The Duke of Cambridge has congratulated England midfielder Jill Scott on her career as she announced her retirement, joking he would not miss her “slide tackles”.
William, president of the FA, wrote in a personal tweet: “A pioneer of Women’s football and a great team player.
“@JillScottJS8 congratulations on a wonderful career, it’s been a pleasure to get to know you.
“Tiny bit pleased there won’t be any more slide tackles during ‘friendly’ kickabouts… W”.
The 35-year-old’s decision to hang up her boots comes just over three weeks since helping the Lionesses to Euro 2022 glory.
Scott had been without a club after leaving Manchester City at the end of last season.
She earned 161 senior international caps after making her England debut in 2006 and scored 27 goals for the national side.
Scott tweeted about her decision: “Right, we’re not crying. I promised myself. I’m retiring from football. And I’m leaving with a gold medal swinging from my neck.”
William cheered the Lionesses on and presented them with their medals after their historic 2-1 win over Germany in the final at Wembley last month.
Scott has previously spoken of how she slide tackled and “wiped out” the future king during a charity event.
“It does stem back to about 10 years ago when we did a charity event and I slipped and slide-tackled him and actually wiped him out,” she said on her BBC podcast Jill Scott’s Coffee Club.
“The running joke whenever he’s seen us was like ‘No yellow cards this tournament Jill’.”
