sport.wikisort.org - Athlete

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.

Alex Scott
MBE

Scott in 2019
Personal information
Full name	Alexandra Virina Scott[1]
Date of birth	(1984-10-14) October 14, 1984 (age 38)[1]
Place of birth	London, England
Height	5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)[1]
Position(s)	Right-back
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)
Total		218	(15)
National team
2004–2017	England	140	(12)
2012	Great Britain	5	(0)
Honours Women's football Representing  England FIFA Women's World Cup 2015 Canada UEFA Women's Championship Runner-up 2009 Finland
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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.[2] As of 2019^[update], 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.[3][4] She also covers the English Premier League.[5]

Early life

Scott was born in Poplar, East London to a British mother with North of Ireland, 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 a Jew who opposed fascism in East London,[6] and that her 4x great-grandfather, a black man, owned 26 slaves.[7]

Scott attended Langdon Park School which has been granted Sports College status. Scott and fellow past pupil rapper Dizzee Rascal both represented Great Britain (in their own fields) at the 2012 London Olympics.[8]

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.[9]

Club career

Start in England

Scott signed on with Arsenal in 1992, at the age of eight.[10] After breaking into the first team as a striker or right winger,[11] 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.[12]

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.[13]

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 teammate Kelly Smith.[14] 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.[15] In the following season, Scott helped take Arsenal to the final of the 2016 FA Cup against Chelsea, which the Gunners won 1–0.[16] Scott played her last game on 12 May 2018 against Manchester City Women which Arsenal won 2–1.[17]

International career

England

Scott competed at the U19 and U21 levels for England, including at the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Canada.[18]

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.[19]

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.[20]

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.[21]

Great Britain Olympics

In June 2012, Scott was named in the 18-player Great Britain squad for the 2012 London Olympics, where the British team finished 5th.[22][23]

Media career

Scott began her media career while still playing football, appearing on programmes such as Soccer AM[24] with other minor roles at BBC Sport, BT Sport, and Sky Sports.[25] In 2016 she appeared in Bear Grylls' ITV show, Mission Survive, which she won.[26]

Following her retirement in 2017, Scott turned her focus full-time to television broadcasting, co-presenting on Match of the Day Kickabout.[27] 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.[28] 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.[29] She covered the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup for the BBC.[28] In August 2019, Scott was announced as the new co-host of Sky Sports' Goals on Sunday alongside Chris Kamara.[30] 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.

From September 2019 Scott was a contestant on the 17th series of Strictly Come Dancing, paired with professional dancer Neil Jones.[31] The couple were eliminated in week 11, coming fifth.

Week No.	Dance/Song	Judges' score				Total	Result
		Horwood	Mabuse	Ballas	Tonioli
1	Quickstep/ "I Get a Kick Out of You"	5	5	5	6	21	No Elimination
2	Cha cha cha / "What I Did for Love"	4	6	6	6	22	Safe
3	Rumba/ "How Far I'll Go"	5	6	6	6	23	Safe
4	Tango/ "Go Your Own Way"	4	6	6	7	23 [lower-alpha 1]	Safe
5	Charleston / "Pump Up the Jam"	8	8	8	9 [lower-alpha 2]	33	Safe
6	Street / "Ghostbusters" [lower-alpha 3]	7	9	9	9	34	Safe
7	American Smooth / "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" [lower-alpha 3]	7	8	8	8	31	Safe
8	Jive / "Let's Twist Again"	7	8	8	8	31	Safe
9	Paso Doble / "Run the World (Girls)"	8	8	9	9	34	Safe
10	Argentine Tango / "Never Tear Us Apart"	4	7	7	8	26	Safe
11	Samba / "Joyful Joyful"	6	7	7	7	27 [lower-alpha 1]	Eliminated

Scott has spoken out repeatedly about the sexist abuse she frequently receives on social media because of her role as a football pundit.[28][32]

In May 2021, Scott was announced as the new presenter of Football Focus, after Dan Walker's decision to step down.[33]

In July 2021, Scott was announced as the host of a new BBC daytime quiz show, The Tournament,[34] which began airing in November.[35] That same month (July), Scott was announced as a commentator for the EA Sports game FIFA 22.[36]

She was a main presenter for the BBC's coverage of the 2020 Olympic Games alongside Clare Balding.[37]

Scott participated in the ancestry research programme Who Do You Think You Are?, which aired from October 2021 onwards.[38]

Her autobiography How (Not) To Be Strong was published on 29 September 2022.[39]

Personal life

In 2011, Scott founded 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.[40] Scott also wrote a weekly women's football column in the Morning Star newspaper.[41]

Scott was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to football, she invited her mother, grandmother and niece to her investiture at Buckingham Palace and surprised her family with afternoon tea at the Ritz.[42]

Scott and former partner, and teammate, Kelly Smith shared a house in Hertfordshire.[43] The pair were teammates in America while both played for the Boston Breakers.[44][45] Both returned to England to play for Arsenal together in 2012, after the collapse of their American league.[14] In her 2022 memoir How (Not) To Be Strong, Scott confirmed that she and Smith were a couple from 2005 to 2013. While she says she fell “madly and deeply in love” with Smith, Scott has not explicitly labelled her sexuality and has been in relationships with both men and women.[46]

Career statistics

International

Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Scott goal.

