SIMONE Magill has been named as the new captain of the Northern Ireland senior women’s international team.
Senior women’s team boss Tanya Oxtoby has been searching for a skipper since Cliftonville Ladies midfielder Marissa Callaghan announced in May that she would be relinquishing the armband after 52 games and eight years as captain.
Experienced Marissa has also been omitted from the squad for the upcoming UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 play-off games against Croatia.
Rangers Women defender Laura Rafferty has been the interim skipper in recent games. However, Oxtoby believes the time is right for someone to take on the role on a longer term basis.
The Northern Ireland manager described her new captain as “epitomising everything a leader is”.
“From our point of view we have gone through a diligent process,” revealed Oxtoby, who took the squad’s first training session ahead of the two crucial games against Croatia this coming Friday and next Tuesday.
“We have really defined what leadership is and what behaviours leaders in our group should have and essentially Simone epitomises everything a leader is in terms of her professionalism and behaviour, and also the way that she looks at how we develop, which is a massive part of what we’re trying to do,” she explained.
Magill, who turns 30 on November 1, has won 85 caps for her country to date.
The striker made her international debut – aged just 15 years and 203 days – against Scotland in May 2010.
She has scored 25 goals for her country, with 21 of them coming away from home. Her total is the second highest for Northern Ireland after Rachel Furness (38 goals).
Magill, who originally hails from Magherafelt in Co Londonderry, also played for Northern Ireland at Under-19 and U17 level.
Now playing for Birmingham City Women in the Women’s Championship, the second tier of senior women’s football in England, she previously starred for both Everton and Aston Villa in the Women’s Super League. She scored 12 goals in 101 WSL appearances.
The striker was a key member of the senior women’s squad when Northern Ireland qualified for their first major tournament, UEFA Women’s Euro 2022.
However, she sustained an ACL injury in Northern Ireland’s opening group game against Norway and had to sit out her country’s other games at the tournament.
Magill holds the record of having scored the fastest ever goal in international women’s football when she scored after just 11 seconds in a win over Georgia at Solitude in June 2016.
The forward will now don the armband for the two upcoming Euro 2025 play-off games against Croatia.
Game one is at the Stadion Varteks in Varazdin on Friday (October 25; 6.00pm BST start), while the second leg is at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park next Tuesday (October 29) at 7.00pm.
If Northern Ireland defeat the Croatians in the two-legged contest, they will face the winners of the R1 tie between Norway and Albania, home and away, in a play-off for a slot at UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 in Switzerland.
Tickets for the game against Croatia in Belfast on 29 October are available at irishfa.com/tickets.
