Football Fern Kate Taylor has agreed a two-year contract with French top-tier professional club Dijon.
Taylor (20), who left the Wellington Phoenix when her contract expired at the end of the last women’s A-League season, is currently in France with New Zealand’s Olympic Games squad.
The midfielder/defender told Dijon FCO’s website: “I chose to sign with DFCO to take a new step in my career, to challenge myself in a new league, both on and off the pitch. I want to bring something new to the team and the League as a ‘Kiwi’.”
DCFO, based in the capital city of the Burgundy region, play in the 12-team Arkema Première Ligue, the highest level of women’s football in France.
Sylvain Carric, manager of the club’s women’s section, told the club website: “The signing of Kate is fully in line with our recruitment strategy. She is a young player with very high potential and who arrives with great motivation, and also with a different work culture.
“She will bring us her athletic dimension, but she also likes defensive combat.
“She has this ability to get the ball out very cleanly, whether it is with her right foot or her left foot, so all this makes Kate a player who is already complete and who will continue to grow alongside us.”
Christchurch-born Taylor played her youth football for Nomads United and made her women’s national league debut for Canterbury United Pride in 2018. She played her senior club football for Cashmere Technical before signing for the Phoenix in October 2021.
Taylor became a key member of the Phoenix team that joined the Liberty A-League for the 2021-22 season, making 42 appearances in her three seasons with the club.
After being a mainstay at centre back for the first two seasons, Taylor moved into a defensive midfield role in the 2023-24 A-League, and thrived, earning selection to the Football Ferns.
She has earned 17 caps for the full national side.
READ MORE: Out-of-contract Kate Taylor and Kelli Brown to leave Wellington Phoenix >>>>
This story was first published on July 23, 2024.
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