{"id":294432,"date":"2023-09-29T14:35:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T14:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=294432"},"modified":"2023-09-29T14:35:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T14:35:14","slug":"chelsea-women-name-millie-bright-as-captain-ahead-of-wsl-season-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/chelsea-women-name-millie-bright-as-captain-ahead-of-wsl-season-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea Women name Millie Bright as captain ahead of WSL season opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Chelsea Women name England&#8217;s World Cup skipper Millie Bright as their captain ahead of the new WSL season<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Millie Bright has been named Chelsea&#8217;s new captain ahead of WSL season<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>The 30-year-old defender captained England to the World Cup final in August<\/b><\/li>\n<li><strong>Mail Sport&#8217;s new WhatsApp Channel: Get the breaking news and exclusives here<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Chelsea\u00a0Women have announced Lionesses star Millie Bright as captain ahead of the new WSL\u00a0season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Bright, who has been at Chelsea since 2014, has made 245 appearances for the London club and won 15 major trophies.<\/p>\n<p>The 30-year-old takes on the captaincy after Magdalena Eriksson completed a move to Bayern Munich at the end of last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 75-cap England\u00a0international has previously filled in as skipper for Emma Hayes&#8217; side but will now lead Chelsea on a permanent basis, starting with Sunday&#8217;s WSL season opener against Tottenham.<\/p>\n<p>Following the announcement, Bright told the club&#8217;s website: &#8216;It\u2019s a massive honour to have the title of club captain.\u00a0Chelsea is my home. It always has been and always will be, so I\u2019m delighted to have that title, but nothing changes. I\u2019m in a really privileged position.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/29\/14\/75977301-12575243-image-a-16_1695992686058.jpg\" height=\"813\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>England defender Millie Bright has been named as the new captain of Chelsea ahead of the upcoming WSL season<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I\u2019m excited and delighted Emma has given me the trust and put me in this position. It\u2019s an absolute honour to be captain of Chelsea, and I\u2019m really looking forward to the season ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019ve always been me no matter what. My role doesn\u2019t change, I don\u2019t change and I\u2019ve always taken pride in whether I have the armband or not, I will always lead by example.&#8217;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea boss Hayes added that Bright is a player &#8216;you can always count on&#8217; when explaining the decision to name her captain of last season&#8217;s double winners.<\/p>\n<p>She said: &#8216;I would like to congratulate Millie on becoming our new captain. I\u2019ve watched her grow as a player and a person in the nine years we\u2019ve worked together and she\u2019s ready for this.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The biggest compliment I can pay her is that you can always count on her. However big the challenge, whatever the occasion, she can cope with the pressure and the expectation.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Even without the armband, she\u2019s been a leader for so many years. I\u2019m not just talking about the example she sets, but she\u2019s vocal, she\u2019ll organise people on the pitch and she\u2019ll drive the team on, whether we\u2019re pushing for goals or seeing a game out.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I can\u2019t tell you how important it is for a manager to have someone like that on the pitch.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Bright has plenty of recent captaincy exeperience, leading Sarina Weigman&#8217;s England to the final of this year&#8217;s World Cup after Leah Williamson was ruled out through injury.<\/p>\n<p>The former Doncaster Belles defender missed the closing stages of last season with a knee problem, and will be looking to make up for lost time as Chelsea go in search of further silverware.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Champions League has remained an illusive prize for Hayes and her side. Bright, who played the full 90 minutes of the 4-0 defeat to Barcelona in the 2021 final, is looking to take inspiration from former Blues&#8217; captains to lead the club to further glory.<\/p>\n<p>She said: &#8216;I\u2019ve led the girls out quite a lot over the years that I\u2019ve been here. I\u2019ve also had the honour of being vice to some top legends and amazing people I\u2019ve learned a lot from.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I learned a lot from Kaz [Karen Carney], Katie [Chapman], Mags [Eriksson] and other leaders we\u2019ve had within the team. Now, it\u2019s a massive honour to have the title and to be able to call yourself club captain is huge.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/29\/14\/75977173-12575243-image-a-17_1695992752890.jpg\" height=\"825\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Bright captained the Lionesses to the final of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in August<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/29\/14\/75977195-12575243-image-a-18_1695992757057.jpg\" height=\"437\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The 30-year-old has worked closely alongside Chelsea boss Emma Hayes to help the Blues dominate on the domestic front<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/29\/14\/75977159-12575243-image-a-19_1695992761882.jpg\" height=\"419\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Chelsea, who won the league and FA Cup double last term, get their WSL season underway against Tottenham on Sunday<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I will always be a leader within the team because that\u2019s just who I am and what I demand from the team will never change. It\u2019s the culture at Chelsea, everyone is a leader and has responsibility.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Maintaining the domestic dominace that has characterised Bright&#8217;s time at the club will remain paramount.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Under the guidance of Hayes, the Blues have won seven of the last nine league titles as well as five FA Cups and two League Cups.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea and their new captain will be hoping to get the new campaign off to a winning start against a new-look Spurs outfit at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12575243\/Chelsea-Women-Englands-World-Cup-skipper-Millie-Bright-captain-ahead-new-WSL-season.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea Women name England&#8217;s World Cup skipper Millie Bright as their captain ahead of the new WSL season Millie Bright <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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