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. 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 Forfar Farmington Football Club are a Scottish FA Quality Mark Community Football Club who are based at Station Park in Forfar, Angus. They were members of the top division Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) from 2005 until withdrawing from ...

, 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 as well as in Iceland, Germany and Sweden. Grant amassed over 90 appearances for the Scotland women's national football team.

Club career

Born in Aberdeen and brought up in Elgin, Grant first came to prominence as a member of a successful Cove Rangers team, where she signed an individual paid contract (the first such deal in Scottish football). She scored twice in the 1995 Scottish Women's Cup final as Cove beat Cumbernauld United 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 ...

, and twice in the 1996 final as they defeated Aberdeen by the same score at the same venue. They won the trophy for the third time in 1997. 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 Scottish Women's Cup final, Grant scored four goals in Stenhousemuir's 9–0 win over Clyde. Grant spent the 2001 summer season in Iceland 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 long-term. In 2003 Grant joined Frauen Bundesliga 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 in Germany for long 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 Doncaster Rovers Belles. 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. After a spell at Hamilton Academical, 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

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 against Italy in October 1993. The Scots were beaten 4–0 in the

1995 UEFA Women's Championship qualification The qualification for UEFA Women's Euro 1995 was held between August 15, 1993 & October 30, 1994. The winner of the quarter-finals qualified. First round Group 1 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group 2 ...

match hosted in Senigallia. 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 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 association f ...

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. As of 2019, she was the head teacher of Alness Academy 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