Nilla Fischer

Åsa Nilla Maria Fischer (born 2 August 1984) is a Swedish former footballer. Her last club was Linköpings FC. She played in the Swedish national team between 2001 and 2022.^[7] She was previously the captain of FC Rosengård. On 27 December 2022, she decided to retire.

Nilla Fischer

Nilla Fischer in May 2013
Personal information
Full name	Åsa Nilla Maria Fischer[1]
Date of birth	(1984-08-02) 2 August 1984 (age 40)[2]
Place of birth	Kristianstad, Sweden[3]
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[2]
Position(s)	Centre back, defensive midfielder
Youth career
	Verums GoIF
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1998–2000	Vittsjö GIK		(0)
2000–2003	Kristianstad/Wä DFF		(0)
2003–2011	LdB FC Malmö	136	(24)
2012–2013	Linköping FC	33	(2)
2013–2019	VfL Wolfsburg	125	(11)
2019–2022	Linköping	49	(2)
International career‡
2000–2001	Sweden U17	12[4]	(3[4])
2001–2004	Sweden U20	24[4]	(4[4])
2001–2022	Sweden	189[a]	(23[4])
Medal record Women's soccer Representing  Sweden FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 Germany Team 2019 France Team Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22 April 2019 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12 April 2022 (UTC)

Career

Fischer won most of her caps for Sweden as a defensive midfielder after her debut versus Norway in January 2001.^[8] She was converted to a centre back by coach Pia Sundhage in 2013.^[9]

The change in position coincided with an upturn in goalscoring form for Fischer, who scored three times for hosts Sweden at UEFA Women's Euro 2013.^[10] Her performances in Sweden's run to the semi-finals prompted a contract offer from European Champions VfL Wolfsburg and Fischer agreed to move to Germany from 1 January 2014.^[11] In August 2013, the clubs reached a deal for "grateful" Fischer's immediate transfer.^[12] Fischer played the first competitive game for her new side in the Bundesliga 2013–14 season opener against Bayern Munich in front of a home crowd of 8,249 fans on 7 September 2013.

On 28 March 2022 Fischer announced through her Instagram that she wouldn't take part in the forthcoming Team Sweden campaign in UEFA Women's Euro 2022 on grounds that she didn't want to spend most of the summer away from her family.^{[13][unreliable source?]} During the championship she appeared as a studio expert in the broadcasts from Swedish public service channel SVT.

On 27 September 2022, Nilla Fischer announced her retirement from Team Sweden.^[14] On 12 December the same year, she announced her retirement from soccer, and that she would instead educate herself to become a police officer.^[15]

Matches and goals scored at World Cup and Olympic tournaments

Nilla Fischer has represented Sweden in four World Cups (China 2007, Germany 2011, Canada 2015, France 2019) and three Olympic Games (Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016.) Her squad finished in third place in two of those World Cups (2011 and 2019), and won a silver medal in Rio.

Twice during Olympic play she scored her team's only goal of the match, securing wins against Argentina in 2008 and South Africa in 2016.

Her 35th-minute goal against the USA on the final day of group play in the 2011 World Cup would prove to be the match winner. That result put Sweden atop their group, and is the only time the Americans have suffered defeat in the group stage of a World Cup.^[16]

Gender equality and LGBT rights

In regards to women's football, Fischer was described in 2017 as "one of the sport’s most important voices in support of gender equality and LGBT rights".^[17]

Personal life

In 2013, Fischer gave an interview to QX magazine in which she announced her intention to marry her partner Maria Michaela. They married in December 2013.^[18]

International goals

Nilla Fischer playing for Sweden in October 2012

Nilla Fischer in 2015

Goal	Date	Location	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2007-02-17	Larnaca, Cyprus	Scotland	1–0	1–0	Friendly
3	2008-03-05	Lagos, Portugal	Finland	0–2	1–3	2008 Algarve Cup
4	2008-05-03	Székesfehérvár, Hungary	Hungary	0–4	0–6	Euro 2009 qualifying
7	2009-03-06	Lagos, Portugal	Finland	1–0	1–0	2009 Algarve Cup
8	2009-03-09	Faro, Portugal	Germany		3–2
9	2010-03-03	Albufeira, Portugal	China	0–2	0–2	2010 Algarve Cup
10	2010-03-31	Broughton, Flintshire, Wales	Wales	0–1	0–4	2011 World Cup qualification
11	2011-07-06	Wolfsburg, Germany	United States	2–0	2–1	2011 FIFA Women's World Cup
12	2012-01-17	La Manga, Spain	Norway	0–1	0–2	Friendly
13	2012-07-25	Coventry, Great Britain	South Africa	1–0	4–1	Olympics 2012
19	2015-02-12	Uusimaa, Finland	Finland	0–3	0–3	Friendly
21	2016-08-03	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	South Africa	1–0	1–0	Olympics 2016
22	2017-03-08	Albufeira, Portugal	Russia	2–0	4–0	2017 Algarve Cup
23	2017-10-24	Borås, Sweden	Hungary		5–0	2019 World Cup qualification

