Chelsea’s Millie Bright To Equal Women’s Super League Appearance Record

On Saturday, Chelsea captain Millie Bright will equal the all-time appearance record in the Women’s Super League (WSL) if she plays against Arsenal at the Emirates stadium.

The former England captain has featured in 209 WSL matches and if she plays any part of Saturday’s game, she will match the record set by Jordan Nobbs who appeared in 210 matches for Arsenal and Aston Villa over 15 seasons. After withdrawing from international service this summer claiming she was “not able to give 100% mentally or physically”, Bright has started all nine games that Chelsea have played this season.

The appearance record was held by another Chelsea defender, Gilly Flahety, who played 177 WSL games – many alongside Bright – until her retirement in January 2023. She was overtaken by Kate Longurst and then Kerys Harrop before another Chelsea player, Sophie Ingle, assumed the record in November that year.

Jordan Nobbs, the only player to score in every WSL season, currently holds the appearance record, becoming the first to play in 200 games this year. This summer she made the move to second tier Newcastle United having made 210 appearances in the WSL.

Nobbs may yet return to the WSL next season but in her absence from the top flight, her former England team-mate Millie Bright has caught her up and will make a record-equalling 210th appearance on Saturday against Arsenal at what is likely to be a sold-out Emirates Stadium.

When the Women’s Super League was set up in 2011, the 17-year-old Bright was a Doncaster Rovers Belles player. She made five substitute appearances before developing into a regular starter. At the start of her third season in the league, Doncaster were informed they would be demoted from the top flight with Manchester City taking their place.

That season, Bright made 14 WSL appearances for a team already condemned to playing in a lower league. She admitted to the BBC that “it was heartbreaking. It felt like we weren’t respected or even wanted in the league, purely based on money. That season, we just felt what’s the point?”

Bright continued to play for Doncaster in WSL 2 but, after being nominated for tbe division’s Player of the Season at the end of 2014, she was signed by Chelsea. Then assistant manager Paul Green had worked with her at Doncaster and said of Bright “she has a lot of experience for a 21-year-old and has already played a lot of games in the FA WSL and knows what the league is all about. She will add strength and physicality to the squad.”

Bright did not look back, helping Chelsea to their first WSL title in her debut season. She is the only player to feature in each of their eight championship-winning seasons, a record for any player in the league. During the last two she lifted the trophy as captain after the departure of her former defensive partner Magdalena Eriksson to FC Bayern.

A key figure for England when they won UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, Bright was this week voted by her fellow professionals onto the FIFPro Women’s World XI for a third time. However, Bright will be more concerned this weekend with maintaining Chelsea’s position at the top of the league as they chase a seventh successive WSL title.

Unbeaten in the league since May 1, 2024, Chelsea could equal another all-timall-time WSL record if they avoid defeat on Saturday. Between February 2019 and February 2021, Chelsea were unbeaten for a record 33 games, finally defeated at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.

Their undefeated sequence this time is even more impressive in terms of victories achieved. Of the 32 games so far, Chelsea have won 28 and drawn just four. During their previous unbeaten run, they drew seven games.

A third of way into her second season in the English game, Sonia Bompastor has yet to taste defeat in the WSL. Last weekend she extended her personal unbeaten run to 30 games, dropping just eight league points during her entire tenure in west London.

Coincidentally, the last time Bompastor lost a league game was also in May 2024, when her former side Olympique Lyonnais went down 2-1 away to Girondins de Bordeaux in an inconsequential encounter with first position already assured.

As well as securing the league record for unbeaten matches, a win for Chelsea away to their London rivals would open up an eight point gap over Arsenal and almost certainly condemn the European champions to another season without a league title.