Simone

Northern Ireland captain and Birmingham City striker Simone Magill has announced she is pregnant.

The 31-year-old shared the news with her Birmingham team-mates on Wednesday and announced it on social media along with her husband, Mark.

“Something tells me next year is going to be the best one yet,” Magill posted on Instagram.

Magill will not feature for Birmingham for the rest of the season or for Northern Ireland in the 2027 World Cup qualifiers, which begin in March.

WSL2 club Birmingham City say Magill will continue “light training” with the team and that the club’s medical and performance staff will support her “throughout her pregnancy and beyond”.

Amy Merricks, Magill’s head coach at Birmingham, said she would “make an amazing parent”.

“We’re looking forward to supporting her on this journey through her pregnancy and as her baby comes into the world, we’re excited to have a Bluenose baby,” Merricks said.

“We want to keep Si in and around the environment as much as possible.

“She wants to remain sharp and play a critical part in this season and we’re looking forward to supporting her with her journey.”

Magill missed Northern Ireland’s Nations League play-off defeat by Iceland at the end of October and last played for Birmingham in September because of a hip issue.

She won the first of her 95 NI caps as a teenager in 2010 and was named captain by Tanya Oxtoby in October 2024.

Magill played a key role in Northern Ireland’s qualification for Euro 2022 – her country’s first major tournament – but sustained a knee injury in the first match against Norway.

BRIDGERTON’S Simone Ashley is in pole position to feature in the sequel to Brad Pitt’s movie F1.

The 30-year-old, who starred with Jonathan ­Bailey in the Netflix romance, was cast in this year’s flick but her scenes were cut.

A source said: “A script is already in the works with early plans to go into production next year.”

As well as appearing in Sex Education, Ashley has also lent her acting chops to suspense drama Thriller.

She shot to fame after starring in the hit Netflix show Sex Education.

The star developed her acting skills at the Arts Ed school in Chiswick, which specializes in Musical Theatre & Acting degrees.

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Simone has spoken about coming from a traditional Indian family, who finds her acting career “quite scary and unsettling”.

She told Veylex: “My parents are incredibly protective over me, and sometimes I found it quite stifling.

“It made me want to escape and do things my own way. I’ve always been a bit rebellious in that sense.”

“I am incredibly privileged to be apart of a generation where young women from all over the world have more opportunity than ever before, where we are being less stereotyped and walls and being broken down slowly.”