Toni Duggan ‘proud to have changed perceptions’ as she retires from football | Women’s Football

Former England striker Toni Duggan has retired from football at the age of 33, saying she is proud to have played a part in “changing the perception of women’s football in this country”.

Duggan, who won 79 caps and helped the Lionesses reach the semi-finals of the World Cup and European Championship, said she was driven by a desire to prove the quality of the women’s game. She started and finished at Everton and also played for Manchester City, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid.

In her only newspaper interview with the Guardian about her decision to retire, Duggan shed tears of joy as she spoke about spending more time with her 18-month-old daughter, Luella. “I’m very happy with what I’ve achieved and everything I’ve given to the game. Over the summer I went back and forth, ‘Should I carry on?’ And I know physically I can play for another two years, but I’ve weighed up the pros and cons, for myself and Luella, what’s best for both of us. I’ve had interest from (clubs) all over the world, but it was absolutely the right time.

“It was a huge achievement for me to come back after having Luella and playing last season, but when you weigh up the odds and ‘where to next’, I have to consider both me and her, and nothing really felt right. So now it’s time to hang up my boots.”

Duggan returned to the top flight with Everton last season in the final chapter of a stellar career that has seen her win an FA Cup and League Cup in her first spell at Everton, the Women’s Super League, an FA Cup and two more League Cups with City, three domestic trophies with Barcelona and a Spanish Super Cup with Atlético. She said her contribution to City’s unbeaten, title-winning season of 2016 was the best and “most stable” part of her career.

It came while she was a key part of a rapidly emerging England team that had finished third at the 2015 World Cup – where the Lionesses advanced beyond the quarter-finals of a global tournament for the first time – and reached the semi-finals of Euro 2017. Reflecting on the bronze medal, Duggan said: “I think it changed the perception of women’s football in this country, the way the country got behind us, the way we performed, the personalities we had in the squad. That generation of players took the game to new heights and made the whole nation recognise women’s football for what it is.”

In July 2017, she was the subject of a landmark transfer, becoming the first English footballer to play for Barcelona in 31 years since Gary Lineker. She admitted she had never thought the move possible earlier in her career as she “didn’t know Barcelona had a women’s team”, saying: “Just flying over there, doing my medical, rubbing shoulders with the likes of (Lionel) Messi – who would have thought a bit of Toni Duggan would ever be there? It was more than I could ever have imagined.”

Duggan started playing football on the streets of Merseyside with her brothers and laughed as she said: “They didn’t let me play most of the time. I had to fight. I had to constantly prove to them that, ‘I’m good enough. Let me play.’

“Throughout my career I’ve always tried to prove a point to everyone. That’s what drove me. I always wanted to prove that women’s football is good. I wanted to go to Barcelona to prove that you can go abroad and still be successful. Then I wanted to prove that you can have a baby and play at an elite level.”

After becoming pregnant in 2022, Duggan said female players deserved much clearer information about what was available to them, saying it was “crazy that it took so long” for maternity clauses to be added to contracts. Now she hopes more support will follow, pointing to recent examples such as Milan becoming the first club in Europe to guarantee contract extensions for players who become pregnant in the final year of their contracts. “There have been subtle improvements, (such as) clubs giving automatic contract extensions, which gives you certainty, which didn’t happen in my case. But there’s still a long way to go. But that (conversation) is for another time. There are many other aspects of the women’s game that can still be improved, but the level the game is at now makes me proud.”

Duggan is looking forward to a roast dinner with her family on Sunday afternoon. She hasn’t decided what she’ll do next, but she enjoys talking about her game and is open to more of that sort of thing. She’s also keen to give advice to young players.

“I can sit here now and say, ‘I don’t want to be a coach,’ but in 10 years I might be a manager,” she said. “You never know. I don’t want to say ‘never’ to any opportunity. Would Alex Scott have predicted where she would be now? Same with Jill Scott, Karen Carney, Isobel Christiansen.”

It’s clear that she already has her favorite role: being a mother. “She makes it (retirement) easier. She’s given me a focus and a direction now. After this, even if I’m just a woman, that’s the best job in the world.”