Julie Ertz

Julie Ertz: biography

Born in Arizona, Julie Beth Ertz started her professional soccer career in NWSL in 2014 as a rookie of Chicago Red Stars. She became the rookie of the season that year. Julie plays at midfielder position. Representing the national team of the USA, Julie has won a lot of international cups.

Her husband is Zach Ertz, the tight end of Philadelphia Eagles. The estimated net worth of Julie is around $1.3 million, including all of her properties and earnings. The estimated annual salary of Julie is around $1 million.

Childhood and youth

The birthplace of Julie is Mesa. She was born as Julie Johnston to father David and mother Kristi. The baby came to the world on April 6, 1992. She was the younger of two children. Her sister played soccer in college team. Imitating her, Julie began to be interested in soccer too. From an early age, Julie dreamed of being a professional player. She has never thought about other occupations.

Julie had a good height for women’s soccer; she was clever and fast. In 2000 Julie joined Arizona Arsenal S.C. Spent four seasons there and gained experience, she moved to Sereno. In 2006 Julie enrolled at Dobson High School, which soccer team had rather low game level. That’s why Julie didn’t play for it. She preferred developing her sports career in Sereno.

However, due to the high level of training and good physical condition, Julie became the athlete trainer for students. She held that position in all the years of her studies. Julie was the Sereno’s captain and helped to win nine state titles. Soon she joined the U14 national soccer team and caught the attention of Santa Clara University, which she entered in 2010.

Soccer career

Julie’s college career has a successful beginning. In her debut season in the Santa Clara Broncos, she was in starting eleven 16 times, become the team leader in assists and number of shots. The young talent showed good soccer skills, won all of the rookie’s awards. Also, the national team continued to call Julie to international competitions.

Julie spent all games in season 2011 – 2012 as a starting midfielder and scored nine goals. The United Soccer Coaches called her one of the most perspective soccer players of the country, including her in the list of top 50 players. Next two seasons were also successful for Julie, who regularly got into various symbolic teams.

Julie was good both in attack and defense. During 2010 – 2013 Julie appeared in 79 games of Broncos, in which she earned 31 goals. Apart from her accomplishments in the attack, she showed great stats in defense. All of that made her one of the most desired players on the 2014 NWSL Draft.

Club career

Chicago Red Stars selected a young talent from Arizona in January 2014. Julie signed a contract with club and was included in the official roster for the following season. Her debut game in NWSL was a match against WNYF in April. The lone goal of the evening came in the 59th minute of play from Julie.

Julie appeared in starting lineup 21times and collected two goals in her rookie season, become the best rookie of the league that year. However, she couldn’t help her team to get into playoffs. Next season Julie appeared in 11 games. She missed a lot because of her World Cup’s participation in the roster of the USA national team.

Return to the club, Julie helped the team to take the second position in a regular season and to get into playoff games. The Red Stars lost the semi-final, but Julie’s game was the basis for her inclusion in the symbolic league team. In 2016 Julie missed half of the NWSL season again. She went to the Olympic Games.

In 2017 the Chicago head coach decided to change Julie’s gaming role. She spent a season at attacking midfielder position. That change didn’t improve the results of the club, which became the second again and lost the semifinal of playoffs. In 2018 the same happened again.

International

Julie represented the national team at every professional level from early developmental stages under the tutelage of various coaches and players. She was a part of the USA Under-20 team which won the CONCACAF Golden Cup in 2012. She made his senior debut in 2013, and in 2015 was a part of their squad that won World Tournament where she made her breakthrough performances on the international stage.

The championship was full of her incredible highlights. Also, Julie won the continental tournament in 2014 and 2018. She took part in the 2016 Olympics. Preparing for the 2019 World Cup, Julie gave a large interview, where she spoke about her training routine and special diet in March 2019.

Just before US national soccer team was getting ready to play its final pre-World Cup match, its former legend Brandi Chastain gave an interview to ESPN. She reported:

“Looking at the front, this team is capable of scoring endless goals, to be honest. Megan Rapinoe is probably the most unique player in the world right now, with her personality, passion, and approach. At any point, Rapinoe can turn a game on its head. Then you have Alex Morgan, who everyone knows—sort of today's Mia Hamm— with a hundred goals under her belt and great pace. And the glue that holds it all together is Julie Ertz. When she played for me and my husband at Santa Clara, she showed she could play any position we needed, and I think she will play that role for the national team.”

On July 7, 2019, US national team will force the Netherlands in the final game of FIFA World Cup.

Personal life

Julie is the wife of the famous football player Zach Ertz, the youngest brother of his big family. They tied the knot in 2017, but met in 2012. They were both in college at that time. It was a pretty random meeting at a Stanford baseball game that Julie just happened to be attending. Zach saw her sitting in the student section, and just decided he wanted to meet her. So he went up and sat right next to her.

The pair just hit it off from there. Julie and Zach hung out a few more times, and after that, they just decided that they were going to be together. In 2016 Julie and Zach got engaged at the same baseball stadium. Currently, her husband has the net worth of around $16 million.

The pair started the Ertz Family Foundation some years ago. It is a charity that creates opportunities for children in sports and education. Julie said about the foundation:

“Sports helped me to grow. Without them, I probably wouldn’t have been able to go to college. I couldn’t afford it. You never know how many opportunities come up through sports—they changed my life.”

Nowadays, Julie is looking to use sports to change others’ lives, and the pair have used their foundation to do everything from creating scholarships for kids in Haiti to developing an SAT-prep and college readiness program for athletes at a high school in Richmond, CA. In 2019 Estrellas del fútbol issued a book that chronicled the life of Julie Ertz.

Her hard work, dedication, and passion offered a model for success and taught young readers to dream big.

Stats

• College (2010 – 2013) – 79 apps; 31 goals
• NWSL (2014 – present) – 72 apps; 6 goals
• US national team – 87 apps; 19 goals

Honors and awards

NWSL:

• 2014 – The best rookie of the season
• 2015 – League’s first symbolic team
• 2016, 2017, 2018 – League’s second symbolic team

National team:

• 2012 (U20), 2014, 2018 - Continental Championship
• 2012 (U20), 2015 – FIFA World Cup