Fran Kirby announced her retirement from the England team this week, pulling down the shutters on an international career that saw her turn out 77 times for the Lionesses, netting 19 times.
The 31-year-old, who FourFourTwo ranked at no.92 in a list of the top 100 women’s footballers of all-time, played in five international tournaments with England, plus the delayed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo with Great Britain.
But as the dust begins to settle on her international career, one tournament stands out, as Kirby was part of Sarina Wiegman’s squad when the Lionesses won Euro 2022, with the Brighton star starting the final against Germany at Wembley.
Kirby reflects on England’s Euro 2022 success
“It was really special, such an incredible moment,” Kirby recalls to FourFourTwo. “For me, it was seeing the journey, seeing how people got behind us, how the country fell in love with the team. Each game, the further we got, the better we were playing, you could feel a real sense of everyone coming together, desperate for us to go all the way. Having it in this country definitely helped – we did what we could on the pitch, but having the tournament in our own country was one of the massive factors in us winning that tournament.
“When we were on the bus driving to games, people were waving to us from their gardens and cheering us on. It was surreal – we thought, ‘Wow, everyone’s supporting us, let’s give something back for all of the support they’re giving us’.”
Wiegman’s England side scored 20 goals on the way to the Wembley final and one of the big group stage wins remains a highlight for Kirby when FourFourTwo quiz her on her favourite moments from the tournament.
“Obviously winning the final at Wembley was incredible, but I’d probably say the Norway game, when we won 8-0,” she adds. “We were on fire that day, and as a forward player, you love when your team scores goals. Everything we hit went in.
“That was the moment when everyone looked around the dressing room and thought, ‘We have a good chance here, if we keep building on this’. That was when we all believed.
“In our opening game against Austria, there were a lot of nerves, but that second game against Norway was when we took control and dominated.”
Kirby also netted the final goal in England’s 4-0 semi-final win over Sweden, as the Lionesses snapped a streak of losing in three consecutive last-four matches.
“I was relieved that went in and we were able to get through – I’d been a part of a few semi-finals where we hadn’t got over the line. When the ball fell to me, we were already 3-0 up, so I thought, ‘I’ll just hit it and what will happen, will happen’. Luckily, I managed to hit it just high enough that the keeper couldn’t get there. The feeling was relief when it went in – I thought, ‘Oh my God, we’re actually going to reach the final’.”
