Former Northern Ireland captain Marissa Callaghan has announced her retirement from international football.
Callaghan, 39, won 91 caps and led Northern Ireland to the Euro 2022 finals – the country’s first women’s major tournament.
The Cliftonville midfielder has not featured for Northern Ireland after being left out of Tanya Oxtoby’s squad for October’s Euro 2025 play-off with Croatia.
Callaghan’s final cap came against Malta in April, a month before she relinquished the Northern Ireland captaincy.
She made her debut in 2010 against Scotland and wore the armband for the first of 52 occasions against Georgia in 2016 – a game in which she scored two of her eight international goals.
“Putting on the green jersey is a feeling that you cannot explain, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a friendly game, a game at the Euros or a competitive game,” Callaghan told the Irish FA.
“When you walk out onto that pitch and cross that white line, it’s just the feeling of immense pride. It’s an incredible feeling and I’m so thankful that I got to do that 91 times.”
Callaghan works as a women’s and girls’ football administrator with the Irish FA Foundation and helped Cliftonville to an unbeaten league campaign in 2024 as the Reds won the treble.
She is set to continue playing for Cliftonville as they compete in the Champions League.
Callaghan will also be a pundit for BBC Sport NI’s coverage of the upcoming men’s fixtures with Switzerland and Sweden.
