Alexandra Virina Scott (born 14 October 1984) is an English sports presenter, pundit, and former

professional footballer Association football is the world's most popular sport and is worth US$600 billion worldwide. By the end of the 20th century it was played by over 250 million players in over 200 countries. Around the world, the sport is played at a professi ...

who mostly played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

. She made 140 appearances for the England national team and represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. At club level, Scott has had three separate spells with Arsenal, punctuated with a season at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in 2004–05 and three years in the American Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) with Boston Breakers. She scored the winning goal for Arsenal in the 2007 UEFA Women's Cup Final. In 2019, Scott was inducted to the

English Football Hall of Fame The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of the all-time top English footballing talents, as well as non-English players and man ...

. , Scott is a pundit for

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

and

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

and was featured during the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

and

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

. She also covers the English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

Early life

Alexandra Virina Scott was born on 14 October 1984 in Poplar, East London, to a British mother with

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

, English and

Lithuanian-Jewish Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent area ...

heritage and a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n father. During the filming of the BBC's '' Who Do You Think You Are?'' in 2021, she discovered that her maternal great-grandfather was a Jewish person who opposed fascism in East London, and that her 4× great-grandfather, a black man, owned 26 slaves. Scott attended Langdon Park School which has been granted

Sports College Sports Colleges are senior secondary schools which promote sports alongside secondary education. United Kingdom Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist schools programme, Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdo ...

status. Scott and fellow past pupil rapper

Dizzee Rascal Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), better known by his stage name Dizzee Rascal, is a British MC and rapper. A pioneer of grime music, his work has also incorporated elements of UK garage, bassline, British hip hop, and R&B. Dizze ...

both represented Great Britain (in their own fields) at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. In 2022, Scott revealed in her autobiography that she had been a victim of domestic abuse from her father during her childhood; she pledged that all proceeds from her book would go to help women affected by similar abuse.

Club career

Start in England

Scott signed on with

in 1992, at the age of eight. After breaking into the first team as a striker or right winger, she was later converted to full-back. Scott remained with Arsenal until the 2004–05 season, after which she moved to

. With the addition of Scott, the club finished fourth in the

FA Women's Premier League National Division The FA Women's Premier League National Division (originally WFA National League Premier Division) was a football division in England. From 1991 until 2010, the National Division functioned as the top league in English women's football. Durin ...

. However, due to Birmingham's financial difficulties, she returned to Arsenal for the 2005–06 season. Upon rejoining Arsenal, Scott helped the club to a domestic double of the

FA Women's Premier League The FA Women's National League, formerly WFA National League and FA Women's Premier League (WPL), is a group of six football divisions run by the English Football Association. Founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, the League includ ...

and FA Women's Cup. She was also a key figure in Arsenal's historic "Quadruple" season in which they won all of their trophy competitions, including the

2006–07 UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Cup 2006–07 was the sixth edition of the UEFA Women's Cup football club tournament (since rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League). 43 teams from 42 football associations took part, starting with the first qualifying round ...

. Arsenal were the first ever British side to win the competition, with Scott scoring the only goal in the

two-legged tie In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum o ...

with Umeå IK. She appeared in 22 Premier League games, scoring two goals. In all competitions, she made 40 appearances and scored four goals. The 2007–08 season saw Scott appear in 21 games, scoring once. In all competitions, she made 35 appearances, scoring three goals. In the 2008–09 season, Scott scored once in 13 games. In all competitions, she made 24 appearances, adding two goals.

Move to the United States

Upon the creation of a new women's league in the United States, Women's Professional Soccer, it was announced on 25 September 2008 that her WPS playing rights had been assigned to Chicago Red Stars, whose head coach was former Arsenal assistant Emma Hayes. Her rights were traded on 15 January 2009 to Boston Breakers and it was announced on 6 February 2009 that she would be leaving Arsenal to join up with her new team. In the inaugural

2009 Women's Professional Soccer season The 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season served as the inaugural season for WPS, the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. The regular season began on March 29 and ended on August 9, with the postseason being held ...

