Jess Fishlock: Wales Women midfielder on Euro 2025, longevity and representing her country | Football News

Longevity is a rarity of football, especially for an outside player. But at the age of 38, Jess Fishlock still plays a high level for his club, Seattle Reign and Wales Women.

And despite his years of experience, this summer marks the first time that the midfielder – and Wales – will play in a large international tournament. They qualified for Euro 2025, marking a new stage in the Fishlock career.

The tournament in Switzerland will mark the culmination of a trip of almost 20 years. Since its beginnings in 2006, Fishlock has raised the most ceilings (158) and the goals (46) for Wales.

“My trip was longer than certain ages of children in Wales” [squad] – 17 years ago, and I say to myself: ‘I played longer than you existed!’ “She joked with Sky Sports’ Pitch to pod podcast earlier this year.

“It was a matter of timing. I don’t believe in fate and all that, but honestly, maybe I do it now, because everything got together at the right time and in the right place.”

This summer could be the last chance to see Fishlock in a Wales jersey – more about this to come to come – but how was she kept in a physical and mental state for so long?

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News’ Geraint Hughes, she explained: “In recent years, it was really a question of composing to another level. The truth is that I am very lucky and blessed that my mother and my father gave me great athletic genes.

“Over the years, I knew that if my body cannot do what my mind wants to do, it’s time. I’m not going to be someone who tries to continue when I can’t do what I want to do on the ground.

“Over the past three or four years, I really took the time to better understand rest, recovery, charge, which my body needs to be prepared, what it needs to be fresh as opposed to a training overload.

“When you get older, you really have to get this balance. I have made a lot of effort to get it. I’m very proud of it.”

‘There is nothing like Wales’

Playing for Wales has long been a source of pride and importance for Fishlock. Seattle Reign midfielder has now achieved his goal of taking his team to a major tournament and speaks with passion to represent his country.

“In the past two years specifically, there is the love and the pleasure of the game and nothing gives me this feeling as being on the ground,” she said.

“But I never really wanted to leave without achieving it with my country. It’s really motivation for a few years, so being able to always be there for that is really the biggest gift I have ever had.

“Our nation is just different. We are so small and many people consider this to be a negative, while I consider it such a positive.

“When you come from a small nation, you need to worry differently. I don’t think you can explain the Welsh passion to anyone. It is in our blood, our DNA. Our nation is so passionate and supports all Welsh success. It really distinguishes us from other nations.

“I miss the country of Wales all the time. I always say to my wife:” I need to go home for a few days “. I just need to feel it. There is nothing like Wales. We are only different people, we are really.”

“ I really wanted to participate in a major tournament with Wales for so long ”

It was a long road for Wales to reach Euro 2025. They crossed the qualifiers to secure their place, beating Slovakia in the semi-finals, before facing the Republic of Ireland.

After a 1-1 draw in the last stage in the play-off against Ireland in Cardiff-attended 16,845 fans, a new record for the Wales women’s team-they were 2-1 on the external leg thanks to the goals of Hannah Cain and Carrie Jones.

He came two years after Wales underwent their own final crush in their attempt to qualify for the 2023 World Cup, beaten in the 121st minute by Switzerland.

Thinking about this important day in Dublin, Fishlock said: “It is really difficult to put it in words. I wanted and I worked for so long, my whole career, with so many close calls.

“I had this conversation with the sport psychologist that the feeling I expected in myself and the feeling that I had was very different.

“I expected to have this immense joy and this pride, but it was initially a relief. Finally, after all this time, all the reverse and failures that we had in the past …

“The relief of being able to do what I have always wanted to do with my country and always be here and to be able to participate was the primordial feeling. Once I felt this, I could go into joy and celebration because I really wanted to arrive at a major tournament with Wales for so long.

“I don’t have much more time, so it was the last Hourra. I just couldn’t believe the moment, it was poetic.”

The former Canada International Rhian Wilkinson has been director of Wales since February 2024, and Fishlock has awarded him for helping the dragons qualify for their first major tournament.

“Rhian is great for us,” said the 38 -year -old man. “She is very different, very Canadian and she was exactly what we needed to finally cross the line. She behaves in a different way in the way we have always worked.

“Sometimes you bring someone, and they work like you. You think:” It’s great “and everyone is comfortable, and sometimes it’s really nice – but you also end up in something.

“But Rhian really fills the gap between being nice and not also being nice. She works in a way that you really want to immerse yourself and buy it.

“At the beginning, she said that we are going to do this and slowly but surely, everyone was like” OK, that’s what we do “so when the playoffs came, everyone was tight, believing in what we do and giving everything for the cause.

“In the match in Ireland, you could see that there was a big difference between the place where we were, how we were together, what we were, what we were doing, how we were going to happen where we wanted to go, which made us pass.”

Could Fishlock retire after euros?

Of course, the question on the spirit of any fan of Wales is what Fishlock could decide to do after the euros. She mentioned her “last Hourra”, but the midfielder has not yet made a choice of her international future.

“I haven’t made any decision because I want to take advantage of what I’m doing right now,” she added. “I like to play for Reign, I love playing for Wales and I don’t want to distract it all by thinking too much.

“I’m not worried about my body, he always does his thing. I do what I can to help this team and I hope we can take advantage of the euros, compete and try to get out of this group, so we will see.

“In the end, what is difficult is that the game is ruthless. Playing for the club and the country is very difficult, you can see so many people these days to retire internationals very early because it is so exhausting.

“I’m going to have to wait and see what my body and my mind tell me after the summer, but I don’t focus on forcing at the moment.

“But I feel like I take a little time away from the game at the start [after retirement]. When you have been doing it for so long, you hardly want to think about it.

“When I end up hanging up my boots, I know that I will not want to think of football for a while, but I think I will end up finding my way to the game because I love it. In what capacity, I don’t know.

“Perhaps coaching, perhaps a general manager or a sports director. I feel like I am prospering in these areas because I don’t know if I could trust myself. I would probably have trouble all the time.”

Although his career has not yet reached his conclusion, Fishlock can count many achievements on and off the field. Asked about her most enriching moments, she reflected: “Bring visibility to the LGBTQ community was enormous.

“I went out publicly when I was very young and in Wales, he simply was not heard. I made it a duty to do it in a BBC article because it was important to me that the views changed. Since then, I was a great defender.

“Being part of a group that has changed the sight of what football is and to which it is. Changing the language and messaging around women’s football and creating this inheritance in the land of Wales where mentalities and investments have changed. There is nothing bigger than that.

“We can go to euros, a World Cup, I can play football, but none of this really matters if there is no fundamental and structural change that football is for everyone and that we have been able to change this in Wales. Nothing that I do on the field only if none of this changes.”