The Football Association has apologised to former England international Lianne Sanderson after she said she did not receive an invite to Friday’s celebration of 50 years of the Lionesses at Wembley.
Sanderson, who won 50 England caps between 2006 and 2015, expressed her disappointment on social media on Saturday at not being invited to attend the showpiece friendly between England and the United States, which saw several other former England internationals honoured.
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Sanderson’s name was also misspelled in the matchday programme.
“At this point, I can’t say I’m surprised,” Sanderson posted on social media on Saturday afternoon. “They forgot about me before and many times before that and last night was just another example.
“I retired because a sport I loved so much wasn’t showing me much love back.”
The FA, however, has said that it did invite Sanderson but that she did not respond and apologised for the miscommunication.
In a statement to The Athletic, an FA spokesperson said: “We are sorry. We invited Lianne, along with more than 200 former players, to last night’s celebrations but she didn’t receive it. We have been in touch with her representatives to explain.
“We also apologise for her name being misspelt in the programme. With 50 caps, Lianne is an England great and deserves full recognition for the service she gave to the national team.”
England honoured more than 100 former internationals during the game at Wembley, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the women’s team.
Several members of the first England squad from 1972 were in attendance and received their first official international caps.
Sanderson won 50 caps for England between 2006 and 2015, scoring 15 goals. She retired in 2019 after featuring for Arsenal, Chelsea and the Boston Breakers during a successful playing career.
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