Alex Scott (footballer, born 1984)

Alex Scott
MBE
Personal information
Full name Alexandra Virina Scott[1]
Date of birth (1984-10-14) 14 October 1984
Place of birth London, England
Height 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)[1]
Playing position Right back
Club information
Current team
 Arsenal
Number 2
Youth career
1992–1999 Arsenal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2004 Arsenal
2004–2005 Birmingham City 15 (2)
2005–2009 Arsenal 72 (6)
2009–2011 Boston Breakers 55 (1)
2012–2018 Arsenal 76 (6)
National team
2004–2017 England 140 (12)
2012 Great Britain 5 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:00, 12 May 2018 (UTC)[2][3]

Alexandra Virina Scott, MBE (born 14 October 1984) is an English former footballer who mostly played as a right-back for Arsenal in the FA WSL. She made 140 appearances for the English national team and also represented Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics.

At club level, Scott has had three separate spells with Arsenal, punctuated with a season at Birmingham City in 2004–05 and three years in the American Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) with Boston Breakers. She scored the winning goal for Arsenal in the 2007 UEFA Women's Cup Final.

Club career

Scott playing for Arsenal with Emma Byrne looking on

Start in England

Scott signed on with Arsenal in 1992, at the age of eight.[4] After breaking into the first team as a striker or right winger,[5] she was later converted to full-back. Scott remained with Arsenal until the 2004–05 season, after which she moved to Birmingham City. With the addition of Scott, the club finished fourth in the FA Women's Premier League National Division. However, due to Birmingham's financial difficulties, she returned to Arsenal for the 2005–06 season.

Upon rejoining Arsenal, Scott helped the club to a domestic double of the FA Women's Premier League and FA Women's Cup. She was also a key figure in Arsenal's historic "Quadruple" season in which they won all of their trophy competitions, including the 2006–07 UEFA Women's Cup. Arsenal were the first ever British side to win the competition, with Scott scoring the only goal in the two-legged tie with Umeå IK. She appeared in 22 Premier League games, scoring two goals. In all competitions, she made 40 appearances and scored four goals.

The 2007–08 season saw Scott appear in 21 games, scoring once. In all competitions, she made 35 appearances, scoring three goals. In the 2008–09 season, Scott scored once in 13 games. In all competitions, she made 24 appearances, adding two goals.

Move to the United States

Scott playing for the Boston Breakers in the WPS

Upon the creation of a new women's league in the United States, Women's Professional Soccer, it was announced on 25 September 2008 that her WPS playing rights had been assigned to Chicago Red Stars, whose head coach was former Arsenal assistant Emma Hayes. Her rights were traded on 15 January 2009 to Boston Breakers and it was announced on 6 February 2009 that she would be leaving Arsenal to join up with her new team.[6]

In the inaugural 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season, Scott played in 17 games for the Breakers. She scored one goal and added one assist. In 2010, Scott featured in 21 games and registered two assists. She started 14 of her 15 matches in 2011. In December 2011, Scott returned to Arsenal on loan for the duration of a three-match pre-season tour of Japan.[7]

Back to England

When the WPS collapsed ahead of the 2012 campaign, Scott returned for a third spell at Arsenal. She was joined by Boston team mate Kelly Smith.[8] Scott was named captain for the 2014–15 season. She did not take part in the 2015 Continental Cup final where Arsenal Ladies beat Notts County to the Cup.[9] In the following season, Scott helped take Arsenal to the final of the 2016 FA Cup vs Chelsea which the Gunners won 1–0.[10] Scott played her last game on 12 May 2018 against Manchester City Women which Arsenal won 2–1.[11] Scott later became part of BBC Sport's football broadcasting team at Russia for the World Cup.[12]

International career

Scott playing for England in 2014

England

Scott competed at the U19 and U21 levels for England, including at the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Canada.[13]

Scott made her full debut against the Netherlands on 18 September 2004. She played 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 won silver at the 2009 UEFA Women's Euros and bronze at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.[14]

