Anne Monica O'Brien (25 January 1956 – 29 August 2016) was an Irish

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and player. A

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, she played for the

Republic of Ireland women's national football team The Republic of Ireland women's national football team () represents the Republic of Ireland in competitions such as the FIFA Women's World Cup and the UEFA Women's Championship. The team played in their first World Cup at the 2023 FIFA Women' ...

and was the first Irish female to play professional football outside of Ireland. She began her professional career in France, with

Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1931 and plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of football in France. