Hurdles have been surmounted and many sacrifices made to earn the armband for the Euro 2022 opener against Norway at St Mary's Stadium in July.

Difficult decisions too, including playing in a tournament eight weeks after the birth of her daughter Harper five years ago.

"At the time I thought 'I can't do this - what are people going to say about me?'," McFadden told BBC Radio Ulster.

"I remember people wanting to do newspaper articles and I said 'I can't do that' because people are going to judge me and say 'I can't believe you're leaving a little baby at eight weeks'.

"But my husband was telling me 'You have to go - you might not get these opportunities again'."

McFadden's career includes spells in Iceland and with Sunderland before joining Women's Championship side Durham six years ago.

The Co Londonderry woman, who works as a teacher, started out in the pre-professional era of the women's game before emerging as a key player in the international team's rapid rise under manager Kenny Shiels, with Northern Ireland making history by qualifying for Euro 2022.

McFadden was stand-in skipper for the Norway game before starting against Austria and winners England in the tournament, while she capped a wonderful 2022 by scoring the only goal in a Seaview victory over an Italian team ranked 35 places above the hosts.

"I remember my first Algarve trip [with NI] - I had to pay for my own kit and you think a 16, 17-year-old asking their parents for a couple of hundred pounds," added McFadden.

"It was a lot of pressure on my mum and dad to always pay out money to go to training, to go to tournaments. That was the first one. My parents driving me to Belfast every single week and knowing there's nothing at the end of this. There was no professional women's game here at that time.

"My dad wasn't driving me to become a professional footballer, he was driving me because he knew I loved it. When I started to work - that's why I haven't got a hundred caps yet - there were three or four years when I was starting my teaching that I wasn't allowed to come and play for my country because I would have had to get cover for those two weeks.

"That was massive because you always want to play for your country. A man would never have had to do that. And the last five or six years, it's the sacrifice of my family.

"That's the main sacrifice at the minute. It's the sacrifice that I've put on my family and looking after Harper and getting her ready for school. I have to go to training or I'm away at the weekend, away for two to three weeks at a time sometimes with Northern Ireland. It's all those little things that nobody really sees.

"You spend the last 20 years doing everything that is right for Northern Ireland and you would do it 10 times over - all the sacrifices are worthwhile. That one of the things after all the sacrifices is that finally women's football is on the map and that our wee country is getting the recognition it deserves."

Next step

McFadden and the rest of the Northern Ireland squad benefited from a full-time set-up organised by the Irish FA in the months leading up to Euro 2022.

Most of the international squad play in the domestic Women's Premiership, with professionalism to be introduced to the league for the first time next year.

Sarah McFadden beats England pair Millie Bright and Lucy Bronze to the high ball in April's World Cup qualifier in Belfast

She added: "This time last year was a great time for me. I was one of the players that the Irish FA invested in and I was really lucky that I was able to drop some of my teaching hours and become a full-time footballer in a different setting.

"So for me this time last year was one of the best times of my life because I knew I didn't have to go back to teaching in January.

"The main thing in moving forward is that we need some sort of professional league [in NI]. It might not be completely professional but at least semi-professional so our girls at home can continue to improve the league.

"You might be able to recruit players from England, you look at Scotland, they have a lot of players from the whole of the UK. Maybe eventually in Northern Ireland we can recruit better players into our league at home because that's the only way they are going to improve if they are training week in and week out.

"We just need a better platform for them to get to England. I know the Irish FA have talked about setting up a girls academy similar to the boys. That's just the first step in it.

"We just need to make sure, off the back of the Euros, that the interest is there. That there are enough girls playing but it's the next step into the professional game that we really need to take."

Click here to listen to the full interview with Sarah McFadden on BBC Radio Ulster