- Coombs is retiring from football
- She won four domestic titles in her 19-year career
- The midfielder spent seven years at Man City
Manchester City Women’s star Laura Coombs has announced she will retire from professional football at the end of the 2025/26 season.
The 35-year-old joined City from Liverpool in 2019, spending the last seven years of her career with the Sky Blues.
A World Cup runner-up with England in 2023, she was capped seven times by her country, winning both the Women’s Finalissima and Arnold Clark Cup that same year.
Coombs has been a popular figure with fans and teammates wherever she has played, but she has now taken the decision to finish her playing career
Laura Coombs calls time on Manchester City career
In an announcement on the Manchester City Women’s X account, the club confirmed that Coombs is retiring at the end of the season.
Laura Coombs has announced her retirement at the end of the 2025/26 campaign.
— Manchester City Women (@ManCityWomen) April 30, 2026
The midfielder has spent the majority of her 19-year career in the game at Manchester City and will leave as a firm favourite among our supporters, staff, and players. 🩵
📢 https://t.co/6HfVZ901mB pic.twitter.com/AoS1wV7B96
The Gravesend-born midfielder played youth football for Charlton Athletic and Arsenal before making her senior debut for the Gunners in 2007.
Following loan spells at Nottingham Forest and Los Angeles Strikers, she joined Chelsea in 2011. Spending six years at the Blues.
Further loans followed, with Coombs signing for Liverpool in 2017. After two years on Merseyside, she made the switch to Man City, where she enjoyed the longest and most successful period of her career.
Coombs’ career in numbers
A hard-working and physical defensive midfielder, Coombs’ influence on the teams she played in was not measured in goals and assists, but in work-rate and endeavour.
Former Chelsea teammate Gilly Flaherty described her as “a real grafter”, something that was evident throughout Coombs’ career.
For club and country. 🩵🏴 pic.twitter.com/t8UikdsDlF
— Manchester City Women (@ManCityWomen) April 30, 2026
The pair won the 2015 WSL together, along with the Women’s FA Cup that same season. At City, Coombs would also win the FA Cup in 2020 and the WSL Cup in 2022. Also in 2022, she was voted the PFA WSL Fans’ Player of the Month for December.
Although only capped seven times by the Lionesses, she enjoyed great success in that time, and came agonisingly close to a World Cup winners’ medal.
Women’s game come far but ‘so far still to go’ says Coombs
Speaking via the club’s social media, Coombs reflected on her career and how much she enjoyed her time at City.
She acknowledged how far the women’s game had come during her career, but admitted that there is still so much potential to grow and improve.
Coombs said: “Here I have developed so much as a player and a person. I just feel at home here. I thought I was the only girl who liked football, because I didn’t see any other girls playing it.
“I've just… had a great time.”
— Manchester City Women (@ManCityWomen) April 30, 2026
Thank you for everything, Laura. 🩵 pic.twitter.com/KI0OMv4gCW
“Where can we go with the game? It’s come so far, but it’s got so far still to go. I want to make sure that I am still giving back to it from the other side and growing it in any way that I can. I will always look back with such fond memories. I’ve just had a great time.”
