Matildas defender Clare Polkinghorne will retire from worldwide soccer, ending a profession spanning nearly 20 years.
Polkinghorne introduced her retirement on Wednesday forward of the Matildas’ fixtures away to Switzerland and Germany later in October.
She’s going to dangle up her boots in December, aiming to have a farewell sport in her hometown Brisbane when the Matildas play Brazil.
The 35-year-old is Australia’s all-time highest-capped participant with 167 appearances after debuting at 17 in 2006 underneath now-interim coach Tom Sermanni.
She’s going to proceed her membership profession at Kristianstads DFF within the Swedish ladies’s soccer affiliation whereas working in the direction of her teaching licence.
“The group has been a large a part of my life for 18-and-a-half years. It is undoubtedly going to be tough to say goodbye,” Polkinghorne instructed 10 Information.
“Being a footballer has been the perfect job on the planet, and I have been fortunate sufficient to have that as a profession for a lot of, a few years, and I’ve cherished each a part of it.”
Polkinghorne’s announcement follows Australia’s Paris Olympic group defeat to the US in August, with the Matildas knocked out of the event following a complete 2-1 loss in group B.
The Queensland product has been known as as much as 5 FIFA Girls’s World Cup squads (2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023) and is a three-time Olympian (2016, 2020, 2024).
A part of the Matildas group to have reached their first knockout win in 2015 and first Olympics semi-final look in 2021, Polkinghorne additionally performed of their 2010 Asian Cup victory — the primary continental trophy for Australia.
Polkinghorne’s membership profession started at hometown membership Brisbane Roar, twice profitable the premiership and grand remaining throughout 140 appearances for the A-League Girls membership over a number of stints since 2008.
She is a two-time Julie Dolan medallist (2012/13, 2017/18), the home competitors’s highest particular person award for a ladies’s participant.
Polkinghorne performed for Swedish membership Vittsjö GIK, Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League groups Portland Thorns and Houston Sprint, and Norwegian membership Avaldnses IL earlier than touchdown at Kristianstads.
AAP
