It was a typical Saturday afternoon of a warm March. NC Courage and Irish skipper Denise O’Sullivan came to spend some quality time with her actor boyfriend James Chalker Hamblin at Dorothea Dix Park, Raleigh, North Carolina. Laying a sheet on the grass, the two love birds lay down, enjoying the moment around nature. For O’Sullivan, it felt like a regular date idea her beloved boyfriend had come up with. But who would have thought the NWSL star’s life was about to be changed by just one question that Hamblin was about to ask her? To make her his forever?

Of course, such occasions are planned; in fact, Hamblin had quite a remarkable idea to go with. The incident dates back to last weekend and was revealed by one of his friends, Emily Ballard, on Instagram. Interestingly, while hanging out with his friends at Mardi Gras, all the girls in his group were picking on James, constantly asking when he was finally going to ask Sullivan to marry him.

Hamblin’s smile and a big laugh were enough to suggest that it had been on his mind for quite some time. In fact, he was ready to do it; but the question was when. It was at that moment, that he asked his friend Ballard, “EBall, are you free next weekend?!“ As a professional photographer, she knew what exactly her actor friend was talking about. This led Emily to quickly shout, “YES, I’ll take pics.”

Finally came the end of the week, with James taking Sullivan to Dorothea Dix Park. Emily was standing behind a tree, trying to keep it low, hoping that her camera clicks wouldn’t get her caught by Sully. Fortunately, everything went well, as while chit-chatting casually, Hamblin finally gathered the courage (pun intended) and popped the most romantic question in front of the NC Courage star with a ring in his hand.

As evident by the pictures, Denise O’Sullivan was surprised, laughing in excitement. It was finally happening. Tears of joy rolled down from her eyes as Hamblin took her hand to put the ring on her finger. The actor even lifted up O’Sullivan in the air as they kissed. Behind the tree came out Emily, who clicked more pictures of the happy couple.

Those snaps had to end up on O’Sullivan and Hamblin’s Instagram account. In a collaboration post, the Irish international shared a carousel post and wrote, “03/08/2025 💍🤍” in the caption. Notably, now that the couple had shared the exciting news, congratulations and celebrations had to be in order.

Soccer community celebrates NWSL star’s engagement

Aside from sharing this whole story, James Hamblin’s friend Emily Ballard shared additional pictures and even sent her heartiest congrats to the couple. “I feel so honored to document + witness @james_c_hamblin propose to @deniseosullivan10. They are such a great match + truly do make each other so happy. Cheers to the happy couple! Wishing you all the love + support from the wonderful people who surround you both.”

As for the news shared by Hamblin and O’Sullivan together, not just fans, even revered names from the soccer world stepped up to join in the celebrations.

Honestly, there couldn’t have been any other better start to the year for Denise. After years of building her relationship with James, it was a much-needed next step that the love birds had to take. Even though only a couple of days have passed since this special moment, we imagine the midfielder is still overwhelmed with emotion—just like her Washington Spirit rival, Narumi Miura, after hearing the news: “I couldn’t stop crying 😭❤️”

The start of the year also reminds us that NWSL season is officially set to begin this week on March 14. O’Sullivan will be captaining her side against Racing Louisville in an away fixture on Saturday, March 15. So expect her to be more than focused and hyped to perform well. Certainly, USWNT icon Sam Mewis has a feeling of what it should actually mean for Denise as the retired midfielder couldn’t contain her excitement and said: “Congrats Sully so happy for you!❤️❤️❤️”

3X Scottish Premier titles, 2X SWPL cups, 3X women’s cup, 2x NWSL Shield, Challenge Cup, and Championship, as well as countless individual awards—it will take us the whole day to talk about all the honors that O’Sullivan has achieved throughout her career. So finally deciding to settle down in her life at 31 seems to be the right call. No wonder her fellow international teammate Niamh Fahey echoed everyone’s sentiment: “The best news 🥹🥰😍.”

Given how Denise is one step closer to marriage, we would like to ask Denise just one question: Which surname would she carry after tying the knot? Well, the reason we are keen on this is because recently, the soccer world has witnessed a lot of weddings. The most recent one was Lynn Williams, now Biyendolo after she tied the knot with her boyfriend Marley. And to cite her surely means that the rival Seattle Reign star also chimed in the comments to send her best wishes to the NC Courage skipper: “😍 congratulations!!!”

We noticed that James’ Instagram bio says, “Pretty good at everything… not good enough at anything.” However, we find it hard to believe, especially after seeing the most adorable proposal that one could think of. Take notes, boys: all you need is perfect timing, a good spot, and, most importantly, to kneel down, look into your partner’s eyes, and ask the gazillion-dollar question. There’s no way in the world anyone could say no, right, O’Sullivan? Coincidentally, her national teammate Caitlin Hayes echoed everyone’s sentiments, commenting: “Pure joy 🥹🥹🤍.”

This is just a glimpse of what you saw; the comment section continues to get filled with such heartfelt reactions. Regardless, we would also like to send our heartiest congratulations to the happy couple!