We can’t believe we get to announce this…!
Jess Fishlock, MBE – Wales most-capped and all-time greatest goal scorer, is the 2025 NOS GALAN MYSTERY RUNNER.
Just a few weeks after her final international football match, the awe-inspiring sports woman is now carrying the Nos Galan torch into Mountain Ash town centre to start the road races!
We always say Nos Galan is an evening of sporting inspiration and we mean it!
We are so proud to welcome Cardiff-born Jess to our historic town and bring the spirit of sporting magic to Nos Galan 2025.
She has more caps for her country than any other Welsh player and has scored 48 goals for Wales in international football, beating Gareth Bale and all others who came before her.
She won the Welsh Footballer of the Year four years in a row – and then once more in 2019 for good measure - and has played football for teams on three continents winning multiple championship and season titles.
She joins us at the end of an epic year, which saw her join the Wales Women’s Football team at its first ever major international tournament, the UEFA Euros championship – and become the first ever Wales player to score a major tournament goal. (She also made records as the oldest-ever player to score a goal in the tournament, at a mere 38 years old!)
To say we are proud and honoured is an understatement.
Cllr Ann Crimmings of the Nos Galan Road Races Committee said: “Nos Galan Road Races is a family event, an evening of tradition, legend and sporting inspiration.
“We are all having to pinch ourselves watching the legendary Jess Fishlock MBE run into our town with the Nos Galan torch held aloft. She is an inspiration to so many and I am sure there were many little girls – and boys – in the crowd who share the same ambitions and beliefs in themselves as she does. What a role model she is for them all.
“Once again, Nos Galan Road Races has attracted the very best of the sporting world for its Mystery Runner and we now look forward to an evening of races, full with runners from all over.
“We started off strong 67 years ago and are showing no signs of slowing down any time soon! As always, we work to keep the legend of Guto Nyth Bran alive and to honour the commitment and vision of races founder, the late Bernard Baldwin MBE.
“Here’s to a great night everyone and, Jess, we are so honoured you have joined us!”
Jess Fishlock MBE, 38, started playing for Cardiff City when she was aged just seven and made her debut for the senior team when she was just 15.
Former Nos Galan mystery runner Laura McAllister was captain at the time and said Jess was “so good, we fast-tracked her” to the senior team.
Jess went on to score 19 goals in 23 games in her first season at the club, helping Cardiff City make its way to the last eight teams in the FA cup.
In 2008 she became the first overseas player to join the highest women’s football team in the Netherlands and secured back to back league titles in 2008-9 and 2009-10. She was on track to do the same in her third season when she returned to the UK and signed for Bristol.
Months later she was named Club Player of the Year and Fans’ Player of the Year in 2011 and then Wales Footballer of the Year in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2019 and is considered one of the greatest Welsh footballers of all time.
In 2012 she moved down under and joined Melbourne and the following year, Seattle Reign in Washington, USA, scoring her first goal for the club in front of a record-breaking crowd.
She made her debut for the Wales Under 19 squad when she was 16 and joined the senior team in 2006.
In 2017, she became the first Welsh player to earn 100 caps and seven years later, in 2024, became the first Welsh player to earn 150 caps for her country.
Her 2024 goal against Kosovo was her 48th international goal, making her the highest Welsh international goal scorer. She played her 166th and last international for Wales in October, in a friendly against Australia.
As well as being a record-breaking, awe-inspiring sports woman, Jess has also secured acclaim and praise for her campaign work off the pitch, speaking about against homophobia on social media and her struggles as a gay athlete.
She was awarded an MBE in 2018 for her services to women’s football and the LGBT Community. Her wife is former Seattle Reign player Tziarra King.
Posted on 31/12/2025