England's second most capped player of all time wants her colleagues to be sent off to the European Championships with a record crowd for the SSE Women’s FA Cup final, at Wembley.

Saturday’s final sees Birmingham City take on Manchester City and former Arsenal player Rachel Yankey - who has won the cup 11 times in her glittering career – wants her England colleagues to sign off for the Euros with a bang.

More than 37,000 tickets have been sold for the game – meaning there will already be a record crowd for the third showpiece final at Wembley Stadium – but Rachel hopes that amount can grow further ahead of the 5.15pm kick-off on Saturday.

“Cheering on the England internationals who are going to be representing them in the Euros, we want to be sending them off with a massive crowd to be prepared for what they’re going to face in the Euros,” said the 37-year-old.

“Birmingham have a new manager and are an up and coming team, they’ve knocked out Arsenal and, Chelsea, so they’ve got one more big job to do to lift this beautiful cup.

“Manchester City with the wealth of players they’re got, including a World Cup winner in Carli Lloyd coming over and playing in this country, then being able to see her live would be fantastic and it will be a close battle.

“It’s a fantastic day out when you win it – it’s a bit of a nightmare when you’re on the losing side. But to play in the final, to lift the trophy and be involved in that event, is great.

“It always brings a big crowd, it’s a great day out and for players, it’s where you want to play, and at the end of it you want to be lifting that trophy.”

In preparation for the final Yankey took the SSE Women’s FA Cup trophy to two south London schools, regaling the pupils with tales of her past wins.

“Leaving primary school and secondary school, I didn’t obviously think that I’d have the career that I’ve had, there wasn’t an obvious pathway for me – I grew up and there weren’t role models ad female footballers to look up to. I had a lot of people saying ‘why do you want to get into football’?” She added.

“When I was growing up, there weren’t as many role models for me, so if I can help be a role model for someone else starting on their journey, I’m more than happy to do that.

“I’ve gone into coaching – I’ve always coached youngsters but I’m doing my elite licence badge,  I’m working with Haringey Boys team to get as much experience as I can.

“It’s important that SSE bring the FA Cup round to schools to let the children see what this beautiful cup is, give them the opportunity to learn more, for players like myself to be able to talk about our career and hopefully inspire some of the kids to play football or get involved in some sort of sport to play at the highest level they can be.”

Tickets are now on sale for the SSE Women’s FA Cup Final on Saturday 13th May at Wembley Stadium connected by EE. For the second consecutive year, kids go free to the final. Adult tickets cost £15 and can be purchased here: https://ticketing.thefa.com/