Charlotta Eva Schelin (born 27 February 1984) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward.
She made her debut for the Sweden national team in March 2004 and was appointed joint captain alongside Caroline Seger in October 2012. Schelin has represented her country in the 2005, 2009, 2013, and 2017 editions of the UEFA Women's Championship, as well as the 2007, 2011, and 2015 FIFA Women's World Cups. She also played at the Olympic football tournaments in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016.
In October 2014, Schelin became Sweden's all time record goalscorer by scoring her 73rd international goal in a friendly defeat by Germany.
Schelin began her senior club career with Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC (then known as Landvetter FC) in 2001. She developed into a prolific goalscorer in the Damallsvenskan then made a lucrative transfer to Lyon in 2008, rejecting a competing offer from the American Women's Professional Soccer league. During her eight-season stay at Lyon, she won eight consecutive Division 1 Féminine titles, five Coupes de France Féminine, three UEFA Women's Champions Leagues and was the top goalscorer in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 Division 1 Féminine seasons. In 2013, she became the first foreign UNFP Player of the Year. In 2016, she returned to Swedish football with FC Rosengård, departing Lyon as the French club's all time record goalscorer with 225 goals in 225 appearances. She has been awarded Diamantbollen (the Diamond Ball), given to the Swedish player of the year, a record five times, including four consecutive times from 2011 to 2014.
On 30 August 2018, she announced her retirement due to chronic head and neck pain resulting from an injury suffered while playing for FC Rosengård in 2017.
Although Schelin was born in Stockholm, her family moved away from the capital when she was two years old. With her father Kjell and mother Nina, she grew up in Kållered outside Gothenburg and began to play football for Kållereds SK along with her older sister, Camilla. She has also played for Hällesåkers IF and Mölnlycke IF. Schelin was also adept at sports including table-tennis, track and field, and snowboarding before opting to focus on football full-time. As a teenager, she developed problems with her spine and was advised to stop playing the sport. Schelin went through intensive strength training and recovered by the time she turned 17. She credited her sister and former teammate Camilla and Tina Nordlund as important role models for her.
In 2001, when she was 17 years old, Schelin made her debut in the Damallsvenskan for Landvetter FC, now known as Göteborg FC. Her debut season yielded eight goals in 19 appearances. After an injury in August 2002, she was out of the league for almost a year and a half, returning in June 2003. In 2004 Schelin was named Breakthrough Player of the Year after netting 14 goals in 15 games for Göteborg. In 2006, Schelin scored 21 goals in 21 league games. At the end of season Fotbollsgalan, she was named Forward of the Year, Player of the Year and Top Goalscorer. She was also shortlisted for the 2006 FIFA World Player of the Year and was recognised by Swedish referees with a special award for her sporting treatment of opponents and officials. In 2007, she retained her top scorer title by scoring 26 league goals. Despite persistent interest from leading Damallsvenskan clubs including Umeå IK and Linköpings FC, Schelin opted to stay at her hometown team. She ultimately played in over 120 league matches with Göteborg, establishing herself as one of the club's most prominent players.
After the re-branding and re-launch of the new United States-based league, Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), Schelin declared that she would be interested in playing in the league. However, after the 2008 Summer Olympics, Schelin announced that she would instead be joining Division 1 Féminine club Olympique Lyonnais in France. Upon signing her contract, it was reported by Göteborgs-Posten that Schelin would be earning over 1 million kr (US$160,000) per year. The move to France was criticised in Sweden, as, although Lyon were a well-resourced club, the overall standard of the Division 1 Féminine was considered much weaker than the Damallsvenskan. On 24 September 2008, Schelin's American transfer rights were drafted by the Saint Louis Athletica in the 2008 WPS International Draft. She declined the chance to join WPS, citing her contract with Lyon as the primary reason. Saint Louis signed Schelin's compatriot Sara Larsson instead.
Schelin arrived in Lyon in poor condition, after a thigh injury disrupted her 2008 spring season with Göteborg and migraines and stomach aches afflicted her at the 2008 Olympic Games. When she told Lyon's coach Farid Benstiti that she could also play on the wing, he shook his head and replied that he had signed her to score goals. Alongside Brazil's Kátia Cilene Teixeira, Schelin formed a productive attack for Lyon as the club defended its French title and reached the 2008–09 UEFA Women's Cup semi-final, where they lost to FCR 2001 Duisburg. The following season, Schelin was afflicted by injuries and was ruled out of Lyon's 2010 UEFA Women's Champions League Final defeat by Turbine Potsdam with ligament damage.
Schelin did play in the 2011 final, as Lyon avenged the previous year's defeat to beat Turbine Potsdam 2–0 at Craven Cottage and secure their first continental title. She had scored nine times on Lyon's route to the final, including twice in the semi-final, to bring about what she termed "the proudest moment" of her career. Lyon won a domestic double in 2011–12 and retained their European title by beating Frankfurt 2–0 in the 2012 final at the Olympic Stadium in Munich. In 2012–13 Schelin was in the best form of her career and finished as Division 1 Féminine top scorer with 24 goals in 16 appearances. She was also named French Player of the Year for the first time, but missed out on a third successive Champions League winner's medal when Lyon lost the final 1–0 to Wolfsburg at Stamford Bridge. In May 2013 she signed a new three-year contract with Lyon, reportedly worth an annual 2 million kr.
In 2013–14 Schelin contributed 12 league goals to another domestic double but Lyon lost to Turbine Potsdam in the Champions League round of 16. Her form had slumped after a breakdown in her working relationship with coach Patrice Lair. She rebounded the following season, scoring Lyon's 1000th Division 1 Féminine goal in a 7–0 home win over Rodez on 16 November 2014. Her second goal in the same match drew her level with Sandrine Brétigny as Lyon's all-time record scorer. She finished 2014–15 as Division 1 Féminine top scorer with 34 goals in 21 games, but Lyon were upset by French rivals Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League round of 16.
Towards the end of another successful season in 2015–16, Lyon announced that Schelin would depart the club at the end of her contract. Her final game for the club was the 2016 UEFA Women's Champions League Final; in which she scored in the penalty shootout win over Wolfsburg. With Lyon Schelin won eight consecutive Division 1 Féminine titles, five Cups and three Champions Leagues. She left as the team's all-time record goalscorer with 225 goals in 225 appearances. Schelin's 41 goals for Lyon in the UEFA Women's Champions League left her fourth in the competition's all-time top scorer list. She held the record for Champions League goals for a single club, since Anja Mittag (49), Conny Pohlers (48) and Marta (46) all accrued their totals with more than one club.
On 8 June 2016, Schelin was presented as a player for Swedish champions FC Rosengård, of Malmö. She rejected an offer to rejoin Göteborg FC because they were unable to offer Champions League football. Schelin made her Rosengård debut slightly earlier than expected, substituting in for the injured Nataša Andonova after 22 minutes of a league fixture against Djurgården. Schelin scored a 90th-minute goal to salvage a 2–2 draw.
In March 2004 Schelin scored twice on her debut for the Swedish under-21 team, in their 6–0 win over the full Republic of Ireland national team in Dublin. She previously scored three goals in six appearances for Sweden's under-16 team and two goals in seven appearances for the under-18s.