The 23-year-old all-action midfielder joins the Southern Sweden outfit following the 2010 Cyprus Women’s Cup final appearance where New Zealand National Team won their group and narrowly lost to Canada in the championship match. Yallop, who has already earned 36 senior national team caps (9 goals), had an outstanding 2009 club season winning two National League Championships with Auckland in her native New Zealand and with Pali Blues of California in the USA W-League.

She becomes currently the only Football Fern and the first LTA Agency represented player in Swedish Top Division. In KDFF, she joins an ambitious young team led by the former Icelandic Champion and Cup Winning coach with FC Valur Elísabet Gunnarsdóttir. “Kirsty is a highly skilled player with impressive international experience. She played at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and captained New Zealand at the 2006 FIFA U20 World Cup in Russia. Additional advantage is that we can use her in several different positions in midfield. We are very happy with her signing,” said Gunnarsdóttir.

During the official presentation to the press, Kirsty Yallop explained why she chose Sweden as the next step in her career: “The Swedish league is one of the three best in the world. I see it as a new and exciting challenge to play here. Now I get to play against quality opposition in every match.” “I am very happy here already. Kristianstad is a nice city, I have wonderful teammates, and our coach is great,” she added.

Kirsty Yallop made her Swedish debut in the 1:0 pre-season win over Danish powerhouse Brøndby IF.

See the video summary of Kirsty’s first impressions of Sweden and her goals for the upcoming season here:

Earlier this year, Yallop helped American Pali Blues win the second straight USL W-League Championship by beating Washington Freedom 2:1 in the final in Maryland. She recorded all-important assists in both Championship matches.

In addition to the League success, Yallop started every game for New Zealand Women’s National Team in 2009 earning her 30th cap and helping the Football Ferns achieve great results including the first ever victory on the European soil, solid performance against World power Japan, and reaching the semifinals at a strong Cyprus Women’s Cup in March.

Yallop will again be in action for her national team as New Zealand prepare to host Australia in a pair of friendlies on the 17 and the 20 of February in Auckland, and she will look to continue her club career in one of the professional teams in Europe or the USA.

See the full New Zealand football news release about the Lion Foundation Women’s League Final here:

2009 NZ Women’s League Final