A biography for Karen Carneyhasn’t been written yet.
“I think obviously the media need to help promote the game and make it bigger so the younger girls have women role models to look up to and try and aspire to instead of just male footballers.”
“My first major championships was in 2005, which makes me feel ancient. I'm really proud of playing in all the tournaments, yet I can have all the caps in the world, but there's no point if you don't have a gold medal.”
“I will have some time off, do some media works, and I think, for 17 years, I have given everything I could.”
“Just playing with the lads in school, really, and having a kick around, and I ended up at a Sunday club just for girls, and there was only about 15- 20 girls there, and I just moved on to a club from there.”
“I do my research the same as everyone else - I watch games relentlessly and try to be the best that I can be. It should be irrelevant whether I'm male or female, so as long as I work hard and try my best at it, then more we keep speaking about it, then we can eradicate it from the game.”
“I've given my heart and soul to club and country; there's nothing more I can physically or mentally give. I have no regrets.”
“I won the quadruple at 18 with Arsenal, so I didn't really know what I was chasing after the World Cup, and I was a bit lost, so I didn't know whether to just be content at home and just play my football or go for another challenge.”
“When you have given all you can and no more, then you should just stop. I am an all-in type of person, so I will enjoy rest and family time.”
“I'd rather have one gold medal and 10 caps than 200 caps and no gold.”
“In the nicest possible way, my first job was at Sainsbury's - my mum worked there, and I was a bag packer.”
“I've travelled the world with football, but probably in a privileged way. We've travelled, and travelling means going from an airport to the pitch to the hotel. I haven't really seen or explored things.”
“I don't want the 'supersub' label or anything like that. I just want to come on and express myself and play the best I can.”
“I've been vegan for over a year now, about 15 months. I changed to the vegan diet, and I feel fabulous; it's great. I wish I'd done it earlier.”
“I wasn't good at school, so I wouldn't have gone to university. I'm so grateful for football, and I don't know where I would be without it, but I know I would have worked hard.”
“To have played for England was my ultimate ambition, and to do so at four World Cups and represent Team GB at a home Olympics was beyond the wildest dreams I had when first starting out.”
“When I was growing up, some of the lads weren't very nice about me playing.”
“I see things differently, feel things differently. That's how I've always been, and that's why I'm different to everyone else. Information: simple. Detail: simple. I just aim to play as if it was five-a-side as an 11-year-old kid. That's how I see it because that's how it is.”
“I don't know why I bring that calmness, and I'm not really aware of it, to be honest. I just come on, smile, and enjoy the moment. If that brings calmness, then great.”
“I never had any expectations. When I was 11, I just wanted to play for England. I didn't know when it would happen, how it would happen. I picked that dream, and I wanted that dream.”
“Any person who has reached an elite level has had to start somewhere, and it's all from grass-roots level.”