# 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. She was previously the captain of FC Rosengård. On 27 December 2022, she decided to retire.

## Career

Fischer won most of her caps for Sweden as a defensive midfielder after her debut versus Norway in January 2001. She was converted to a centre back by coach Pia Sundhage in 2013.
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. 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. In August 2013, the clubs reached a deal for "grateful" Fischer's immediate transfer. 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. 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. On 12 December the same year, she announced her retirement from soccer, and that she would instead educate herself to become a police officer.

## 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.

## 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".

## 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.

### International goals

| 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 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2009 Algarve Cup |
| 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 | 2–0 | 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 | Chengdu | United States | 65. on 65' (off Sjögran) | | | 0–2 L | Group match |
| | 2 | 2007-9-18 | Tianjin | North Korea | Start | | | 2–1 W | Group match |
| Beijing 2008 Women's Olympic Football Tournament ||||||||||
| | 3 | 2008-8-6 | Tianjin | China | 76. off 76' (on Landström) | | | 1–2 L | Group match |
| 1 | 4 | 2008-8-9 | Tianjin | Argentina | Start | 58 | 1–0 | 1–0 W | Group match |
| | 5 | 2008-8-12 | Beijing | Canada | 27. off 27' (on Landström) | | | 2–1 W | Group match |
| Germany 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup ||||||||||
| | 6 | 2011-6-28 | Leverkusen | Colombia | 69. on 69' (off Seger) | | | 1–0 W | Group match |
| | 7 | 2011-7-2 | Augsburg | North Korea | 86. on 86' (off Sjögran) | | | 1–0 W | Group match |
| 2 | 8 | 2011-7-6 | Wolfsburg | United States | 88. off 88' (on Sembrant) | 35 | 2–0 | 2–1 W | Group match |
| | 9 | 2011-7-10 | Augsburg | Australia | 67. on 67' (off Forsberg) | | | 3–1 W | Quarter-final |
| | 10 | 2011-7-16 | 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 | Coventry | South Africa | 61. off 61' (on Almgren) | 7 | 1–0 | 4–1 W | Group match |
| | 12 | 2012-7-31 | Newcastle | Canada | 53. off 53' (on Dahlkvist) | | | 2–2 D | Group match |
| 4 | 13 | 2012-8-3 | Glasgow | France | Start | 18 | 1–0 | 1–2 L | Quarter-final |
| Canada 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup ||||||||||
| 5 | 14 | 2015-6-8 | Winnipeg | Nigeria | Start | 31 | 2–0 | 3–3 D | Group match |
| | 15 | 2015-6-12 | Winnipeg | United States | Start | | | 0–0 D | Group match |
| | 16 | 2015-6-16 | Edmonton | Australia | Start | | | 1–1 D | Group match |
| | 17 | 2015-6-20 | Ottawa | Germany | Start | | | 1–4 L | Round of 16 |
| Rio de Janeiro 2016 Women's Olympic Football Tournament ||||||||||
| 6 | 18 | 2016-8-3 | Rio de Janeiro | South Africa | Start | 76 | 1–0 | 1–0 W | Group match |
| | 19 | 2016-8-6 | Rio de Janeiro | Brazil | Start | | | 1–5 L | Group match |
| | 20 | 2016-8-9 | Brasília | China | 78. off 78' (on Berglund) | | | 0–0 D | Group match |
| | 21 | 2016-8-12 | Brasília | United States | Start | | | 1–1 (pso 4–3) (W) | Quarter-final |
| | 22 | 2016-8-16 | Rio de Janeiro | Brazil | Start | | | 0–0 (pso 4–3) (W) | Semi-final |
| | 23 | 2016-8-19 | Rio de Janeiro | Germany | Start | | | 1–2 L | Gold Medal Match |
| France 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup ||||||||||
| | 24 | 2019-6-11 | Rennes | Chile | Start | | | 2–1 W | Group match |
| | 25 | 2019-6-16 | Nice | Thailand | Start | | | 5–1 W | Group match |
| | 26 | 2019-6-24 | Paris | Canada | Start | | | 1–0 W | Round of 16 |
| | 27 | 2019-6-29 | Rennes | Germany | 66. off 66' (on Ilestedt) | | | 2–1 W | Quarter-final |
| | 28 | 2019-7-3 | Lyon | Netherlands | Start | | | 0–1 L | Semi-final |
| | 29 | 2019-7-6 | 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 | Turku | Russia | 87. on 87' (off Svensson) | | | 3–0 W | Group match |
| | 2 | 2009-8-28 | Turku | Italy | 66. on 66' (off Dahlkvist) | | | 2–0 W | Group match |
| | 3 | 2009-9-4 | Helsinki | Norway | 46. off 46' (on Nilsson) | | | 1–3 L | Quarter-final |
| 2013 European Championship ||||||||||
| 1 | 4 | 2013-7-10 | Gothenburg | Denmark | 63. on 63' (off Göransson) | 36 | 1–1 | 1–1 D | Group match |
| 2 | 5 | 2013-7-13 | Gothenburg | Finland | Start | 15 | 1–0 | 5–0 W | Group match |
| 3 | 5 | 2013-7-13 | Gothenburg | Finland | Start | 36 | 2–0 | 5–0 W | Group match |
| | 6 | 2013-7-16 | Halmstad | Italy | Start | | | 3–1 W | Group match |
| | 7 | 2013-7-21 | Halmstad | Iceland | Start | | | 4–0 W | Quarter-final |
| | 8 | 2013-7-24 | Gothenburg | Germany | Start | | | 0–1 L | Semi-final |
| 2017 European Championship ||||||||||
| | 9 | 2017-7-17 | Breda | Germany | Start | | | 0–0 D | Group match |
| | 10 | 2017-7-21 | Deventer | Russia | Start | | | 2–0 W | Group match |
| | 11 | 2017-7-29 | Doetinchem | Netherlands | Start | | | 0–2 L | Quarter-final |

## Honours
### Club
#### LdB FC Malmö

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

#### VfL Wolfsburg

* 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

#### Sweden U17

* Nordic Cup: Winner 2000, Runner-up 2001

### 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
* IFFHS World's Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020
* IFFHS UEFA Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020