Fishlock to rejoin Wales setup as coach if side reach play-off final
Wales head coach Rhian Wilkinson said Jess Fishlock will return to the national team as a coach — not as a player — if Wales reach the Women's World Cup play-off final in December, with the team due to face Albania in a semi-final on Friday, 9 October.
Fishlock, who retired from international duty last October and is 39, remains in strong club form with Seattle Reign; she scored twice last weekend to reach 52 regular-season goals for the club, taking her past Megan Rapinoe's previous club record, and has said this will be her last year playing club football.
Wilkinson confirmed she had declined Fishlock's tongue-in-cheek offer to come out of international retirement and noted Wales are without a number of senior players for the upcoming play-off semi-final. "Jess could play forever, she's incredible," Wilkinson said. "There was never a doubt that Jess Fishlock could still do a job for us. [But] I think it was absolutely the right time for her to step away after that amazing qualification for the Euro [last year]."
Wilkinson added she was not impressed by Fishlock's message urging selection, saying: "I didn't appreciate her saying 'call me up coach, I'm ready', which I thought was mean, but [she was] a wonderful player and a great leader for us." Fishlock previously served as a technical assistant for Wales' opening game of this qualifying campaign against the Czech Republic in March.
The Wales coach revealed that another recently retired former player, Kayleigh Barton, will join her staff for the Albania ties and that Fishlock would take on a coaching role should Wales progress. "If we are able to get past Albania, she'll be coming in as a coach for us for the next round," Wilkinson said.
Albania sit 36 places above Wales in the Fifa rankings and were beaten twice by Wales in the group phase of World Cup qualifying; victory over Albania would set up a two-legged play-off final against either Norway or Romania in December.
The Women's World Cup qualifying play-off semi-final is scheduled for Friday, 9 October at 17:00 BST and will be broadcast live on BBC iPlayer, BBC Two Wales, BBC Sounds, BBC Radio Wales Extra, Radio Cymru, and the BBC Sport website and app, with live text commentary.
Fishlock will be with Seattle Reign and unavailable for Wales' trip to Albania on Friday, 9 October, and the return leg in Llanelli four days later, unless the team advance and bring her in on a coaching basis for the subsequent play-off final.
