Nichola Anne "Nicky" Grant (born 13 August 1976) is a Scottish international

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 A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. She currently plays in the

Scottish Women's Premier League The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL 1 and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of the Scottish Women's Football League ...

for Forfar Farmington, having previously played in England for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Doncaster Rovers Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an England, English women's association football, women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's admin ...

as well as in Iceland, Germany and Sweden. Grant amassed over 90 appearances for the

Scotland women's national football team The Scotland women's national football team represents Scotland in international women's football competitions. Since 1998, the team has been governed by the Scottish Football Association (SFA). Scotland qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup ...

Club career

Born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and brought up in Elgin, Grant first came to prominence as a member of a successful Cove Rangers team. She scored twice in the 1996

Scottish Women's Cup The Scottish Women's Cup is the national knockout cup competition for women's football in Scotland. First held in 1970–71, the competition is owned and managed by Scottish Women's Football (SWF), an affiliated body of the Scottish Football Assoc ...

final as Cove beat Aberdeen 5–1 at

McDiarmid Park McDiarmid Park is a stadium in Perth, Scotland, used mainly for association football. It has been the home ground of Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone since its opening in 1989. The stadium has an all-seated capacity of . As well as St Jo ...

. After switching to Cumbernauld United, Grant won a domestic

treble Treble may refer to: In music: *Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass *Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range *Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands *T ...

in 1997–98. In the 2000

final, Grant scored four goals in Stenhousemuir's 9–0 win over Clyde. Grant spent the 2001 summer season in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

with ÍBV and scored three goals in ten Úrvalsdeild appearances. She then collected an

FA Women's Premier League The FA Women's National League, formerly WFA National League and FA Women's Premier League (WPL), is a group of six football divisions run by the English Football Association. Founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, the League includ ...

winners medal with

Arsenal Ladies Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is an English professional women's football club based in Islington, London, England. The club plays in the Women's Super League, the top tier of English women's football. Arse ...

in 2002, but did not wish to move to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

long term. In 2003 Grant joined

Frauen Bundesliga The Frauen-Bundesliga (German for ''Women's Federal League''), currently known as the FLYERALARM Frauen-Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of league competition for women's association football in Germany. In 1990 the German Foo ...

champions

1. FFC Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt is a German women's association football club based in Frankfurt. Its first team currently plays in the German top flight, Frauen-Bundesliga. From 1998 to 2020, the club was known as 1. FFC Frankfurt. Eintracht have won sev ...

as a full–time professional. She did not remain long in Germany due to injuries and returned to Scotland to work as a teacher while playing for

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

. In January 2005, Grant rejected an approach from

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

in favour of

. Grant helped Doncaster avoid relegation by scoring the second goal in a vital 2–0 win over Bristol City, but she was sent off for removing her shirt in celebration. In summer 2007 she joined Swedish

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 ...

club

QBIK QBIK is a Swedish football team from Karlstad. In 2005 they achieved promotion to the Damallsvenskan The Damallsvenskan, Swedish for ''ladies all-Swedish'' and also known as OBOS Damallsvenskan for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division ...

at the invitation of international teammate

Ifeoma Dieke Ifeoma Nnenna Dieke (born 25 February 1981) is an American-born Scottish Association football, football Defender (association football), defender, currently playing for Apollon Ladies F.C. of the Cypriot First Division (women), Cypriot First Div ...

. After a spell at

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

, Grant signed for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in 2011. She returned to Accies during the

mid–season break. Grant signed for Forfar Farmington ahead of the 2012 season, after moving to the

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * An ...

area for work reasons.

International career

Grant made her senior debut for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in October 1993. The Scots were beaten 4–0 in the 1995 UEFA Women's Championship qualification match hosted in

Senigallia Senigallia (or Sinigaglia in Old Italian, Romagnol: ''S’nigaja'') is a ''comune'' and port town on Italy's Adriatic coast. It is situated in the province of Ancona in the Marche region and lies approximately 30 kilometers north-west of the pro ...

. In summer 2003 Grant had a disagreement with the Scotland management team and spent a year out of the national team. She was recalled in July 2004 after her Kilmarnock Ladies manager

Jim Chapman Jim Chapman may refer to: * Jim Chapman (congressman) (born 1945), American businessman and politician ** Jim Chapman Lake, a lake in Texas named after the politician * Jim Chapman (footballer) (born 1965), Scottish footballer * Jim Chapman (Intern ...

interceded.

Personal life

Grant's brother Graeme is also a footballer, who played with Buckie Thistle and

Forres Mechanics Forres Mechanics Football Club are a senior Scottish association football club from the town of Forres, Moray, currently playing in the Highland Football League. They play at the town's Mosset Park. Forres Mechanics are the oldest associati ...

in the

Highland Football League The Scottish Highland Football League (SHFL, commonly known as the Highland League) is a senior football league based in the north of Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system The Scottish football league syst ...

, as well as spending 2002–03 with

Elgin City Elgin City Football Club (also known as City or The Black and Whites) is a professional senior football club based in Elgin, Moray. Elgin was founded in 1893 and originally played their football in the Highland Football League. The club was g ...

in the

Scottish Football League Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...

. As of 2019, she was the

head teacher A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

Alness Academy Alness Academy ( gd, Acadamaidh Alanais) is a secondary school in Alness, Highland (council area), Highland in the north on the Cromarty Firth of Scotland, serving the town of Alness and the villages of Evanton and Ardross. Along with five associ ...

having been appointed at the end of the previous year. She had previously held senior roles at schools in

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

and

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

.Scottish former female international gets Alness head job
Press & Journal, 20 November 2018 Grant became the Director of Education for Highland in 2019, after just 9 months at Alness Academy.

References

External links

Nicky Grant
Celtic FC profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Nicky 1976 births Living people Scottish women's footballers Scotland women's international footballers Footballers from Aberdeen Hibernian W.F.C. players Celtic F.C. Women players Arsenal W.F.C. players Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. players 1. FFC Frankfurt players Glasgow City F.C. players F.C. Kilmarnock Ladies players Expatriate women's footballers in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in Iceland Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Scottish expatriate women's footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Iceland QBIK players Damallsvenskan players FA Women's National League players Women's association football midfielders Forfar Farmington F.C. players Hamilton Academical W.F.C. players Scottish schoolteachers