Bay FC defender Jen Beattie is retiring from skilled soccer, the NWSL membership introduced on Tuesday morning.
A local of Glasgow, Scotland, Beattie’s embellished 18-year profession has spanned 4 international locations, contains 14 trophies and stints at among the world’s high golf equipment, and involves a detailed after one season with Bay FC. Beattie joined the Bay Space membership in February 2024 after a switch from Arsenal and appeared in 11 video games throughout the 2024 season.
“I’d like to thank the fans at Bay FC – you made me feel welcome from the beginning, and I’m proud that I’ll always be able to say I was there at the start of what I hope is going to be an incredible force in women’s club soccer.”
In November, Beattie gained the NWSL’s 2024 Lauren Vacation Impression Award, honoring her work locally supporting and selling breast most cancers consciousness and affected person assist. Beattie was one among 14 nominees for the distinguished honor – one from every NWSL membership – and designated a donation of $35,000 to Bay Space-based non-profit Pink Ribbon Good and $5,000 to Most cancers Analysis UK.
Beattie is a survivor of Stage 1 breast most cancers, a illness she beat whereas enjoying for Arsenal in 2020.
“On and off the pitch, Jen was a tremendous representative of our club and the Bay Area,” Bay FC Sporting Director Matt Potter stated. “As a seasoned veteran, Jen provided leadership and experience needed during our inaugural season and quickly made an impact in the Bay Area with her community work. She will always be a part of Bay FC’s story, and we wish her nothing the best in the future.”
Although Beattie didn’t play within the majority of Bay FC’s matches final season, she was a key staff chief introduced in to shepherd the membership’s youthful gamers and produce expertise to a brand-new facet with a robust want for regular veterans.
Beattie broke into the skilled recreation at age 15 when she joined Scottish facet Queens Park Girls. Her contributions rapidly helped the squad to success, reaching the ultimate of the Scottish Girls’s Premier League Cup in November 2007.
She modified golf equipment the next yr, becoming a member of Celtic FC, the place she remained till 2009 when she moved to Arsenal for her first of two stints with the North London membership. Beattie tallied 11 objectives in 43 appearances with the Gunners by 2013, serving to her squad to 4 FA Girls’s Tremendous League titles, two FA Cups, and the Girls’s League Cup in 2012.
“It’s been a really cool experience for me, because I’ve never gone through it before,” Beattie stated of becoming a member of Bay FC. “An expansion team was a brand-new process. I’m used to long-standing clubs and being the newbie, and everyone else has been there for however many years. So it’s been such an interesting project in the best possible ways. It’s had its difficult moments, but that’s what pro sport and elite environments are about.”
Beattie moved to French Division 1 Féminine facet Montpellier HSC in 2013, spending two years with the membership earlier than profitable six trophies between 2015 and 2019 with Manchester Metropolis and Australian outfit Melbourne Metropolis on mortgage. She returned to Arsenal in 2019, tallying 127 appearances and profitable one other Girls’s League Cup earlier than her switch to Bay FC in February 2024.
On the worldwide stage, Beattie represented Scotland all through her youth {and professional} profession. After making her senior debut at 16, she registered 142 caps and 24 objectives for her nation.
Beattie helped Scotland qualify for the 2017 UEFA Girls’s European Championships – then the staff’s first main match look – and represented Scotland in its match debut on the 2019 FIFA Girls’s World Cup, scoring in a 3-3 draw with Argentina. She introduced her retirement from worldwide soccer in 2023.
