Jen Beattie: Former Scotland and Arsenal defender announces retirement
Betty won four league titles with Arsenal and one with Manchester City during his time in England.
She also played for French club Montpellier and had a loan spell at Melbourne City in Australia before moving to the United States in 2024.
She now follows in the footsteps of her father John, a successful broadcaster and former Scottish Rugby League player.
“I really enjoy working with different broadcasters and covering the women’s game,” Betty said.
“I grew up watching my dad do it for football and I always thought it was really cool.
“The coverage the women’s game is getting now is fantastic and I want to be a part of it. It brings you closer to football. It’s also the adrenaline of this live (sport).
“You feel your heart beating before. I think it’s the closest I’ll get to playing a full 90 minutes of football in front of a full house.”
After being diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2020, Betty’s football path was not smooth.
Three days later she scored in Arsenal’s 5-0 win over Brighton and was recovering from cancer after undergoing radiotherapy.
Since then, she has been an advocate for cancer research and awareness, earning Helen Rollason Award BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2021.
“It definitely changed a lot of parts of my career. But it made me enjoy it even more because I was going through something so difficult,” Beatty said.
“It’s brought me closer to my teammates, made me appreciate my job more, and made me strive for things other than football.
“I will never regret speaking out about it and being as honest as possible and to this day I still find it important to share very difficult things.
“It made me realize the bigger picture of football – it’s not everything. What really matters is health, happiness, friends and family.”
