Anita Asante: ‘I said to Steven Gerrard, let’s hug because my hands are really sweaty’

Welcome to Moving the Goalposts, the Guardian’s new (and free) women’s football newsletter. Here’s an extract from this week’s edition. To receive the full version once a week, just pop your email in below.

You can’t ever prepare for it. It’s the one day every athlete knows is coming. In my mind, I had prepared my transition away from the pitch for two years, but you can never really picture what stepping on to the grass for the final time will be like.

I approached Sunday’s game against Birmingham as I would any other day, that’s probably the professional athlete in me, trying to keep the routines the same and trying to not make the occasion change anything or add any pressure.

I walked into the ground, into the locker room, to see teammates and coaches had left cards and little gifts and that really brought home that it was the final moment and I just wanted to take it in a little bit, to sit there.

It was an incredible day. Walking out through the guard of honour and having players congratulate me and say thank you for what I’ve done in the women’s game really started to stir up the emotions within and made me realise just how important it is to be visible and to try to be a good role model. These labels get attached to us as athletes but it’s a role that I have really embraced. To feel like people recognise that is an amazing and lovely thing.

All week I had been flooded with waves of emotion. I’d been approaching the week as a normal week but at the same time the questions about how it felt to be retiring, what I was looking forward to and what I would miss, came every day. Each time I would get a little bit emotional, teary and sad because my journey has been an amazing one. I’ve enjoyed every single day of being