Wales great Jess Fishlock hangs up her boots

Nation.Cymru staff/agencies

Wales’ record appearance holder and leading goalscorer Jess Fishlock has retired from football after Seattle Reign lost 1-0 to Gotham FC in the National Women’s Soccer League play-off quarter-finals.

The 39-year-old midfielder, who scored 48 goals in 166 appearances for Wales, had announced in April that this season would be her last. She was substituted in the 74th minute of Sunday’s defeat, bringing to an end a 14-season spell with the club she joined for the league’s inaugural campaign in 2013.

Fishlock will now join Rhian Wilkinson’s Wales coaching staff for December’s two-legged World Cup play-off against Norway.

In a farewell letter to Seattle supporters, Fishlock recalled arriving in the US as one of the new league’s first overseas players and finding a “second home”.

“Seattle embraced me exactly as I am. It’s also where I met my wife. This city gave me my career, and it gave me my family,” she wrote.

Fishlock began her career with hometown club Cardiff City in 2002 and went on to play in eight countries, winning Champions League medals with Frankfurt and Lyon. She won three NWSL Shields with Seattle and was named the league’s most valuable player in 2021.

She helped Wales qualify for their first major tournament at Euro 2025, where she became the oldest player to score at a Women’s European Championship when she found the net in a 4-1 defeat by France. She retired from international football that October, having made her senior debut in 2006.

Among the memories Fishlock shared in her letter was her first NWSL goal, away to Portland Thorns in Seattle’s second match of the 2013 season. She grabbed the badge on her shirt and pointed to it as she celebrated. She also singled out a 5-0 home win over the Thorns the following year, saying the rivalry games were the ones she would miss most.

An emotional Fishlock said after Sunday’s defeat that the hardest part of retiring was leaving her teammates.

“So even today I’m not upset that I’ll never play football again – I’m ok with that, I’ve played enough – but I am devastated that I will not get to spend more time with this group because they will win.”