Smarts, Strength, and Screamers: Getting to Know Amandine Henry

On the heels of Julie Ertz's signing in April, Angel City has beefed up its midfield even more with the acquisition of French international Amandine Henry.

Henry will already be a familiar name to longtime NWSL fans and those who follow the international game, but for everyone else, let's break down what she brings to the table and why she's worth getting excited about.

The thirty-three-year-old Henry has been competing at the elite level since age 15, when she joined Hénin-Beaumont, then a second-division club near her hometown of Lille. The following year, she started at Clairefontaine, France's training academy for its national teams, which at the time competed in Division 1 Féminine (D1F), the French first division.

At age 18, she made the switch to Olympique Lyonnais, the most successful women's team in Europe at that time. She was at Lyon for nine seasons, earning nine league titles and three UEFA Champions League trophies, before coming to the NWSL to play with the Portland Thorns midway through their 2016 campaign. The club won the Supporters Shield that season, then the championship when she returned in 2017.

After returning to Lyon in 2018, Henry won the French league another four times and Champions League three more times.

Internationally, Henry has 93 caps and 13 goals for France. She has played in two World Cups and one Olympic tournament, and captained the team from 2017–2020.

Henry's laundry list of trophies speaks for itself, but some context is important. For many years, Lyon was so dominant in France that no other club stood a chance. Only in the mid-2010s did investment at Paris Saint-Germain and others begin to catch up; when PSG won the league in 2021, it was the first time in 14 years a non-Lyon team had lifted the trophy.

That's important background because it can be difficult to judge a player's quality in a league as lopsided as D1F. Being a regular starter for Lyon, as Henry has been for most of her tenure there, is a massive accomplishment due to the top-to-bottom quality of the roster, but it also isn't necessarily an indication of how competitive a player is at their position globally.

Henry was the first French player to sign with an NWSL team, and she acclimated easily to the faster-paced, more physical American league. Playing as a dual No. 8 alongside Lindsey Horan, her intelligence, passing skill, and ability to dictate tempo were on full display—as was the physical strength necessary for central midfield success in the NWSL. Henry helped form the backbone of a Thorns team that would go on to earn the best regular-season record that season.

In 2017, Henry was with the Thorns from the beginning of the season and made an even bigger impact. She dominated the deep midfield, leading the team in tackle success rate, with 85% out of 51 attempted tackles. In the championship game against North Carolina, she led the team in accurate passes, tackles won, and duels won as the team played to a 1–0 win, which neatly sums up her strengths as a player who contributes almost equally on both sides of the ball.

Henry's addition, which comes not long after Angel City added another world-class No. 6 in Julie Ertz, means a position that looked a little thin at the beginning of the season is suddenly as stacked as any other.

Although she's best known as a dominant pure No. 6, her experience in Portland shows that she can also take on a more box-to-box role alongside a similarly well-rounded player. That gives Head Coach Freya Coombe a wealth of options in the central midfield. In a 4–3–3 with a single No. 6, she provides even more depth alongside Ertz and Madison Hammond. She also gives the team more flexibility shape-wise, as she could likely slot in well alongside any combination of the team's existing midfield pool.

Henry doesn't score particularly often, but when she does, she turns heads.

She has a particular penchant for making late runs into the attacking third, creating a numerical advantage that defenders aren't prepared for, and using that space to set up long-range bangers like her Puskás nominee from earlier this year (note not just the shot but also her spectacular sliding tackle in the build-up). So, that will be fun in a sold-out BMO Stadium!

In short, Henry is one of the top players in the women's game and arguably the best ever at her position, and her years of experience will be a huge asset as Angel City looks to continue building for the future.