, Scott played in 17 games for the Breakers. She scored one goal and added one assist. In

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, Scott featured in 21 games and registered two assists. She started 14 of her 15 matches in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. In December 2011, Scott returned to Arsenal on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

for the duration of a three-match pre-season tour of Japan.

Back to England

When the WPS collapsed ahead of the 2012 campaign, Scott returned for a third spell at Arsenal. She was joined by Boston teammate Kelly Smith. Scott was named captain for the 2014–15 season. She did not take part in the 2015 Continental Cup final where Arsenal Ladies beat Notts County to the Cup. In the following season, Scott helped take Arsenal to the final of the 2016 FA Cup against Chelsea, which the Gunners won 1–0. Scott played her last game on 12 May 2018 against

Manchester City Women Manchester City Women's Football Club (formerly ''Manchester City Ladies F.C.'') are an English women's football club based in Manchester who play in the FA Women's Super League. They are affiliated with Manchester City F.C. who play in the Pre ...

which Arsenal won 2–1.

International career

England

Scott competed at the U19 and U21 levels for England, including at the

2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship The 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 17 August to 1 September. It was the first sanctioned youth tournament for women put together by FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada. FIFA granted the tournament to Canada in March ...

in Canada. Scott made her full debut against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 18 September 2004. She played in the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

editions of the

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalent ...

, as well as the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

s. She won silver at the 2009 UEFA Women's Euros and bronze at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. In November 2014, Scott headed powerfully past her own goalkeeper to give

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

the lead in England's crushing 3–0 defeat at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. On 2 September 2017, Scott retired from international football. On the date of retirement, she ended up as the second most capped

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

player with 140 appearances.

Great Britain Olympics

In June 2012, Scott was named in the 18-player

squad for the

, where the British team finished 5th.

Media career

Scott began her media career while still playing football, appearing on programmes such as '' Soccer AM'' with other minor roles at

, BT Sport, and

. In 2016 she appeared in Bear Grylls' ITV show, '' Mission Survive'', which she won. Following her retirement in 2017, Scott turned her focus full-time to television broadcasting, co-presenting on ''

Match of the Day Kickabout ''Match of the Day Kickabout'' is a British children's television football programme broadcast on CBBC. It was previously presented by Ore Oduba and Radzi Chinyanganya. but in its later seasons it was hosted by Ben Shires, Kenzie Benali, John Far ...

''. She became well known to a wider audience when she covered the

, becoming the first female football pundit at a World Cup for the BBC. After the tournament, she continued to provide insight on the Premier League, and in August 2018 became the first female pundit on Sky Sports, joining the '' Super Sunday'' team. She covered the

for the BBC. In August 2019, Scott was announced as the new co-host of Sky Sports' ''

Goals on Sunday ''Goals on Sunday'' is a British football discussion television programme on Sky Sports that shows highlights and analysis of the Premier League, Scottish Premiership and Football League Championship matches. Shown every Sunday and Bank Holid ...

'' alongside Chris Kamara. Since 2020, Scott has been a regular presenter on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. Scott is also a frequent guest presenter on ''

The One Show ''The One Show'' is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weeknights at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Jermaine Jenas, and Ronan K ...

''. From September 2019 Scott was a contestant on the 17th series of ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 ...

'', paired with professional dancer Neil Jones. The couple were eliminated in week 11, coming fifth. Scott has spoken out repeatedly about the sexist abuse she frequently receives on social media because of her role as a football pundit. In May 2021, Scott was announced as the new presenter of '' Football Focus'', after Dan Walker's decision to step down. In July 2021, Scott was announced as the host of a new BBC daytime quiz show, '' The Tournament'', which began airing in November. That same month (July), Scott was announced as a commentator for the EA Sports game ''

FIFA 22 ''FIFA 22'' is a football simulation video game published by Electronic Arts. It is the 29th installment in the ''FIFA series'', and was released worldwide on 1 October 2021 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Windows, Xb ...

