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.

International goals

Matches and goals scored at European Championship tournaments

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

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.

Honours

Club

LdB FC Malmö

VfL Wolfsburg

Country

Individual