By Alexis Monteith

Jamaican international footballer Jody Brown has signed for the women’s team of Sport Lisboa e Benfica (Benfica) on a three-year deal.

The move is a giant step for the 22-year-old forward from American college-level football to a professional top-tier club in Portugal.

“I’m very happy to be a Benfica player,” Brown was quoted as saying on the club’s website. “I’ve always dreamed of this moment. Finally, my moment has arrived, and I’m ready to play with my teammates. I’m going to take it day by day to adapt, understand how my teammates play, so that everything goes well and we can win more titles.”

The Reggae Girl represented Jamaica at the 2019 and 2023 Women’s World Cups and at various Jamaican national youth levels. She recently graduated from Florida State University (FSU) where she was a standout player in a team that won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division Women’s Soccer Tournament in 2021 and 2023 and the All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Women’s Soccer Tournament over four consecutive seasons from 2020 to 2023.

“I know that Benfica is a big club with a lot of history,” Brown added in her statement. “I’m ready to start and continue making history.”

Benfica’s women’s team have won the Campeonato Nacional Feminino (the top tier of women’s football in Portugal) four years in a row since becoming champions for the first time in the 2020-21 season, just two years after making their league debut in the country’s second tier.

Last season they collected every domestic title that was available, winning the Campeonato Nacional, the Taça da Liga, the Taça de Portugal, and the Supertaça de Portugal,

“I’m very anxious; I can’t wait to meet my teammates, the coaching staff, and the fans,” Brown declared at Benfica. “They are important people in this family and I’m anxious to get started.”

At an individual level Brown’s honours include being named to the 2022 and 2023 NCAA All-Tournament teams, the 2023 ACC First Team, the 2022 United Soccer Coaches All-Atlantic Region First Team, and placing ninth in the 2023 Top Drawer Soccer Top 100 among numerous other accomplishments.

The talented footballer lived in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, before moving to Florida to attend the Montverde Academy where she contributed to back-to-back state championships in 2018 and 2019 for the school’s football team. Her achievements at the academy were recognised by the Orlando Sentinel, which named her Girls Soccer Player of the Year following her 32 goals and nine assists in 2019.

She then moved to FSU in 2020 to pursue her college education.