1993 CONCACAF Women's Invitational Tournament |
| ?–0 |
| Friendly |
| 2–0 |
| 3–0 |
| 2–1 |
| 4–1 |
| 1994 CONCACAF Women's Championship |
| ?–0 |
| 11–1 |
| 10–0 |
| ?–0 |
| 6–0 |
| Friendly |
| 4–1 |
| 7–0 |
| ?–0 |
| ?–0 |
| 1995 Algarve Cup |
| Friendly |
| 5–0 |
| 2–0 |
| 6–0 |
| 4–1 |
| ?–? |
| 9–1 |
| 4–1 |
| 1995 Women's U.S. Cup |
| 9–0 |
| 4–2 |
| Friendly |
| 3–2 |
| 6–0 |
| 4–1 |
| 8–2 |
| 1996 Women's U.S. Cup |
| 1996 Summer Olympics |
| Friendly |
| 1998 Algarve Cup |
| Friendly |
| 7–0 |
| 1998 Goodwill Games |
| 1998 Women's U.S. Cup |
| Friendly |
| 6–0 |
| 2–1 |
| 9–0 |
| 2–0 |
| 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup |
| 2–0 |
| Friendly |
Some scorelines in the goal log above are courtesy of RSSSF: , others via Canada Soccer archive e.g.: Sources disagree on whether Akers scored vs Hungary on April 3, 1991, or whether Wendy Gebauer got 2 that day. Compare (credits Gebauer), vs RSSSF: (credits Akers-Stahl)
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