Jessie Alexandra Fleming (born March 11, 1998) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for National Women's Soccer League club Portland Thorns and captains the Canadian national team.
Fleming played college soccer in the United States for the UCLA Bruins from 2016 to 2019, before turning professional and spending four years with English club Chelsea. She was a member of Canada's gold medal-winning side at the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she scored the team's only regular-time goal in the final on a penalty kick, as well as the first goal in the penalty shoot-out.
Early life 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 Barcelona men's team training session at the Camp Nou and recalled watching Lionel Messi and Dani Alves juggle the ball during their warmup; she has said the trip left her with a lasting resolve to turn professional and to play with the same unselfish approach to possession.
Fleming attended elementary school at Ryerson Public School, where she remained undefeated in cross-country throughout her entire elementary school career. She went on to attend London Central Secondary School from Grade 9 to Grade 10, where she competed in OFSAA track and field and cross-country. In 2012, she won the novice girls' 4000m race at the OFSAA Cross Country Championships. The following year, she competed at the OFSAA Track and Field Championships and won both the midget women's 1500m and midget women's 3000m competitions. She still holds the record for the 1500m in the midget women's category. In 2014, she competed again at the OFSAA Track and Field Championships, winning a gold medal in the junior women's 3000m race and a silver medal in the junior women's 1500m race. She switched to H. B. Beal Secondary School for Grades 11 and 12, and graduated in 2016.
College career 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 2018 Honda Sports Award for soccer.
Although she missed nearly half of her junior season while on national team duty, Fleming still earned first-team All-Pac-12 honours for the third year in a row and was a second-team All-West Region honouree after scoring 15 points on 5 goals and 5 assists.
As a senior, Fleming played in a defensive midfield role, finishing the season with 3 goals and 4 assists in 22 appearances, for a total of 10 points. She was chosen as one of three finalists for the Hermann Trophy and one of four finalists for the Honda Sports Award. She was also one of ten finalists for the Senior CLASS Award.
She graduated from UCLA in 2021, with a major in materials engineering and a minor in environmental science. Fleming has since said that balancing the demands of varsity soccer with the rigour of an engineering degree was "extremely difficult," describing an ongoing struggle to give either pursuit her full effort at once, but that she remains grateful to have completed the degree and hopes to explore that side of herself further after retiring from playing.
Club career 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 victory against Manchester United at Leigh Sports Village on September 26, 2021. Three days later, she got her first assist for the club in the 2020–21 FA Cup quarter-final against Birmingham City, setting up Fran Kirby in the 72nd minute. On October 10, she registered her first league assist in a 2–0 win against Leicester City. On October 31, she assisted Beth England in a 3–0 victory against Manchester City at the Academy Stadium, helping Chelsea reach the 2021 FA Cup Final. On November 9, she scored her first Champions League goal in a 7–0 win away to Servette. The 2021–22 WSL season saw Fleming's usage by the club increase significantly, featuring in 21 of 22 games, 11 of those as starts, and tallying six goals and four assists. She won the league title with Chelsea for the second time, before playing in her second consecutive run with the club to the 2022 FA Cup Final.
Shortly after the commencement of the 2022–23 Women's Super League, Fleming signed a contract extension with Chelsea through the summer of 2025. Chelsea won its third consecutive FA Cup on May 27, 2023, and four days later secured its fourth consecutive Women's Super League title. Fleming played 20 games in the season, with a new career high of 14 starts. However, her playing time began to decline as the season went on, a trend that continued into the following season.
Fleming spent more than three years living in London during her Chelsea tenure, a period she has described as having "lended itself well" to travel and to a growing personal interest in photography.
Portland Thorns On January 23, 2024, The Daily Telegraph reported that Fleming would be moving to the American National Women's Soccer League team Portland Thorns FC. The stated transfer fee of £250,000 would make it the most expensive acquisition ever by an NWSL club. On January 31, 2024, after four years with Chelsea, the Thorns announced the signing of Fleming for an undisclosed fee, with general manager Karina LeBlanc highlighting her "championship mindset" and then-head coach Mike Norris saying of the transfer "Adding a player of Jessie's caliber is a big step for us as we continue to build the roster for 2024 and beyond". The move brought Fleming closer to her family; her younger sister, Elysse, attends the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and competes in cross country, and Fleming has said she has been able to attend far more of Elysse's races since relocating to the Pacific Northwest.
Fleming scored her first goal for Portland on April 27, 2025, converting a penalty in a 3–3 draw against Racing Louisville in a match which broke the record for most fouls (41) in an NWSL game, with Fleming calling it "probably one of, if not the most frustrating match I've ever been a part of as a player" and saying the league should be "embarrassed" by the officiating.
International career 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.