Jill Scott and Lucy Bronze celebrate England’s Euro 2022 victory in Trafalgar Square
(Image credit: Getty Images)
While most football fans associate champagne and beer showers with title-winning celebrations, the modern reality is often different.
Unlike our heroes of the 1980s and ’90s, most modern footballers barely touch alcohol during the course of a season, meaning celebrations can be quite muted.
That was certainly the case when Manchester City lifted the WSL title in 2016. Midfielder Jill Scott had waited her whole career to lift a title, only to end up getting smashed after one drink.
“I spent two decades at the top level of women’s football and won the league once,” she tells FourFourTwo. “We beat Chelsea to seal the title and I remember, with five minutes to go in that winner-takes-all showdown, suddenly realising that we were about to do it. I just kept looking around and smiling, as I was thrilled at what we’d accomplished that season.
(Image credit: Visionhaus/Getty Images)
“It was an unbelievable feeling – at home in front of our fans and against Chelsea, one of the WSL’s biggest teams. We lifted the League Cup a week later, then the FA Cup in 2017.
“The celebrations were jubilant but, because we’d worked hard and stayed disciplined, everybody was plastered after a glass of prosecco! So, hardly the wildest scenes in the world but still a very happy time in my life – I was able to call myself a champion.”
Jill Scott would go on lift the European Championship as a member of the Lionesses’ victorious squad in 2022, defeating Germany 2-1 at a packed Wembley in the final game of her career.
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“The match that was the icing on the cake for my career,” she says. “I can’t put it into words to do it justice. I’ve been asked about that day so frequently that you’d think I’d be used to it now, but I still get goosebumps reliving it.
“Winning that game against Germany made everything I’d done worthwhile – the countless sacrifices and difficulties I’d endured along the way. An entire life dedicated to football vindicated in the space of 120 glorious, excruciating minutes. I cherish my winner’s medal so much and have a photograph in my kitchen of me and the girls holding the trophy at Wembley. If I’m ever having a bad day or not in a good mood, one glance at that and I’m back on top. The best day of my life, and the game that had the greatest impact of my career.”
Given she retired straight after that game, FFT is sure those celebrations didn’t end after one glass of prosecco.
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Ed is a staff writer at FourFourTwo, working across the magazine and website. A German speaker, he’s been working as a football reporter in Berlin since 2015, predominantly covering the Bundesliga and Germany’s national team. Favourite FFT features include an exclusive interview with Jude Bellingham following the youngster’s move to Borussia Dortmund in 2020, a history of the Berlin Derby since the fall of the Wall and a celebration of Kevin Keegan’s playing career.
