Alex Scott (footballer, born 1984)

Alex Scott
Personal information
Full nameAlexandra Virina Scott[1]
Date of birth14 October 1984
Place of birthLondon, England
Height5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
Playing positionDefender
Club information
Current team
Arsenal
Number2
Youth career
1992–?Arsenal
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
?–2004Arsenal
2004–2005Birmingham City
2005–2009Arsenal
2009–2011Boston Breakers53(1)
2012–Arsenal
National team
2004–England106(12)
2012–Great Britain5(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:08, 29 October 2009 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 00:01, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

Alexandra Virina "Alex" Scott (born 14 October 1984 in London) is an English football defender currently playing for Arsenal in the English FA WSL and the England women's national football team. She is an attacking right–sided full-back. Scott has made over 100 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

Alex Scott playing for Arsenal with Emma Byrne looking on.

Start in England

Scott signed on with Arsenal in 1992, at the age of eight.[2] After breaking into the first team as a striker or right–winger,[3] she was later converted to full–back. Scott remained with Arsenal until the 2004–05 season, before 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.

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

Alex Scott playing for the Boston Breakers in WPS.

The move to the United States

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.[4]

In the inaugural 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season, Scott played in 17 games (all starts, 1446 total minutes) for the Breakers. She scored one goal and added one assist. In 2010, Scott featured in 21 games (all starts, 1890 total minutes) and registered two assists. She started 14 of her 15 matches (playing 1249 minutes) in 2011. In December 2011, Scott returned to Arsenal on loan for the duration of a three match pre–season tour of Japan.[5]

Back to England

When the WPS collapsed ahead of the 2012 campaign, Scott embarked on a third spell at Arsenal. She was joined by Boston team mate Kelly Smith.[6]

International career

Scott playing for England in 2014

England

Scott also is a part of the England team, making her full début against the Netherlands on 18 September 2004. She has competed at the U-19 and U-21 levels for England, including at the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Canada.[7] For the senior team, Scott has played in the 2005, 2009 and 2013 editions of the UEFA Women's Championship, as well as the 2007 and 2011 FIFA Women's World Cups.

In November 2014 Scott headed powerfully past her own goalkeeper to give Germany the lead in England's crushing 30 defeat at Wembley Stadium.[8]

International goals

Scores and results list England's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Result Competition Scored
2 27 October 2005 Tapolca  Hungary 13–0 2007 FIFA World Cup Qual. 2
3 11 May 2006 St. Mary's, Southampton  Hungary 2–0 2007 FIFA World Cup Qual. 1
4 25 October 2006 Waldstadion, Ahlen  Germany 1–5 Friendly 1
5 8 March 2007 National Hockey Stadium, Milton Keynes  Russia 6–0 Friendly 1
6 28 January 2007 Guangdong Olympic Stadium, Guangzhou  United States 1–1 Four Nations Tournament 1
8 27 October 2007 Bescot Stadium, Walsall  Belarus 4–0 2009 UEFA Championship Qual. 2
9 26 November 2009 Buca Arena, İzmir  Turkey 3–0 2011 FIFA World Cup Qual. 1
11 1 March 2010 GSP Stadium, Nicosia  Italy 3–2 Cyprus Cup 2
12 21 August 2010 Sepp-Doll-Stadion, Krems  Austria 4–0 2011 FIFA World Cup Qual. 1

Great Britain Olympic

In June 2012 Scott was named in the 18–player Great Britain squad for the 2012 London Olympics.[9]

Personal life

In 2011 Scott started 'The Alex Scott Academy' in partnership with Kingston College and Puma, for female footballers aged 16–19 years old. This represented the first such academy in the UK and was intended to highlight the growth of the women’s game.[10] Scott also writes a weekly women's football column in the Morning Star newspaper.[11]

References

  1. "Player Statistics". FIFA. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  2. "Ladies re-sign Yankey and Scott | News Archive | News". Arsenal.com. 19 August 2005. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  3. "Ellen Maggs going great Guns at Arsenal". femaleSOCCER.net. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  4. "Alex Scott set to join the Boston Breakers | Ladies News | News". Arsenal.com. 6 February 2009. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  5. "Arsenal enjoy charity Japan trip". UEFA.com. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  6. "England's Kelly Smith and Alex Scott rejoin Arsenal Ladies". BBC Sport. 9 March 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  7. "England Player Biographies". Women's Soccer World. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  8. Thompson, Anna (23 November 2014). "England Women 0 3 Germany Women". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  9. "Team GB women's squad for London 2012 announced". BBC Sport. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  10. "The Alex Scott Academy". Kingston College – Sport Academies. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  11. Scott, Alex (17 August 2012). "The Alex Scott column: It's time to get back to business with the Gunners". Morning Star. Retrieved 18 August 2012.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alex Scott.