Louise Anneli Schillgard (; born 23 October 1989) is a Swedish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a midfielder. She last played for Boston Breakers of the American

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

(NWSL) in 2016. She did not play in 2015 but spent part of 2014 with Älta IF of the

Elitettan Elitettan ( en, The Elite First) is the second highest division of Swedish women's football. Contested by 14 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are ...

, on loan from Liverpool of the English

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

. At club level she also played for

Linköping FC Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

in Sweden's

Damallsvenskan The Damallsvenskan, Swedish for ''ladies all-Swedish'' and also known as OBOS Damallsvenskan for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is also referred to as the women's Allsvenskan. The term Allsvenskan ...

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differe ...

, AIK, Western Sydney Wanderers FC in Australia's W-League, and RCD Espanyol in Spain's

Superliga Femenina The Primera División de la Liga de Fútbol Femenino, currently known as Liga F (finetwork Liga F for sponsorship reasons), is the highest level of sports league, league competition for women's football in Spain. It is the women's equivalent of t ...

. Schillgard won 23 caps for the

Sweden women's national football team The Sweden women's national football team ( sv, Svenska damfotbollslandslaget) represents Sweden at international women's association football competitions and is controlled by the Swedish Football Association. History The Swedish team has be ...

and represented her country at UEFA Women's Euro 2009 in Finland.

Club career

Nicknamed "Lollo", she signed a two-year extension to her Linköpings contract in October 2011. On 12 December 2012 it was announced that Schillgard had signed a contract with Liverpool. On 29 September 2013, in the end-of-season decider 2–0 win against Bristol, Schillgard scored Liverpool's first goal from the penalty spot and helped Liverpool clinch their first

title. Schillgard departed Liverpool on loan in January 2014, to play for Älta IF of the

. The decision was related to the planning of her wedding. She intended to return to the Reds for their UEFA Women's Champions League campaign in 2014–15. On 30 June 2014, twenty-four-year-old Schillgard announced her sudden retirement from all football. Having played at the top level since the age of 14, she wanted to prioritise her family life, but did not rule out a return to professional soccer in future. In January 2016 she was tempted out of retirement by her former Liverpool coach Matt Beard, who signed her for his new club, Boston Breakers of the

(NWSL). On 10 November 2016, after one season at Boston Breakers, the club announced Schillgard was not returning for the 2017 season for personal reasons.

International career

Schillgard was a member of the

Swedish national team Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

from her debut against Romania in September 2008, and played at the 2009 European Championship. She subsequently took part in the 2011 World Cup qualifying campaign,Statistics
in UEFA.com but was not selected for the final tournament. She was also overlooked for the 2012 Olympic football tournament in London and UEFA Women's Euro 2013, which Sweden hosted. Disappointed Schillgard suspected that she was excluded on grounds of her character rather than her ability.

Honours

Club

; Liverpool *

(1):

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

References

External links