I was a Lioness but retired at 30 and landed incredible new job that will revolutionise football
Claire Rafferty certainly packed in plenty during her playing career, and this hasn’t changed in retirement. The 35-year-old enjoyed a hugely impressive 16 years in the game, winning the WSL and FA Cup with Chelsea, as well as lining up for England and representing Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics. Rafferty helped England to a third-place finish at the 2015 World Cup, their best ever performance in the tournament at the timegetty images - getty And while many struggle to find a second calling after years at the top of elite sport, Rafferty would appear to have had no such trouble. Since calling time on her playing career at West Ham in 2019, the 18-cap former Lioness has thrown herself into work. After making the immediate transition into punditry during the Women’s World Cup in the same year, Rafferty then took on a commercial position at Chelsea, where she spent 11 years as a player. But is arguably in her current role that Rafferty is having her greatest impact. Since 2022, the former Blues star has acted as an Agency Success Manager for Transfer Room, an online platform which has revolutionised football’s transfer market in recent years. Founded in 2016, the digital marketplace shows clubs which players are available for transfer and facilitates communication between the two parties. Appearing on talkSPORT’s The Kickback alongside Lianne Sanderson and Shebahn Aherne, Rafferty discussed her latest career transition. She explained: “It’s a marketplace for transfers, basically. So clubs will put their players up for sale. They’ll also use it for outplacement, so loan players. “And basically they just pitch to each other. The player has to match the criteria. Then it opens up that communication.” With Transfer Room currently only facilitating business in the men’s game, Rafferty expressed her desire to see the platform expand its market into women’s football. Rafferty spent the final season of her career with West Ham in 2018/19 Credit: talkSPORTThe former Lioness has thrown herself into football’s commercial side since retirement[/caption] She continued: “At the moment, [it’s] only men. “Hopefully in the future it’ll be for women’s, I think it would totally transform women’s football. But yeah, it’s clubs and agents that use it.” It is perhaps not surprising that Rafferty has been able to seamlessly make the transition to life after sport given how she spent her early years in senior football. Despite joining Chelsea in 2007, it was only in 2015 that the club became a fully professional outfit, meaning that Rafferty, like many players from her generation, worked a separate job to supplement her income from playing. With the women’s game receiving only a fraction of the investment it does now, the former full-back balanced her football career with a part-time job as a financial analyst for Deutsche Bank. On juggling the two worlds, Rafferty recalled: “I remember at Chelsea, I used to train in the morning up until 12, run, quickly get a shower, get changed, get on the train into the city to Deutsche Bank.” Rafferty has shown herself to be incredible versatile throughout her working life Explaining the necessity of this way of life for many women’s players at the time, she added: “I think people had to, just affordability.” And despite retiring from football as a two-time WSL and FA Cup winner with the Blues, in typical fashion, Rafferty has now decided to embark an a separate sporting challenge. In an interview with The Telegraph earlier this year, the Kent native revealed she has began playing rugby, lining up for hometown side Sevenoaks. Having suffered three ACL injuries in her time as a footballer, the sport may not have appeared the sensible choice for Rafferty, who revealed she has overcome her fear to find a new passion. She explained: “The biggest driver [for starting rugby] was that I wanted to find a new identity away from football. “I kind of reinvented myself a little bit. The fear just dissipated.”
Claire Rafferty certainly packed in plenty during her playing career, and this hasn’t changed in retirement.
The 35-year-old enjoyed a hugely impressive 16 years in the game, winning the WSL and FA Cup with Chelsea, as well as lining up for England and representing Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics.
And while many struggle to find a second calling after years at the top of elite sport, Rafferty would appear to have had no such trouble.
Since calling time on her playing career at West Ham in 2019, the 18-cap former Lioness has thrown herself into work.
After making the immediate transition into punditry during the Women’s World Cup in the same year, Rafferty then took on a commercial position at Chelsea, where she spent 11 years as a player.
But is arguably in her current role that Rafferty is having her greatest impact.
Since 2022, the former Blues star has acted as an Agency Success Manager for Transfer Room, an online platform which has revolutionised football’s transfer market in recent years.
Founded in 2016, the digital marketplace shows clubs which players are available for transfer and facilitates communication between the two parties.
Appearing on talkSPORT’s The Kickback alongside Lianne Sanderson and Shebahn Aherne, Rafferty discussed her latest career transition.
She explained: “It’s a marketplace for transfers, basically. So clubs will put their players up for sale. They’ll also use it for outplacement, so loan players.
“And basically they just pitch to each other. The player has to match the criteria. Then it opens up that communication.”
With Transfer Room currently only facilitating business in the men’s game, Rafferty expressed her desire to see the platform expand its market into women’s football.
She continued: “At the moment, [it’s] only men.
“Hopefully in the future it’ll be for women’s, I think it would totally transform women’s football. But yeah, it’s clubs and agents that use it.”
It is perhaps not surprising that Rafferty has been able to seamlessly make the transition to life after sport given how she spent her early years in senior football.
Despite joining Chelsea in 2007, it was only in 2015 that the club became a fully professional outfit, meaning that Rafferty, like many players from her generation, worked a separate job to supplement her income from playing.
With the women’s game receiving only a fraction of the investment it does now, the former full-back balanced her football career with a part-time job as a financial analyst for Deutsche Bank.
On juggling the two worlds, Rafferty recalled: “I remember at Chelsea, I used to train in the morning up until 12, run, quickly get a shower, get changed, get on the train into the city to Deutsche Bank.”
Explaining the necessity of this way of life for many women’s players at the time, she added: “I think people had to, just affordability.”
And despite retiring from football as a two-time WSL and FA Cup winner with the Blues, in typical fashion, Rafferty has now decided to embark an a separate sporting challenge.
In an interview with The Telegraph earlier this year, the Kent native revealed she has began playing rugby, lining up for hometown side Sevenoaks.
Having suffered three ACL injuries in her time as a footballer, the sport may not have appeared the sensible choice for Rafferty, who revealed she has overcome her fear to find a new passion.
She explained: “The biggest driver [for starting rugby] was that I wanted to find a new identity away from football.
“I kind of reinvented myself a little bit. The fear just dissipated.”
