Alex Scott MBE

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

In 2019, Scott was inducted to the English Football Hall of Fame. As of 2019, Scott is a pundit for BBC Sport and Sky Sports and was featured during the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. She also covers the English Premier League. In October 2023, she won The Sport Award in the 2023 Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards.

Alexandra Virina Scott was born on 14 October 1984 in Poplar, East London, to a British mother with Northern Irish, English and Lithuanian-Jewish heritage and a Jamaican father. During the filming of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? in 2021, she discovered that her maternal great-grandfather was Jewish and opposed fascism in East London, and that her four times great-grandfather was a black man who owned twenty-six slaves.

Scott attended Langdon Park School which has been granted Sports College status. In 2022, Scott revealed in her autobiography that she had been a victim of domestic abuse from her father during her childhood; she pledged that all proceeds from her book would go to help women affected by similar abuse.

Scott signed on with Arsenal in 1992, at the age of eight. After breaking into the first team as a striker or right winger, 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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. 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. Scott was allotted 155 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England’s inaugural international.

In June 2012, Scott was named in the 18-player Great Britain squad for the 2012 London Olympics, where the British team finished 5th.

Scott began her media career while still playing football, appearing on programmes such as Soccer AM with other minor roles at BBC Sport, BT Sport, and Sky Sports. While playing for Arsenal, she completed a degree in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting at Staffordshire University. She wrote a weekly women’s football column in the Morning Star newspaper, and a column in The Independent during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In 2016 she appeared in Bear Grylls’ ITV show, Mission Survive, which she won.
Following her retirement in 2017, Scott turned her focus full-time to television broadcasting, co-presenting on Match of the Day Kickabout. She became well known to a wider audience when she covered the 2018 FIFA World Cup, becoming the first female football pundit at a World Cup for the BBC. After the tournament, she continued to provide insight on the Premier League, and in August 2018 became the first female pundit on Sky Sports, joining the Super Sunday team. She covered the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup for the BBC. In August 2019, Scott was announced as the new co-host of Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday alongside Chris Kamara.[36] Since 2020, Scott has been a regular presenter on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. Scott is also a frequent guest presenter on The One Show. In September 2019 Scott was a contestant on the 17th series of Strictly Come Dancing, paired with professional dancer Neil Jones. She was the first woman footballer to take part in the show. The couple were eliminated in week 11, coming fifth.

An excellent career in football, with outstanding achievements throughout her playing years. Her journey from a young age to club professional level, representing her country is a tremendous achievement. Attending university to acquire a qualification to further her education and the opportunity for life after playing football was obviously a very wise decision.

Back to back career success is not always achieved by many people. It has certainly worked for this young lady. With so many first for her as female, footballer, pundit etc, sky is the limit.

Source: Wikipedia