Chelsea and England defender Bright announces retirement

TL;DR

Chelsea captain Millie Bright will retire from football at the end of the season. The 32-year-old defender previously ended her international career with England in 2025.

Key points

Millie Bright will retire at the end of the season
She ended her international career with England in 2025
Bright is Chelsea's record appearance maker with 314 appearances
She won eight WSL titles and a total of 20 trophies with Chelsea
Bright began her career at Chelsea in 2015

Mentioned in this story

Millie BrightChelsea

Women's Super League

Chelsea have confirmed club captain Millie Bright is set to retire from football at the end of this season.

The 32-year-old called time on her international career with England back in 2025 and has now made the decision to end her playing career altogether, saying she is "ready to say goodbye to football".

Signed from Doncaster Belles, Bright began her time at Chelsea in 2015 and went on to break the Women's Super League all-time appearance record, originally set by Jordan Nobbs.

She is also Chelsea's record appearance maker (314), scoring 19 times on the way to winning all eight of the club's WSL titles to date, with two of those forming part of domestic trebles in 2021 and 2025.

Across a 12-year stay in west London, the club's longest-serving player, Bright won a total of 20 trophies.

Bright breaks WSL appearances record
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Speaking about the decision, Bright said: "Representing Chelsea over the last 12 years has been everything to me, but I'm now ready to say goodbye to playing football.

"I've given all I can, and I never wanted to fight for any other badge. It is now time, and I'm ready to go into a new era. I'm always going to be Chelsea, but just in a different way."