Key (expand for notes on "world cup and olympic goals")
Location	Geographic location of the venue where the competition occurred
Lineup	Start – played entire match on minute (off player) – substituted on at the minute indicated, and player was substituted off at the same time off minute (on player) – substituted off at the minute indicated, and player was substituted on at the same time (c) – captain
Min	The minute in the match the goal was scored. For list that include caps, blank indicates played in the match but did not score a goal.
Assist/pass	The ball was passed by the player, which assisted in scoring the goal. This column depends on the availability and source of this information.
penalty or pk	Goal scored on penalty-kick which was awarded due to foul by opponent. (Goals scored in penalty-shoot-out, at the end of a tied match after extra-time, are not included.)
Score	The match score after the goal was scored.
Result	The final score. W – match was won L – match was lost to opponent D – match was drawn (W) – penalty-shoot-out was won after a drawn match (L) – penalty-shoot-out was lost after a drawn match
aet	The score at the end of extra-time; the match was tied at the end of 90' regulation
pso	Penalty-shoot-out score shown in parentheses; the match was tied at the end of extra-time
	Orange background color – Olympic women's football tournament
	Blue background color – FIFA women's world cup final tournament

Goal	Match	Date	Location	Opponent	Lineup	Min	Score	Result	Competition
China 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup
	1	2007-9-14[m 1]	Chengdu	United States	65. on 65' (off Sjögran)			0–2 L	Group match
	2	2007-9-18[m 2]	Tianjin	North Korea	Start			2–1 W	Group match
Beijing 2008 Women's Olympic Football Tournament
	3	2008-8-6[m 3]	Tianjin	China	76. off 76' (on Landström)			1–2 L	Group match
1	4	2008-8-9[m 4]	Tianjin	Argentina	Start	58	1–0	1–0 W	Group match
	5	2008-8-12[m 5]	Beijing	Canada	27. off 27' (on Landström)			2–1 W	Group match
Germany 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup
	6	2011-6-28[m 6]	Leverkusen	Colombia	69. on 69' (off Seger)			1–0 W	Group match
	7	2011-7-2[m 7]	Augsburg	North Korea	86. on 86' (off Sjögran)			1–0 W	Group match
2	8	2011-7-6[m 8]	Wolfsburg	United States	88. off 88' (on Sembrant)	35	2–0	2–1 W	Group match
	9	2011-7-10[m 9]	Augsburg	Australia	67. on 67' (off Forsberg)			3–1 W	Quarter-final
	10	2011-7-16[m 10]	Sinsheim	France	73. off 73' (on Sembrant)			2–1 W	Third place match
London 2012 Women's Olympic Football Tournament
3	11	2012-7-25[m 11]	Coventry	South Africa	61. off 61' (on Almgren)	7	1–0	4–1 W	Group match
	12	2012-7-31[m 12]	Newcastle	Canada	53. off 53' (on Dahlkvist)			2–2 D	Group match
4	13	2012-8-3[m 13]	Glasgow	France	Start	18	1–0	1–2 L	Quarter-final
Canada 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
5	14	2015-6-8[m 14]	Winnipeg	Nigeria	Start	31	2–0	3–3 D	Group match
	15	2015-6-12[m 15]	Winnipeg	United States	Start			0–0 D	Group match
	16	2015-6-16[m 16]	Edmonton	Australia	Start			1–1 D	Group match
	17	2015-6-20[m 17]	Ottawa	Germany	Start			1–4 L	Round of 16
Rio de Janeiro 2016 Women's Olympic Football Tournament
6	18	2016-8-3[m 18]	Rio de Janeiro	South Africa	Start	76	1–0	1–0 W	Group match
	19	2016-8-6[m 19]	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	Start			1–5 L	Group match
	20	2016-8-9[m 20]	Brasília	China	78. off 78' (on Berglund)			0–0 D	Group match
	21	2016-8-12[m 21]	Brasília	United States	Start			1–1 (pso 4–3) (W)	Quarter-final
	22	2016-8-16[m 22]	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	Start			0–0 (pso 4–3) (W)	Semi-final
	23	2016-8-19[m 23]	Rio de Janeiro	Germany	Start			1–2 L	Gold Medal Match
France 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup
	24	2019-6-11[m 24]	Rennes	Chile	Start			2–1 W	Group match
	25	2019-6-16[m 25]	Nice	Thailand	Start			5–1 W	Group match
	26	2019-6-24[m 26]	Paris	Canada	Start			1–0 W	Round of 16
	27	2019-6-29[m 27]	Rennes	Germany	66. off 66' (on Ilestedt)			2–1 W	Quarter-final
	28	2019-7-3[m 28]	Lyon	Netherlands	Start			0–1 L	Semi-final
	29	2019-7-6[m 29]	Nice	England	Start			2–1 W	3rd place match

