Scotland captain Rachel Corsie will retire next week after living in "chronic pain" with a knee injury that kept her out for the majority of the season.

The 35-year-old will join up with Melissa Andreatta's first Scotland camp on Monday after receiving her first call-up since July for the final two Nations League A games against Austria on Friday and the Netherlands next Tuesday - live on BBC Scotland.

The defender made her return to football for Aston Villa on 30 April, after not featuring for the Women's Super League side since September. It was announced on 9 May that she would leave Villa at the end of the season.

Corsie, who has 154 international caps and 20 goals and played at Euro 2017 and the 2019 World Cup, says it "feels like the right moment" for retirement.

"My body has really wanted this to be my last year," she said.

"Playing in the WSL, playing international football, I think it's the highest level, and to be turning 36 in August knowing I'm going to stop playing at the highest point, it feels the right place for me."

Aberdeen-born Corsie started with Glasgow City in 2008 and won 13 major honours with Scotland's then-dominant force before joining Notts County in 2014.

A six-year stint in the NWSL in the United States - with Seattle Reign, Utah Royals and Kansas City Current - followed, though she enjoyed loan moves to Canberra United and Birmingham City after also heading back to City in 2015 where she picked up another SWPL and Scottish Cup double.

The centre-back joined Villa in 2022 and closed out her 18-year club career with the WSL side by returning from a sixth operation - and fifth on her left knee - for their final two league games.

"Getting back to playing at the end of the season was a really tough ambition and objective, but we got there," Corsie said.

"I was told by the surgeon before having the surgery that there was the option to have it, but the condition of my knee was fairly concerning and that though surgery would potentially give some relief, there was quite a serious likelihood that the damage that's been done over the course of my career is going to be impactful to the rest of my life.

"I wanted to do the surgery because I knew that I couldn't get back playing, leaving it as it was.

"You have this self-belief that 'I've done it before, I could do it again'.

"I basically was just in chronic pain all the time. Walking up and down stairs in the house, sitting in the car for periods of time, getting in and out of the shower and having to climb out over the bath.

"All these little things, the day-to-day things that for me are now not normal.

"It's been a tough journey but I've made it and it has been worth - I think - all those days in pain."

Throughout her spell on the sidelines, Corsie has never hidden her desire to return for Scotland.

The captain was an ever-present around camp earlier this season when the Scots suffered play-off pain again in Euro 2025 qualifying against Finland.

She led her country out in France in 2019 at their first World Cup, having played a crucial role in their qualification for a first major tournament - Euro 2017 - two years prior.

Such heights have never been reached again. And, while a swansong in Switzerland ought to have been in the thoughts six months ago, pulling the dark blue at Hampden or in the Netherlands in the coming days is a close second.

Though she admits she'll be "a total mess" on the final whistle.

When asked if this had the potential to be the perfect goodbye, Corsie replied: "I think it does for me and I think it's a really unique opportunity."

"It's been the one thing that's been the light that I've needed at times to keep going, to want to keep pushing," she added.

"It's been the biggest motivator, that feeling of playing for Scotland."