Announcing her retirement, the 33-year-old discussed her proudest moments, speaking out about her cancer diagnosis and what's next

It would have been understandable had Jen Beattie agonised over calling time on her playing career, that the announcement she made on Tuesday, bringing to a close an 18-year chapter that has spanned seven clubs and five countries. After all, when GOAL asks the Bay FC defender if there is anything she will miss as she takes her first steps into retirement, despite taking a good moment to think about it, she cannot come up with an answer. And yet, she is entirely at peace with the decision to move on from what she repeatedly calls “the best job in the world”.

“When I look back at everything, my favourite thing is how fun it was,” Beattie says. “I've loved every second of it, even all the hard stuff. I would do it all again, all the injuries, I would do every single aspect of it all. I had so much fun, the day-to-day stuff, the big games, everything. It was just so enjoyable and I feel so lucky to have got friends for life off the back of it as well, really good people, great coaches, awesome clubs. I'm very, very grateful for everything I've been able to do through football.”

But every player knows when it’s the right time and, to Beattie, that is what this is. Though she had one more year on her contract at Bay FC, having signed for the NWSL club last February from Arsenal, she’s “ready for what’s next”. Better yet, “I feel pretty good about it”, she says.

Imagn ImagesBig decision

“To be honest, I think it's probably been on my mind for a couple of years now,” Beattie explains, as she speaks to reporters after making the decision. “It's probably been on my mind even before I retired from Scotland [in January 2023]. I think it's always in any athlete's mind. But I think, honestly, since I've been doing the broadcasting a little bit more, I've just had so much enjoyment from it.

“I was in an area in California that was incredible, but there were no broadcasting studios. I wasn't able to do anything outside of it. That kind of made me realise that I was finding more enjoyment with other things and that's okay, and I think that's where the transition comes from, what you really find the enjoyment out of or the fulfilment.”

AdvertisementGetty ImagesTwo trophy-laden decades

Coming to such a conclusion has provided Beattie with that moment to reflect, to look back on the remarkable successes she has enjoyed over the past two decades. Having collected 13 domestic trophies in England, in spells with Arsenal and Manchester City, done the double in Australia with Melbourne City and helped Scotland qualify for their first European Championship and World Cup on the women’s side, it’s no wonder she struggles to pick out specific highlights. But it’s clear that those triumphs are part of what she really enjoyed.

“I was always really competitive and I wanted to win things,” she says. “Getting the Arsenal move at age 18, I think that really set me on such a good stead to be around the best players in the world. Lifting trophies is why I play football. It's what I've always wanted to do, and playing at the best clubs. I guess lifting trophies, playing at the World Cup, playing with the best players in the world, I really feel like that's what I'm more proud of.”

There were other hugely memorable moments though, the kind which don’t come in the form of a big shiny trophy. Scoring in a Champions League semi-final at a sold-out Emirates Stadium is a moment Beattie describes as “everything I’ve ever dreamed of about playing football”; winning the FA Cup at Wembley for Man City in 2019, in her final game for the club, is another stand-out that produced one of her favourite pictures; while the moment she cherishes most from her Scotland career was scoring at their first Women’s World Cup, on the same pitch that her father, former rugby union star John Beattie, scored a try for his country.

Getty ImagesGame-changing generation

Part of the reason those sold-out crowds and opportunities at iconic stadiums are so sentimental to Beattie is surely because they didn’t seem feasible for women’s footballers to dream about when she first started her senior career, playing for Queen’s Park in Scotland as a 15-year-old. Even when she was representing an all-conquering Arsenal side just three years later, these feats were some way down the road.

“One of the most amazing things about being in this generation of female footballers is the way the game's grown,” she reflects. “I know that will always be a cliché of what we say now, because it is the fastest growing sport, but definitely in Scotland, reaching the Euros and qualifying for a World Cup, back-to-back, was such a highlight of my entire career. I always found it a real pressure and a privilege, but all in one such an amazing thing to really try and work your absolute a** off, because it's always for who's next.

“What we do matters for who's coming up next. That's always been a sort of strive while playing for Scotland, trying to challenge people above and get more funding and get more resources and making the game better than it has been, but I think definitely qualifying for the Euros and the World Cup helped that.

“One of my favourite things ever was while I was at Man City. For us, academies didn't exist and we played with boys until we were 14 or 15. I'll never forget seeing the young girls academy being brought through and starting, and that was one of those moments where I was just like, 'This is so worth what we're doing'. And I mean not just the playing and training, but the challenging and the conversations behind the scenes. I'm sure every single player in my position older than me has had really difficult conversations with board members and associations, and it's all been for the greater good and what's next. It's a credit to everyone out there who's done it, not just me.”

Imagn ImagesInspiration to many

Beattie has made an impact beyond the pitch during her career, though. In October 2020, the defender was diagnosed with breast cancer, something she has spoken about incredibly openly since. Beattie continued to play for club and country despite treatment, even scoring a goal for Arsenal just three days after her diagnosis. At the time, those on the outside did not know that the heart-warming and joyous celebrations prompted by her header were fuelled by such emotion. Now, they are incredible scenes to watch back.

The work Beattie has subsequently done with charities to raise awareness and help others has quite literally been award-winning. In 2021, she received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award "for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity" and, back in November, she collected the Lauren Holiday Impact Award as well as a $30,000 prize to be designated to her community partner, Pink Ribbon Good, a Bay Area non-profit which provides support for those going through breast and gynaecological cancer treatment.

“Going through something physical like that, and health-related, it definitely sort of changed a lot of parts about my career,” Beattie says now. “But I obviously think at the same time, it made me enjoy it even more because I'd gone through something so difficult. For sure, it brought me closer to team-mates, it made me appreciate my job even more, and it got me just working for something more than football, and I massively valued that.

“It was the worst and the hardest thing, but so many positives came off the back of it, working with charities and connecting with communities that are going through really difficult things. I'll never regret speaking out about it and being as honest as I could and still to this day, I really find it important to share stuff that's not all roses and petals, the things that are really difficult, because nine out of 10 times, people are going through really difficult things.

"That was one moment in my life, but I will continue to talk about that forever because it was really important and it brought me closer to friends and family. It made me realise the bigger picture of football and that, as much as we work so hard for something, it's not everything, and what really matters is health and happiness and friends and family.”