Matches and goals scored at European Championship tournaments

Nilla Fischer has appeared at three European Championship tournaments: Finland 2009, Sweden 2013, and Netherlands 2017.

Goal	Match	Date	Location	Opponent	Lineup	Min	Score	Result	Competition
2009 European Championship
	1	2009-8-25[m 30]	Turku	Russia	87. on 87' (off Svensson)			3–0 W	Group match
	2	2009-8-28[m 31]	Turku	Italy	66. on 66' (off Dahlkvist)			2–0 W	Group match
	3	2009-9-4[m 32]	Helsinki	Norway	46. off 46' (on Nilsson)			1–3 L	Quarter-final
2013 European Championship
1	4	2013-7-10[m 33]	Gothenburg	Denmark	63. on 63' (off Göransson)	36	1–1	1–1 D	Group match
2	5	2013-7-13[m 34]	Gothenburg	Finland	Start	15	1–0	5–0 W	Group match
3						36	2–0
	6	2013-7-16[m 35]	Halmstad	Italy	Start			3–1 W	Group match
	7	2013-7-21[m 36]	Halmstad	Iceland	Start			4–0 W	Quarter-final
	8	2013-7-24[m 37]	Gothenburg	Germany	Start			0–1 L	Semi-final
2017 European Championship
	9	2017-7-17[m 38]	Breda	Germany	Start			0–0 D	Group match
	10	2017-7-21[m 39]	Deventer	Russia	Start			2–0 W	Group match
	11	2017-7-29[m 40]	Doetinchem	Netherlands	Start			0–2 L	Quarter-final

Honours

Club

LdB FC Malmö

• Damallsvenskan: Winner 2010, 2011
• Svenska Supercupen: Winner 2011

VfL Wolfsburg

Nilla Fischer (left) playing for VfL Wolfsburg in March 2019

• UEFA Women's Champions League: Winner 2013–14
• Bundesliga: Winner 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19
• DFB-Pokal: Winner 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19

Country

Sweden

• 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup: Group stage
• 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup: Third place
• 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup: Round of 16
• 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup: Third place
• 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing: Quarter-final
• 2012 Summer Olympics in London: Quarter-final
• 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio: Runner-up
• UEFA Women's Euro 2009: Quarter-final
• UEFA Women's Euro 2013: Semi-finals
• Algarve Cup (Participated from 2007 to 2015): Winner 2009

Sweden U19

• UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship: Group stage 2002, Semi-finals 2003
• Nordic Cup: Runner-up 2004 ^[19]

Sweden U17

• Nordic Cup: Winner 2000, Runner-up 2001 ^[20]

Individual

• 2013: Silver Boot UEFA Women's European Championship
• 2013: UEFA Women's European Championship All Star Team
• 2013: Best female defense in Sweden
• 2014: Best female defense in Sweden
• 2014: UEFA Best Women's Player in Europe Award Third place
• 2016: FIFPro: FIFA FIFPro World XI 2016^[21]
• IFFHS World's Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020^[22]
• IFFHS UEFA Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020^[23]

Notes

1. According to her profile on the Swedish Football Association's website, Fischer's total number of caps is 188,^[5] but this appears to be a mistake, as the number which was communicated after her retirement was 189.^[6]