List of international goals scored by Alex Scott[47]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	27 October 2005	Tapolca, Hungary	Hungary	4–0	13–0	2007 FIFA World Cup qualification
2				6–0
3	11 May 2006	St. Mary's, Southampton, England	Hungary	2–0	2–0	2007 FIFA World Cup qualification
4	25 October 2006	Waldstadion, Ahlen, Germany	Germany	1–0	1–5	Friendly
5	8 March 2007	National Hockey Stadium, Milton Keynes, England	Russia	1–0	6–0	Friendly
6	28 January 2007	Guangdong Olympic Stadium, Guangzhou, China	United States	1–1	1–1	2007 Four Nations Tournament
7	27 October 2007	Bescot Stadium, Walsall, England	Belarus	1–0	4–0	2009 UEFA Championship qualification
8				4–0
9	26 November 2009	Buca Arena, İzmir, Turkey	Turkey	1–0	3–0	2011 FIFA World Cup qualification
10	1 March 2010	GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus	Italy	1–0	3–2	2010 Cyprus Cup
11				2–0
12	21 August 2010	Sepp-Doll-Stadion, Krems, Austria	Austria	3–0	4–0	2011 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Arsenal

• FA WSL: 2012
• FA WSL Cup: 2012, 2013, 2015
• FA Women's Premier League: 2003–04,[48] 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09
• FA Cup: 2003–04,[49] 2005–06,[50] 2006–07,[51] 2007–08,[52] 2012–13, 2013–14,[53] 2015–16[16][54]
• FA Women's Premier League Cup: 2006–07,[55] 2008–09[56]
• FA Women's Community Shield: 2006,[57] 2008[58]
• UEFA Women's Champions League: 2006–07

England

• FIFA Women's World Cup third place: 2015[59]
• UEFA Women's Championship runner-up: 2009[60]
• Cyprus Cup: 2009, 2013, 2015[61][62][63]

See also

• List of England women's international footballers
• List of women's footballers with 100 or more international caps
• List of football personalities with British honours
• List of FIFA Women's World Cup broadcasters
• List of FIFA World Cup broadcasters
• List of Strictly Come Dancing contestants

References

Further reading

• Aluko, Eniola (2019), They Don't Teach This, Random House, ISBN 9781473564480
• Caudwell, Jayne (2013), Women's Football in the UK: Continuing with Gender Analyses, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9781317966234
• Clarke, Gemma (2019), Soccerwomen: The Icons, Rebels, Stars, and Trailblazers Who Transformed the Beautiful Game, ISBN 9781568589206
• Dunn, Carrie (2019), Pride of the Lionesses: The Changing Face of Women's Football in England, Pitch Publishing (Brighton) Limited, ISBN 9781785315411
• Dunn, Carrie (2016), The Roar of the Lionesses: Women's Football in England, Pitch Publishing Limited, ISBN 9781785311512
• Grainey, Timothy (2012), Beyond Bend It Like Beckham: The Global Phenomenon of Women's Soccer, University of Nebraska Press, ISBN 0803240368

External links

• Alex Scott – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Alex Scott at TheFA.com
• Alex Scott at Arsenal.com
• Alex Scott at Soccerway
• Alex Scott at Team GB
• Alex Scott at Olympics.com
• Alex Scott at Olympedia

На других языках

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[de] Alex Scott (Fußballspielerin)

Alexandra Virina „Alex“ Scott, MBE (* 14. Oktober 1984 im London Borough of Tower Hamlets) ist eine ehemalige englische Fußballspielerin. Die Abwehrspielerin spielte von 2004 bis 2017 in der englischen Nationalmannschaft.

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- [en] Alex Scott (footballer, born 1984)

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[es] Alex Scott

Alexandra Virina Scott (Londres, Inglaterra; 14 de octubre de 1984) conocida como Alex Scott, es una exfutbolista inglesa. Jugaba como lateral derecha principalmente para el Arsenal.[1] También jugó en la Selección de Inglaterra durante 13 años y la de Reino Unido durante los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres 2012.

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[fr] Alex Scott (football, 1984)

Alex Scott (née le 14 octobre 1984) est une joueuse de football anglaise. Scott jouait habituellement au poste de latéral droit. Elle a fait la plupart de sa carrière à Arsenal où elle remporte la Ligue des champions, le championnat anglais ainsi que les différentes coupes anglaises.

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[it] Alex Scott

Alexandra Virina Scott detta Alex (Londra, 14 ottobre 1984) è un'ex calciatrice inglese, di ruolo difensore.

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[ru] Скотт, Алекс (футболистка)

Александра Вирина «Алекс» Скотт MBE[4] (англ. Alexandra Virina "Alex" Scott[1]род. 14 октября 1984[2], Лондон) — английская футболистка, игравшая на позиции правого защитника в английском «Арсенале» и национальной сборной Англии.

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