Football Fern Annalie Longo will end her international career against the Matildas in Adelaide. Photo: www.photosport.nz
Football Ferns legend Annalie Longo knew the end of a career spanning nearly 20 years at the top was coming this year and she is thankful to walk away on her own terms.
Longo will retire from international football after Tuesday's match against Australia's Matildas at Coopers Stadium in Adelaide.
The midfielder will finish her Football Ferns career on 144 caps, the fifth-highest total in the team's history, and 15 goals.
Longo made her senior international debut as a teenager, before appearing at five FIFA Women's World Cups, including the home tournament in 2023, and four Olympic Games.
Scoring her first goal against Japan to level the game in 2013, the 2012 Olympics where the Football Ferns won their first match at a Games and winning the opening game of the 2023 Football World Cup in Auckland, were among the highlights from a senior career which began in 2006.
The decision to hang up her boots follows her retirement from professional club football with Wellington Phoenix in April.
"It comes with mixed emotions. I can proudly say I have given everything for the Fern and this team," she said.
"Football has shaped who I am."
Longo said entering the senior national team as a 15-year-old she was "full of dreams and hopes that I would get to represent my country".
"The journey it has given me and the memories and experiences and the rollercoasters its given me, it's been part of my life for so long so obviously a tough decision but when I look at the future of the team and what they need going forward I think it's the right time to step away."
Longo was "tempted" to stay with the national team with the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup on the horizon but said there were several reasons why it would be better if she did not.
"When I look at my heart, I think if I'm still around playing in 2027 we've got a bit of a disservice to the system we're growing in New Zealand. So, I have to look at it both ways and what's best for the team and if I continued to stay around, just with my age and the toughness that it is to play professional football and the stage of my career, also where my body is at, a number of factors that kind of play into the decision I think the best thing for the team is that they get ready and work towards that 2027 campaign."
Football Ferns head coach Michael Mayne was not ready for Longo to retire when she stepped away from the Phoenix so he asked her to fill a role with the national team this year.
"It's been a challenge to work hard and not have a professional team but I try, as I have always done throughout my career, to keep my standards high and do whatever I can to be on that pitch," Longo said.
"Timing-wise it felt right being able to build and create some structures in the way we want to move forward under Mayne so it was a privilege and I'm grateful to have that opportunity."
Longo was emotional in recognising the likes of former captain, Ali Riley, who did not get to leave football on their own terms.
Riley retired in October after a prolonged battle with a chronic nerve injury.
"I know not everybody who has been part of the Ferns has had the perfect send-off... I hope [her experience] is set in stone of what it should be and when players retire, who have committed so much to the Ferns, that we can celebrate the amazing legacy that past Ferns previously maybe didn't get the opportunity to do."
Football will still be a big part of Longo's life. She is already in a player development role with New Zealand Football and she was looking forward to dedicating more time to "inspiring and growing" the next generation.
She said coaching was a route she wanted to pursue.
Mayne said the link to former Ferns was important and he planned to keep in touch with Longo into the future.
"You can see everything you need to know about her by looking at her journey in the shirt. She has seen and experienced it all, but throughout her career she has always played her role, put the team first, and promoted excellence for herself and the side," Mayne said
"Having seen Annalie come through the coaching pathway and where she is at in that, I think between her role, the coaching, there is no doubt in my mind the character she is and belief in our country, the drive for things to be better - all those things line-up to someone who can have a massive impact in the next phase of her career and life and that's what we need more of going forward.
"That's probably a gap I've seen for different reasons where we can do a lot better.
"That's part of my belief system in this role is how do we put things in place to make sure we're retaining good people and people that can shift the game because we need more than what we've got at the moment. So, I will be definitely be a regular still talking to her and picking her brain because you can't just let experience and knowledge disappear in our system we don't have the luxury to be able to do that."
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