Nicola Jane Williams (born 4 June 1982) is an Australian association

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

coach and former player. Nicola Williams holds an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and

Football Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only esta ...

"PRO" Coaching Licence accreditation and

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

A Licence from Coverciano in Italy.

Career

Prior to the commencement of the Australian W-League, Williams played for the State School girls, WA State Women's Team and the Western Waves in the Australian Women's National Soccer League until 2005. She captained National Premier League team Northern Redbacks.

Coaching career

Nicola Williams received an inaugural Elite Coaching Scholarship from FFA (now Football Australia and presented her report at the 2010 FFA National Coaching Conference. She spent time studying training and coaching sessions by

Pia Sundhage Pia Mariane Sundhage (, born 13 February 1960) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player. She is the head coach of the Brazil women's national team. As a player, Sundhage played most of her career as a forward and retired a ...

, at the

United States women's national soccer team The United States women's national soccer team (USWNT) represents the United States in international women's soccer. The team is the most successful in international women's soccer, winning four Women's World Cup titles ( 1991, 1999, 2015, an ...

Camp and

Emma Hayes Emma Carol Hayes (born 18 October 1976) is an English professional football manager. She is currently the manager of FA WSL club Chelsea Women. She previously served as the head coach and director of football operations for Chicago Red Stars o ...

, former coach of the

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...

and currently with

Chelsea F.C. Women Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Norbiton that competes in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England. Since 2004, the clu ...

. At the 2012 Women's U20 World Cup in Japan, Williams was invited to an Elite Coaches Workshop and met

Carolina Morace Carolina Morace (; born 5 February 1964) is an Italian former footballer who played as a striker and is the current head coach of Lazio Women. She played for the Italian national team and for various clubs in women's Serie A. She was the top ...

, FIFA Instructor and Ambassador and former coach of the Canadian and Italian Women's National Teams. The pair began working together at Juventus Academy Roma, Female Football Academy and Pro Soccer Coaching

2008-09 Season

Williams began her coaching career as the Head Coach of

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

W-League team Perth Glory in their 2008–2009 inaugural season, who improved to be a top 4 performing side in the second half of the season.

National Teams

Williams spent more than 6 years with the Australia Women's National Football Team; Assistant coach of the National Young Matildas U20 team for 4 years following her roles as the head coach of the Australian Girls U13 team in 2010 and Assistant U17 Women's National Team coach in 2012. winning Silver in the 2013 Asean Football Conference. In 2017 Williams was appointed Trinidad and Tobago Women's National Team Assistant Coach and U20 Head Coach. In 2022/2023 Williams joined the Papua New Guinea Women's National Team to help them qualify for the FIFA WWC.

2018-19 Season

Williams signs as assistant with the inaugural AC Milan women's team in the Italian Serie A. After leading the first round table and defeating Juventus 3-0 the team finish 3rd in their first season.

2021-22 Season

In February 2021 Morace & Williams sign with S.S Lazio, winning the league and gaining promotion for the women's team from Serie B to Serie A in 2022 for the first time in their history.

2022-23 Season

In July 2022 Williams was appointed Assistant Manager at Leicester City Women who participate in the English Women's Super League.

Personal life

Born in England she moved to Australia at a young age and found her love for sports representing her state in Tennis, Volleyball, Hockey and Football (soccer). At the age of only 16, Williams began her studies in Sports Science at the University of Western Australia as a scholarship recipient. Deciding to follow her families footsteps, she completed a Graduate Diploma in Education to become a Teacher. Williams was awarded a National Excellence in Teaching Award in 2006 and Level 3 Status in 2012. On 11 October 2020, it was revealed Williams married Italian footballer

, with whom she celebrated the wedding twice—first in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, on the SS ''Great Britain'' in July 2014, and the second in Australia in May 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Nicola 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Lancaster, Lancashire Australian women's soccer players Australian soccer coaches English emigrants to Australia Australian people of English descent Perth Glory FC Women's association football midfielders Lesbian sportswomen