Millie Bright announces international retirement

Millie started her domestic career playing for the academy of Sheffield United before moving to Doncaster Belles. At 16, she stayed at Doncaster until she went out on loan to Leeds in 2011-2012. She then went on to play for Chelsea from the 2014 season and is still at Chelsea 11 years later.

📸via BBC Sport

Millie made her senior England debut in September 2016 as a late substitute in a 2-0 win against Belgium. Since then, Millie has made 88 caps for the Lionesses and also captained them to the World Cup runners-up in replacement of injured Leah Williamson. In this tournament, Millie assisted one of the goals in the semis to send England to the World Cup final. During her 88 caps, Millie scored 6 goals. When the FA brought in legacy numbers, Millie Bright was cap 197. This means she was the 197th lioness to make their England debut. While playing for England, Millie has won the 2022 UEFA European championships. She has also won the Finalissima and the Arnold Clark Cup. In the most recent major tournament, Millie made herself unavailable for selection due to her mental health and needing prolonged recovery time. 

In 2024, Millie was given an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for her services to football. In July 2024, Millie received the freedom of Derbyshire; she is the first person to be awarded this. Also in July 2024, she was given to honorary doctorate from the University of Derby and the University of Sheffield, then in September of 2024, Bright was made an honorary freewoman by Reigate and Banstead borough council. This means that Millie Bright is the first woman to hold an honorary title in that borough of Surrey. Millie has also been awarded for being in the PFA WSL team of the year for many years. She won the Golden Boot at the Arnold Clark Cup in 2022. In August of 2022, Millie was awarded the freedom of the city of London.

With so many different accolades, Millie Bright was and still is truly adored by the supporters of the Lionesses, even though she has made the difficult decision to retire internationally. Fans will be able to watch her play for Chelsea in the Women's Super League. This is similar to when Jamie Vardy announced his retirement from international football, as he did it to prolong his domestic career. So we believe that Millie may have done this for the same reason, so she doesn't have to worry about camp and keeping fit all season, and so that she has more time to prolong her career, so we can still see her playing at the highest level of domestic football we can.

Millie has been playing as a part of the senior lionesses for nearly a decade now, and she has had a very, very good international career and one she and all of her family should be proud of. Millie is an advocate for mental health and doing what's best for her own mental health, and this summer she was to prioritise recovery after a long season at Chelsea and get treatment for a little knee injury. We know that Millie Bright won’t have made this decision overnight and that she will have thought about this for months and months, but all we can say to Millie now is Thank You for your contributions to the Lionesses and for making them the team they are today.