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Jill Scott — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Early life

Scott grew up in Fulwell, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, and lived with parents Doreen and Bryan and three siblings, a sister Amanda who is seven years older, a brother Mark who is four years older, and a sister who is nine years younger. She attended Monkwearmouth Comprehensive School.

When Scott was five she would go with her nine-year-old brother into the back lanes near their house and play football with him and his friends and Scott has commented that "...we spent all of our childhood just in the back lanes, so, if say Wimbledon was on I'd get a tennis racket from somewhere and we'd be playing tennis, if the ashes was on you'd suddenly get a cricket bat and you just went through every sport and event being in the back lanes." At the age of seven she was playing football in a boys team, and played for both a local team and a team at her school and was the only student in year 5 to be on the school football team.

A keen long-distance runner, Scott ran for Sunderland Harriers, winning the North of England Under-13 cross-country title and the Junior Great North Run and at the age of 13, she had to decide between football or running, and chose to concentrate on playing football.

Scott then began playing football for the Boldon CA girls' team in Tyne & Wear and later met future England teammates Steph Houghton and Demi Stokes who also played for Boldon. As part of the "Where Greatness Is Made" campaign, plaques honouring Stokes and Scott were installed at the club in 2022. When playing games for Boldon Scott needed to get lifts in a car to attend the games and when she was unable to get a lift, instead of missing the game she would let her mother know that her coach was picking her up at the end of the street and then she would catch a metro train to the location where the match was taking place. At the age of 14 she began playing for the Sunderland Women's team.

After leaving school in 2003, Scott received a BTEC National Diploma in Sport and Exercise Science at Gateshead College. She remained at the college to study for a University of Sunderland foundation degree in sports and exercise development. She also played for the college football team alongside fellow Sunderland and international teammate Carly Telford. After completing her diploma, both Scott and Telford enrolled at Loughborough University to study sport.

England

At junior level, Scott played for the England Under-19s side, scoring three times in three games as England won through the first round of qualifying for the 2006 UEFA Under-19s tournament. Her first call-up to the England senior squad came in May 2006, having captained the Under-19s side for the previous 18 months. She made her debut for the England senior team against the Netherlands in August 2006, coming on as a late substitute for Kelly Smith in a 4–0 win. She made the squad for the 2007 World Cup, coming on as a substitute in England's opening match against Japan. She went on to start the remainder of England's matches in the tournament, scoring her first international goal in the 6–1 demolition of Argentina in the group stage. England bowed out at the quarter-final stage after a 3–0 defeat against the United States.

In May 2009, Scott was one of the first 17 female players to be given central contracts by The Football Association. She was named in coach Hope Powell's squad for the 2009 UEFA Women's European Championships, scoring a late winner as England beat the Netherlands in the semi-final, having come on as a substitute for Jessica Clarke at the beginning of extra-time.

At the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, Scott scored against New Zealand in England's 2–1 group B win. She put England ahead against France in the quarter final, but did not take a penalty in her team's 3–4 shootout defeat following a 1–1 draw. In February 2019, Scott pulled out of the England squad for the SheBelieves Cup.

On 23 February 2021, Scott made her 150th appearance for the England team in a game against Northern Ireland, which she would captain and play the whole 90 minutes as England would win 6–0.

In June 2022, Scott was included in the England squad which won the UEFA Women's Euro 2022. On 23 August 2022, Scott announced her retirement from football, a day after England and Manchester City teammate Ellen White did. Scott retired as England's second-most capped international footballer (men and women), behind Fara Williams.

Scott was allotted 163 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England's inaugural international.