Millie Bright has announced her retirement from international football, saying she is \u201cat peace\u201d with her decision and that her priorities had changed.<\/p>\n
The decision follows Bright\u2019s decision to make herself unavailable for selection<\/a> for the 2025 Euros because she was \u201cnot able to give 100% mentally or physically\u201d after a gruelling treble-winning domestic campaign with Chelsea. After the centre-back said she would not be a part of England\u2019s European title defence in Switzerland, she underwent surgery on a knee injury.<\/p>\n Bright\u2019s announcement has come on the eve of Sarina Wiegman naming her squad for England\u2019s friendlies against Brazil and Australia this month. Bright said it was the right time because it was \u201cimportant to make these big decisions when you\u2019ve got a clear mind\u201d. She described the summer as \u201cprobably the hardest moment of my life\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking on The Rest is Football: Daly Brightness podcast<\/a>, which she co-hosts with her friend and former England teammate Rachel Daly, the Chelsea centre-back said: \u201cI\u2019ve been weighing this up for a long time. It\u2019s one of those decisions no one can make for you. It\u2019s a feeling and I\u2019m at peace with it. Having the summer to reflect, fix my knee, and get my head straight really put things into perspective. As you get older, your priorities change. I\u2019ve been craving family time, time with friends, and time for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Bright played every game as England won the Euros<\/a> on home soil in 2022 and captained the side to the 2023 World Cup final<\/a> in Australia, with Leah Williamson absent through injury. The 32-year-old has played 88 times for the Lionesses, scoring six goals.<\/p>\n Millie Bright (left) and Rachel Daly with the Euros trophy after England\u2019s win in 2022. Photograph: Lynne Cameron\/The FA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Wiegman paid tribute to Bright, saying: \u201cMillie will for ever be an England legend for what she has given to her country, and I could never have enough words to praise her impact during my time. Whether she had the armband or not, she is a true leader.<\/p>\n \u201cI know how much respect there is for Millie within the game \u2013 not just because she has won so many trophies but because of the way she conducts herself. She has made such a big contribution to English football both on and off the pitch and we all have a lot to thank her for. Even though her playing time with the Lionesses may be over, I know she has so much more to give the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Bright said a contributing factor was that as she watched England battle to a second European title there \u201cwasn\u2019t one part of me that thought I\u2019d made the wrong decision\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt felt right,\u201d she said of retiring from England duty. \u201cPhysically, I\u2019m at that crossroads \u2013 can I be 50% for each, for England and for Chelsea? I want to be all in. To give myself the best chance of doing that and be the best for my club, I probably need to rein it in a little bit. I\u2019m really proud of my England career and just want to say a massive thank you to everyone for your support, especially over the summer. It\u2019s never an easy decision, but it feels like the right one.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Moving the Goalposts<\/p>\n No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women\u2019s football<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The defender said she wanted her legacy as an England player \u201cto be about being a winner \u2013 a difference maker. Not just someone who was there, but someone who grabbed every opportunity with both hands and wanted to make change.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cI want to be remembered for what I did on the pitch too, someone who\u2019d do anything for anyone, who was reliable, and who gave everything, heart and soul, every single game. But ultimately, I want to be remembered as a true Lioness, someone who represented her country in the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Millie Bright has announced her retirement from international football, saying she is \u201cat peace\u201d with her decision and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-221946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}