Jill Scott

The midfielder, the only member of the victorious Lionesses squad who remained from their previous final defeat in 2009, brings the curtain down on an 18-year career just weeks on from beating Germany at Wembley.

Scott follows England's record goalscorer Ellen White in announcing she is bowing out of the game, revealing her decision in a lengthy feature penned for The Players' Tribune.

"Two things have always been true about me," the former Manchester City stalwart wrote. "I've always been stubborn, and I've always loved football. It's been in my blood ever since I was five years old. 

"If you would have told me that I'd live to see 90,000 people packed into Wembley Stadium for a women's European final? And that I'd be playing in it? Impossible."

"I'm retiring from football. And I'm leaving with a gold medal swinging from my neck."

Scott began her senior career with hometown club Sunderland in 2004, but it was a move to Everton in 2006 that saw her establish herself as one of the English game's key talents.

She won FA Women's Premier League Cup and FA Women's Cup honours before a move to Manchester City in 2013, where she helped the club become one of the dominant forces in the Women's Super League, winning in 2016.

At international level, Scott made her debut against the Netherlands as a teenager in August 2006 and went on to win 161 caps across a 16-year Lionesses career, and a further nine caps for Great Britain.

She was a member of the 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 World Cup squads, making the semi-finals in the latter two, as well as the 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2022 European Championship squads.

The Sunderland-born player joined City from Everton in 2014 and has committed to a two-year extension that runs to 2022.

Scott, 33, has scored 24 goals in 167 games for City, winning the Women's Super League in 2016 and helping the team to runner-up finishes in each season since.

She has also won two FA Women's Cups and three Continental Cups with City, plus 149 caps for England over the course of her career.

Scott said: "Although I've been named as a player-coach, I want to reiterate that I'm a player first and foremost – I still want to play for this team and achieve success."

Her appointment boosts a City staff led by new head coach Gareth Taylor, who was appointed in May to his role with the women's team after predecessor Nick Cushing left to join New York City FC.

Scott, who has played in four World Cups, follows former England team-mate Casey Stoney into coaching at WSL level. Stoney is now manager of Manchester United Women.

"Coaching might bring new aspects for me," Scott said. "But it's about working hard on the pitch and putting in the hours off it, trying to grow my knowledge of the game to help the team in any way I can."