LONDON (AP) — Another member of England's European Championship-winning team has announced her retirement from international soccer, with midfielder Fran Kirby making her decision after missing out on selection for the team's title defense next month.
The 31-year-old Kirby, who played 77 games for England and scored 19 goals, stepped down from national team duty less than a week after goalkeeper Mary Earps did the same.
Kirby made her senior debut in August 2014 and represented England at four major tournaments, as well as featuring for Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
She started in all of England’s games at Euro 2022 on home soil, scoring two goals along the way as the Lionesses lifted their first major trophy with victory over Germany in the final at Wembley.
Her last appearance for England came off the bench during its 6-0 win over Portugal on Friday. She announced her decision on Instagram following the team’s 2-1 loss to Spain on Tuesday.
“After being in the England team since I was 21, it’s time to close that chapter of my life,” Kirby wrote.
“I didn’t ever want this day to come, but I cannot tell you how proud I am it happened. It’s been the biggest honor to represent my country, one that I had only dreamt about as a young girl."
Kirby was planning to retire from international duty after the upcoming Euros in Switzerland but has brought that forward after discovering she wouldn't be in Sarina Wiegman's squad for the tournament.
“When I had the conversation with Sarina and you know, she laid her plans out for the Euros, and she told me I wasn’t going, unless someone got injured, I knew it was the moment where I’d outstayed my welcome," Kirby told ESPN.
“I don’t want to take the opportunity away from someone who can learn and to then set them up for the future. And I just didn’t want to be waiting around every day, of keeping that faint hope going just in case I was going to get a chance. I don’t think that would’ve been fair on my head, either.”
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FILE -United States' Andi Sullivan, left, and England's Fran Kirby in action during the women's friendly soccer match between England and the US at Wembley stadium in London, Oct. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.
Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.
Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”
“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.
“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”
Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.
Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.
Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.
“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”
A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
