Steph Houghton hopes she leaves the game 바카라in a better place than when I started바카라 and few could disagree that she has achieved just that. (More Football News)
The significant contribution she made will be recognised far beyond her 2016 MBE for achievements in women바카라s football.
After she announced that this season will be her last as a player, current Manchester City coach Gareth Taylor described her as 바카라without question, an icon of the game바카라, while England wrote: 바카라From leading the Lionesses to growing the women바카라s game 바카라 your impact will never be forgotten. A true icon.바카라
Houghton바카라s haul of eight major trophies with City 바카라 four Continental Cups, three Women바카라s FA Cups and the FA Women바카라s Super League title 바카라 makes her the club바카라s most decorated player.
But she also won the WSL twice with Arsenal, along with two FA Cups and three WSL Cups. In addition she has 121 England caps, having announced her international retirement last summer having failed to make Sarina Wiegman바카라s World Cup squad.
She is a bona fide England great but it was with Great Britain that the Durham native made her breakthrough as a star of the women바카라s game as she announced herself on the world stage at the 2012 London Olympics, scoring three times 바카라 including a winner against Brazil in front of a Wembley crowd of 70,000 바카라 despite playing left-back.
It represented quite the turnaround for a player who had sat out the 2007 World Cup and 2009 European Championship with a broken leg and cruciate knee injuries respectively, a curse which was to strike again most painfully when she missed England바카라s historic triumph on home soil at Euro 2022 after surgery on an Achilles problem.
But, despite those setbacks, Houghton바카라s international career had its high points, captaining the Lionesses to a third-place finish at the 2015 World Cup and two subsequent major tournament semi-finals, reaching a century of England appearances and playing at another Olympics.
She was more successful, and less unfortunate, at club level as having progressed from Sunderland to Leeds in 2007, she made the move to Arsenal in 2010 and quickly started collecting silverware.
Initially a full-back with a keen eye for goal she would go on to be regarded as one of the finest centre-backs in the world and also a great leader, having captained Arsenal and City and assuming the Lionesses armband ahead of the 2015 World Cup.
But there was more international heartbreak to come in 2019 as she missed a late penalty in the 2-1 World Cup semi-final defeat to the United States having only been told on the day of the game she was assuming responsibilities from Nikita Parris.
She captained GB at her second Olympics, the 2021 Tokyo Games, but it was to be her last major tournament as the Achilles injury knocked her out of the reckoning for the 2022 Euros as a new England era began under Wiegman.
Away from the pitch, Houghton is married to former Bradford and Liverpool defender Stephen Darby, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2018.
Houghton has taken part in a host of fundraising activities, including running 100 kilometres in aid of her husband바카라s charity 바카라 Darby Rimmer MND Foundation 바카라 in 2020 and last week brought her Man City team-mates to join him and former Ipswich striker Marcus Stewart, who also has the disease, at the end of a 바카라March of the Day바카라 from Bradford to Liverpool.
