‘Her legacy is going to stay with this team’ – Klimková on Percival’s international retirement | OneFootball

New Zealand head coach Jitka Klimková says that Ria Percival’s legacy will stay with the Ford Football Ferns forever.

The Tottenham Hotspur defender, who is currently on loan at Barclays Women’s Championship club Crystal Palace, announced her retirement from the international game over the weekend.

Percival has been in and around the Ford Football Ferns’ senior squad for the best part of two decades, clocking up an impressive 166 appearances in which she has scored 15 goals. The player is the nation’s all-time record appearance maker while she has had the honour of captaining the team on a handful of occasions. Percival represented New Zealand in nine major tournaments; she has played in five FIFA Women’s World Cups and four Olympic Games.

It is fair to say that Percival will be sorely missed by New Zealand, however, head coach Klimková believes that her legacy will forever live on.

“Ria will definitely be missed, there’s no other player like her,” Klimková said when speaking in a Ford Football Ferns media conference. “She’s done so much for women’s football and this team. She’s been an inspiration and a role model for a lot of players in this team and for a lot of young girls and boys.

“The way that she plays and performs, she always brings Ria’s qualities which we will miss in this team.

“What she has done for us, her legacy is going to stay with this team forever.”

Percival will now put all of her focus into ending the season with success at club level. The defender’s loan club Crystal Palace are in a strong position to win a first promotion to the Barclays Women’s Super League and she will be keen to get The Eagles over the finishing line.