Alex Scott (footballer, born 1984) facts for kids
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Scott in 2019
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Alexandra Virina Scott | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 14 October 1984 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | London, England | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing position | 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) | |||||||||||||||||||
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Honours
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Alexandra Virina Scott (born 14 October 1984) is an English sports presenter, commentator, and former professional footballer. She played as a right-back. Since 2021, she has been the main presenter of Football Focus.
As a club player, Alex Scott had three different times playing for Arsenal. She also played for a season at Birmingham City in 2004–05. For three years, she played in the American Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league with the Boston Breakers. She scored the winning goal for Arsenal in the 2007 UEFA Women's Cup final. For her country, she played 140 games for the England national team. She also represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Alex Scott was added to the English Football Hall of Fame in 2019. In 2024, she was also added to the WSL Hall of Fame.
After she stopped playing football, Alex Scott became a sports commentator. She worked for both BBC Sport and Sky Sports. In this role, she helped cover the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. She also started co-presenting shows like The One Show. Later, she mainly worked for the BBC. She became a co-host for the yearly Sports Personality of the Year event. She also presented coverage of the Summer Olympics. In 2021, she became the main presenter of Football Focus, taking over from Dan Walker.
Contents
Early Life and Beginnings
Alexandra Virina Scott was born on 14 October 1984 in Poplar, East London. She went to Langdon Park School, which is a special Sports College. Alex Scott and another famous former student, rapper Dizzee Rascal, both represented Great Britain in their fields at the 2012 London Olympics.
Playing for Clubs
Starting in England
Alex Scott joined Arsenal in 1992 when she was eight years old. She first played as a striker or a right winger. Later, she changed to play as a full-back, which is a defensive position. Scott stayed with Arsenal until the 2004–05 season. Then, she moved to Birmingham City. With Alex Scott on the team, Birmingham City finished fourth in the FA Women's Premier League National Division. However, because Birmingham had money problems, she went back to Arsenal for the 2005–06 season.
When she returned to Arsenal, Alex Scott helped the club win two major trophies: the FA Women's Premier League and the FA Women's Cup. She was also a very important player when Arsenal won all four of their trophy competitions in one season. This included the 2006–07 UEFA Women's Cup. Arsenal was the first British team ever to win this competition. Alex Scott scored the only goal in the two-game final against Umeå IK. She played in 22 league games, scoring two goals. Overall, she played 40 games and scored four goals that season.
In the 2007–08 season, Scott played in 21 games and scored one goal. In total, she played 35 games and scored three goals. In the 2008–09 season, she scored once in 13 games. She played 24 games in all competitions, scoring two goals.
Playing in the United States
A new women's league called Women's Professional Soccer was created in the United States. In 2009, Alex Scott decided to leave Arsenal to join the Boston Breakers in this new league.
In the first season of the league in 2009, Scott played in 17 games for the Breakers. She scored one goal and helped set up another. In 2010, Scott played in 21 games and made two assists. In 2011, she started 14 out of 15 matches. In December 2011, Scott went back to Arsenal for a short time to play in a few pre-season games in Japan.
Returning to England
When the WPS league stopped before the 2012 season, Alex Scott came back to Arsenal for her third time. Her teammate from Boston Breakers, Kelly Smith, also joined her. Scott was made captain of the team for the 2014–15 season. She did not play in the 2015 FA WSL Cup final, where Arsenal beat Notts County. In the next season, Scott helped Arsenal reach the 2016 FA Women's Cup final against Chelsea. The Gunners won that game 1–0. Alex Scott played her very last game on 12 May 2018 against Manchester City, which Arsenal won 2–1.
Playing for Her Country
England National Team
Alex Scott played for the England U19 and U21 teams. This included playing in the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Canada.
She played her first full game for the senior England team against the Netherlands on 18 September 2004. She played in the 2005, 2009, 2013, and 2017 UEFA Women's Championship tournaments. She also played in the 2007, 2011, and 2015 FIFA Women's World Cups. She won a silver medal at the 2009 UEFA Women's Euros. She also won a bronze medal at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.
On 2 September 2017, Alex Scott announced she was retiring from international football. At that time, she was the second most capped England player, having played 140 games.
Great Britain Olympic Team
In June 2012, Alex Scott was chosen for the 18-player Great Britain squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The British team finished 5th in the tournament.
Media Career
Alex Scott started her media career while she was still playing football. She appeared on shows like Soccer AM. She also had smaller roles at BBC Sport, BT Sport, and Sky Sports. She wrote a weekly column about women's football for the Morning Star newspaper. She also wrote a column in The Independent during the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
In 2016, she was on Bear Grylls' ITV show, Mission Survive, which she won.
After she retired from playing football in 2017, Scott focused fully on television broadcasting. She co-presented Match of the Day Kickabout. She became more widely known when she covered the 2018 FIFA World Cup. She was the first female football commentator at a World Cup for the BBC. After the tournament, she continued to share her insights on the Premier League. In August 2018, she became the first female commentator 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. Since 2020, Scott has regularly co-hosted the yearly BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony. Alex Scott is also a guest presenter on The One Show.
In September 2019, Scott was a contestant on the 17th series of Strictly Come Dancing. She was paired with professional dancer Neil Jones. She was the first woman footballer to take part in the show. They were eliminated in week 11, finishing in fifth place.
In May 2021, Alex Scott was announced as the new presenter of Football Focus. This happened after Dan Walker decided to leave the show. In July 2021, Scott was announced as the host of a new BBC daytime quiz show, The Tournament. That same month, Scott was announced as a commentator for the EA Sports game FIFA 22. She was also a main presenter for the BBC's coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics, alongside Clare Balding.
Scott took part in the ancestry research show Who Do You Think You Are?. Her episode was shown on 26 October 2021.
Personal Life and Achievements
In 2011, Alex Scott started the Alex Scott Academy. She did this with Kingston College and Puma. It was for female footballers aged 16–19 years. This was the first academy of its kind in the UK. It was created to help show how much women's football was growing.
While she was playing for Arsenal, Scott earned a degree in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting from Staffordshire University. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire in 2021. She also received an honorary fellowship from the Queen Mary University of London.
Alex Scott was given the award of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2017. This was for her great work in football. She invited her mother, grandmother, and niece to the special ceremony at Buckingham Palace. She also surprised her family with afternoon tea at The Ritz. Her book How (Not) To Be Strong was published on 29 September 2022.
Honours
Arsenal
- FA WSL: 2012
- FA WSL Cup: 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018
- FA Women's Premier League: 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09
- FA Cup: 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16
- FA Women's Premier League Cup: 2006–07, 2008–09
- Women's FA Community Shield: 2006, 2008
- UEFA Women's Cup: 2006–07
England
- FIFA Women's World Cup third place: 2015
- UEFA Women's Championship runner-up: 2009
- Cyprus Cup: 2009, 2013, 2015
Orders and special awards
- 2017: Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)
- 2023: The Sport Award
See Also
In Spanish: Alex Scott para niños
- List of England women's international footballers
- List of football personalities with British honours
- List of Strictly Come Dancing contestants
- List of women's footballers with 100 or more international caps
