Kelly Smith, England’s all-time leading scorer, has her eyes on some big managerial roles.
Smith announced in early February her retirement from England international duty, ruling her out of the 2015 World Cup. But Smith just signed a new contract with Arsenal to continue on as a player-assistant coach and the next step in her coaching trajectory is obtaining her UEFA A License, which is needed to coach in the FAWSL.
“In two year’s time hopefully I’ll get that and hopefully manage Arsenal in the FA WSL,” Smith said in an interview with Kicca.com.
“Obviously I want to get my coaching career up and running and I see that being at Arsenal, working with the youth teams there. And hopefully maybe the first team one day and then see where that leads me. Obviously, playing for your country, there’s no better accolade and I would imagine once I retire that would be a long-distance goal, to manage England.”
Smith scored 46 goals in 117 appearances for England.
“Being a part of women’s football over the last 20 years I have seen massive strides in the development and growth of the game and the women’s national team,” Smith said in a statement when she retired. “I am confident the current wealth of talent that Mark Sampson has in the England squad can achieve something special at the World Cup in Canada this summer.”
