Jessie Fleming

Fleming verbally committed to UCLA in December 2014 and joined the Bruins in August 2016. Fleming has said she originally wanted to attend a school close enough to London that she could drive there, and only settled on UCLA—3,000 kilometres from home—after weighing the program's ambitions and academic reputation against her initial hesitance about the distance. She played her first game on August 28, less than ten days after helping Canada win a bronze medal at the Olympic Games, scoring twice in a 4–3 loss to Florida. Her goalscoring tear continued as she netted 7 goals in her first 6 games as a college player. She appeared in 19 games, making 16 starts, and finished as the leading scorer on the team with 11 goals and 5 assists, for a total of 27 points. Fleming was one of just two freshmen to receive All-America honours in 2016, being selected to the NSCAA All-America third team. She was selected the Top Drawer Soccer Freshman of the Year, and also earned first-team NSCAA All-Pacific Region, All-Pac-12 and All-Freshman acclaim. As a sophomore, Fleming scored 6 goals, including three game-winners, and recorded 8 assists, for a total of 20 points. She earned first-team All-America honours and received first-team All-West Region and All-Pac-12 honours for the second-straight year. After helping UCLA reach the College Cup final and scoring a goal in the championship match, she was selected as a finalist for the Hermann Trophy and chosen as one of four nominees for the Class of…

Chelsea

On July 22, 2020, Fleming signed for FA WSL champions Chelsea on a three-year deal, her first professional contract. Fleming has said she was drawn by her fascination with European football culture, though she "didn't feel overwhelmingly like, 'Oh, I'm ready for this'" at the time, and has described her recurring self-doubt as both a weakness and a strength that has driven her to prepare more thoroughly than some of her peers. On August 29, she made her debut for the Blues as a substitute against Manchester City in the 2020 FA Community Shield at Wembley. On December 9, she made her UEFA Champions League debut in a 5–0 away win over Benfica. She made her first start against the same opposition a week later, and helped her team to a 3–0 victory at Kingsmeadow. On January 27, 2021, she made her first league start in a 4–0 away win over Aston Villa at Banks's Stadium. On March 14, she played the full 90 minutes as the Blues won the 2021 FA League Cup Final against Bristol City at Vicarage Road. In her first season at Chelsea, she made a total of 26 appearances across all competitions and won the 2020–21 FA WSL title. She was an unused substitute in the 2021 Champions League Final, where Chelsea were defeated by Barcelona. Fleming would later cite the transition to the professional scene as a challenge, in particular the need to raise her game in order to vie for playing time. Beginning the 2021–22 FA WSL, Fleming scored her first goal for Chelsea in a 6–1…

Youth

Fleming started playing for the Canadian youth national teams in 2012, at the age of 14. The following year, she captained Canada at the 2013 CONCACAF U-17 Championship in Jamaica, leading the team to a silver medal. During the tournament, she scored three goals (two in the group stage and one in the semi-final against Jamaica) and was named Player of the Match in two of Canada's five matches. As a result, she was named to the Best XI and awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament's Most Valuable Player (MVP), a moment she has said "instilled a bit of the belief that my coaches and teammates had in me." In December 2013, she was chosen as one of six nominees for the Canadian U-17 Players of the Year award. At the 2014 U-17 World Cup in Costa Rica, Fleming navigated Canada out of the group of death (which included Germany, North Korea, and Ghana). She played in all four of Canada's games, scoring one goal in the 2–2 draw with Germany. She also recorded an assist in the quarter-final loss to Venezuela. Fleming was a member of the team that reached the quarter-finals of the 2014 U-20 World Cup in Canada. At 16, she was the second-youngest player on the Canadian roster. She made two appearances (against Ghana and Finland) in the group stage of the tournament, before playing all 90 minutes in the quarter-final against Germany. In December 2014, she was named Canadian U-17 Player of the Year. Fleming also represented Canada at the 2015 Pan American Games, where the…

Fleming was born in London, Ontario to Michaele and John Fleming, who are both originally from Toronto. She has an older brother, Tristan, and a younger sister, Elysse. As a child, she competed in soccer, hockey (including in a full-contact boys' league), track and field, and cross-country. She started playing soccer at the age of three for the London-based Nor'West Optimist Soccer Club, where she remained until 2016 and was coached by her father, John. In a later profile in DARBY, Fleming described a "really wonderful childhood" in which her parents, both former competitive cross-country runners, prioritized effort over results; her mother, a provincial high-school champion who went on to practice family medicine, still sends her game-day texts urging her to "play with heart." Fleming has said both parents also stressed being a good teammate and learning from mistakes, values she credits as central to her development as a leader. As a 10-year-old, she kept a laminated poster of footballers Marta and Pelé—a Christmas gift from her brother Tristan—hanging in her bedroom. Growing up, Fleming and her father regularly watched FC Barcelona together, closely following the midfield play of Andrés Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Xavi during the club's Pep Guardiola era, and she has credited their intelligent, selfless passing style with shaping her understanding of the game. At age 13, her youth club travelled to Spain for a series of exhibition games, during which she watched a…