Millie Bright always put team first and doesn’t deserve abuse

Bright, 32, announced her decision to walk away from football on Wednesday.

Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor has denounced abuse directed at recently retired Blues captain Millie Bright after the defender revealed the hostility had taken a significant toll on her mental health.

Bright, 32, announced her decision to walk away from football on Wednesday, with three games still remaining in Chelsea’s season across all competitions, revealing she had been “playing injured for the last six years”.

On Thursday, Bright told the BBC: “The amount of abuse I have dealt with has been too much to handle.

I think over the past year I have lost myself as a person, and it has taken me a long time to rebuild myself.”
Bompastor said: “She always put the team first.

She was always ready, willing to play, to help the team.

“The abuse was just too much.

She doesn’t deserve that at all, and I think everyone should be thinking about her and celebrating her and recognising how good she was as a player, and as a person, and everything she brought to the women’s game in England .”
Bright, who captained England at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, called time on her international career in October 2025, and on Thursday told the BBC she expected some to question the decision to skip the Euros, but not her “integrity, passion and dedication as a player”.

Bright last featured for Chelsea in February.

Bompastor explained the defender had “tried everything” to see out the season, adding: “It’s a little bit sad, but I think she has done and given everything.”
The Chelsea boss was involved in the conversations leading up to Bright’s announcement, but the news was “more of a surprise to some of the players in the squad, because she’s quite close with some of the players as well”.

Chelsea are still mathematically in with a chance of claiming another Women’s Super League title, one win away from another FA Cup final, and fighting to remain in the Champions League places.

That reality, agreed Bompastor, makes it challenging to immediately celebrate the totality of Bright’s contribution.

“I think it’s difficult to really fully enjoy that moment because we are also focusing on important games.

“We are trying to find the balance between focusing on the team and the players we have left, but also thinking about Millie.”