''. She was a main presenter for the BBC's coverage of the

2020 Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

alongside

Clare Balding Clare Victoria Balding (born 29 January 1971) is an English broadcaster, journalist, and author. She currently presents for BBC Sport, Channel 4, BT Sport, is the current president of the Rugby Football League (RFL) and formerly presented the ...

. Scott participated in the ancestry research programme '' Who Do You Think You Are?'', which aired from October 2021 onwards. Her autobiography ''How (Not) To Be Strong'' was published on 29 September 2022. Shortly after 7 European national football associations announced that they were asking their captains not to wear the pro-LGBTQ+ OneLove armband at the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

, due to a threat of sporting sanctions from FIFA, Scott wore the armband while reporting on the England vs

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

match on 21 November.

Personal life

In 2011, Scott founded the Alex Scott Academy in partnership with Kingston College and

Puma Puma or PUMA may refer to: Animals * ''Puma'' (genus), a genus in the family Felidae ** Puma (species) or cougar, a large cat Businesses and organisations * Puma (brand), a multinational shoe and sportswear company * Puma Energy, a mid- and d ...

, for female footballers aged 16–19 years. This represented the first such academy in the UK and was intended to highlight the growth of the women's game. Scott also wrote a weekly women's football column in the ''

Morning Star Morning Star, morning star, or Morningstar may refer to: Astronomy * Morning star, most commonly used as a name for the planet Venus when it appears in the east before sunrise ** See also Venus in culture * Morning star, a name for the star Siri ...

'' newspaper. Scott was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to football, she invited her mother, grandmother and niece to her investiture at Buckingham Palace and surprised her family with afternoon tea at the Ritz. Scott and former partner, and teammate, Kelly Smith shared a house in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. The pair were teammates in America while both played for the Boston Breakers. Both returned to England to play for Arsenal together in 2012, after the collapse of their American league. In her 2022 memoir ''How (Not) To Be Strong'', Scott confirmed that she and Smith were a couple from 2005 to 2013. While she says she fell “madly and deeply in love” with Smith, Scott has not explicitly labelled her

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

and has said she has been in relationships with both men and women.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Scott goal.''

Honours

Arsenal *

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

FA WSL Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Pr ...

: 2012, 2013, 2015 *

: 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14, 2015–16 *

FA Women's Premier League Cup The Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). It was renamed the FA Women's Premier League Cup from 1994 to 2018. The first edition of the Cup includ ...

: 2006–07, 2008–09 *

FA Women's Community Shield The Women's FA Community Shield is an association football match in England. It is a national super cup, and the equivalent of the FA Community Shield in male football. It is the first competitive match of the football season. The match is comp ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

: 2006–07 England *

third place:

runner-up:

Cyprus Cup The Cyprus Women's Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football. It has been held annually in Cyprus since 2008. Although the competition takes place in Cyprus, the hosts have yet to take part in th ...

Orders and special awards *

(MBE)

References

External links

*
Alex Scott
at TheFA.com
Alex Scott
at Arsenal.com * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Alex 1984 births Living people 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Arsenal W.F.C. players BBC television presenters Birmingham City W.F.C. players Black British sportswomen Black British television personalities Boston Breakers (WPS) players England women's international footballers England women's under-23 international footballers English association football commentators English autobiographers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate women's footballers English game show hosts English people of Irish descent English people of Jamaican descent English people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent English women's footballers Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States FA Women's National League players FIFA Century Club Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Footballers from Poplar, London Members of the Order of the British Empire Morning Star (British newspaper) journalists Olympic women's footballers of Great Britain Television personalities from London UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players Women's association football fullbacks Women's Professional Soccer players Women's Super League players LGBT association football players from the United Kingdom