Legends don’t come much bigger than Chelsea captain Millie Bright, who’s worn the Blue shirt for the past 12 years and a club-record 314 appearances, winning 19 trophies and even scoring 19 goals along the way. And though the 32-year-old center back has today announced her retirement with immediate effect, she’s also not completely leaving for good, having taken a trustee role at the Chelsea Foundation to continue the work there that she already began years ago during her playing career.
Thirty-two
may seem like a relatively young age at which to retire, but Bright has been playing professionally since age 16, getting her start at Doncaster Belles before joining Chelsea as a 21-year-old in December 2014, just ahead of the 2015 WSL season. She’d immediately help us win the league that season; the first of nine (9!) league titles in her illustrious career.
But all those games and all those years have taken their toll, and as she revealed in her announcement, she’s been ”playing injured” for the last six years (and not just for the past two months that she’s missed).
Chelsea’s last game of the season will be at home against Manchester United on May 16, where she will certainly receive a proper legend’s goodbye.
“Representing Chelsea over the last 12 years has been everything to me, but I’m now ready to say goodbye to playing football. I’ve given all I can, and I never wanted to fight for any other badge. It is now time, and I’m ready to go into a new era. I’m always going to be Chelsea, but just in a different way.”
-Millie Bright; source: Chelsea FC
Thank you, Millie!