In November 2014, Scott headed powerfully past her own goalkeeper to give Germany the lead in England's crushing 3–0 defeat at Wembley Stadium.[15]

On 2 September 2017, Scott retired from international football. On the date of retirement, she ended up as the second most capped England player with 140 appearances.[16]

Great Britain Olympics

In June 2012, Scott was named in the 18-player Great Britain squad for the 2012 London Olympics.[17]

Personal life

In 2011, Scott started 'The Alex Scott Academy' in partnership with Kingston College and Puma, for female footballers aged 16–19 years. This represented the first such academy in the UK and was intended to highlight the growth of the women's game.[18] Scott also writes a weekly women's football column in the Morning Star newspaper.[19]

In 2016, Scott was featured in Bear Grylls' TV show, Mission Survive where she won.[20] She co-presents Match of the Day Kickabout most Saturday mornings.

In December 2016, it was announced that Scott would receive an MBE for services to football in the 2017 New Year's Honours list.

Honours

Arsenal

England

References

  1. 1 2 "FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015™: List of Players: England" (PDF). FIFA. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  2. ↑ "Alex Scott". The FA. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  3. ↑ "Alex Scott". Soccerway. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  4. ↑ "Ladies re-sign Yankey and Scott". Arsenal F.C. 19 August 2005. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  5. ↑ "Ellen Maggs going great Guns at Arsenal". femaleSOCCER.net. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  6. ↑ "Alex Scott set to join the Boston Breakers | Ladies News". Arsenal F.C. 6 February 2009. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  7. ↑ "Arsenal enjoy charity Japan trip". UEFA. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  8. ↑ "England's Kelly Smith and Alex Scott rejoin Arsenal Ladies". BBC Sport. 9 March 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "Continental Cup final: Arsenal Ladies 3–0 Notts County Ladies". 1 November 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  10. 1 2 "Arsenal Ladies 1–0 Chelsea Ladies". BBC Sport. 14 May 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  11. ↑ "Arsenal Women 2–1 Manchester City women". BBC Sport. 12 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  12. ↑ "24/7 World Cup action across TV, radio and digital". Media Centre, BBC. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  13. ↑ "England Player Biographies". Women's Soccer World. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  14. ↑ "Centurion Alex Scott retires from England duty". The FA. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  15. ↑ Thompson, Anna (23 November 2014). "England Women 0–3 Germany Women". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  16. ↑ "Alex Scott: England defender retires from international football". BBC Sport. 2 September 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  17. ↑ "Team GB women's squad for London 2012 announced". BBC Sport. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  18. ↑ "The Alex Scott Academy". Kingston College – Sport Academies. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  19. ↑ Scott, Alex (17 August 2012). "The Alex Scott column: It's time to get back to business with the Gunners". Morning Star. Archived from the original on 22 August 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  20. ↑ "Bear Grylls Mission Survive final: Alex Scott beats Jason Gardiner and Samantha Barks to win". 7 April 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  21. ↑ Kubusch, Lars; Shannon, David (6 March 2005). "2003–04 season". Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  22. ↑ "2004 FA Women's Cup final". 3 May 2004. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  23. ↑ Harris, Chris (1 May 2006). "FA Women's Cup Final: Leeds 0–5 Arsenal". Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  24. ↑ Cheese, Caroline (7 May 2007). "Arsenal Ladies 4–1 Charlton Women". Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  25. ↑ Harris, Chris (5 May 2008). "FA Women's Cup Final – Leeds 1–4 Arsenal". Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  26. ↑ "Women's FA Cup final: Arsenal beat Everton to retain trophy". Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  27. ↑ "England – A. Scott". Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  28. ↑ Harris, Chris (2 August 2006). "Comm Shield: Arsenal Ladies 3 Everton 0". Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  29. ↑ "Community Shield: Everton 0–1 Arsenal Ladies". Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
  30. ↑ "Arsenal clinch League Cup glory". 4 March 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  31. ↑ Leighton, Tony (26 February 2009). "Arsenal's Smith signs off in style". Retrieved 30 March 2018.
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