Alisha Lehmann (born 21 January 1999) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a forward for English FA WSL club Aston Villa and the Switzerland national team.
She previously played for BSC YB Frauen of the Nationalliga A, for West Ham United of the FA WSL and on loan with Everton of the FA WSL.
Club career
Newly-professional FA Women’s Super League’s West Ham United signed Lehmann from BSC YB Frauen in August 2018. It was reported that West Ham manager Matt Beard had been impressed by Lehmann’s performances at the 2018 UEFA Women’s Under-19 Championship, which Switzerland hosted.[1][2] In April 2019 West Ham extended Lehmann’s contract after she scored nine goals in 30 appearances[3] and helped the club to the Women’s FA Cup final.[4]
On 27 January 2021, it was announced that Lehmann had moved to Everton on loan[5] until the end of the season.[6] At the end of the season, Lehmann joined Aston Villa.[7] In July 2022 Lehmann signed a one-year contract extension with Aston Villa for the 2022–23 season, having made 23 appearances and scored four goals during her first season at the club.[8]
International career
Alisha Lehmann won her first cap for the Switzerland national team in October 2017. She scored her first international goal on 2 March 2018 against Finland at the 2018 Cyprus Women’s Cup.[9]
Alisha Lehmann was not available for the Switzerland national team at the 2022 UEFA European Women’s Football Championship because she felt that she was not “mentally ready” to be involved in the tournament.[10]
Personal life
Alisha Lehmann is openly bisexual. She formerly identified as lesbian.[11][12] She previously dated Swiss national teammate Ramona Bachmann.[13] She was in a relationship with Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz.[14]
In popular culture
In 2019, Lehmann was featured in the BBC Three series Britain’s Youngest Football Boss with her then girlfriend Ramona.[15]
As of November 2022, she has more than 9.6m followers on Instagram and more than 131,000 followers on Twitter making her one of the world’s most followed women’s footballers on social media.[16][17]
Alisha Lehmann, Yung Filly and Luke Kempner taking on the challenge, and what a day it was in the JAR Arena!
