Alex Scott

Alexandra Virina "Alex" Scott (born 14 October 1984) 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.

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. 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, 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. 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.[5]

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.[6]

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.[7]

International career Scott playing for England in 2014 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.[8] 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 3–0 defeat at Wembley Stadium.

International goals Scores and results list England's goal tally first. 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.
 * 1) 	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition	Scored

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.[11] Scott also writes a weekly women's football column in the Morning Star newspaper.[12]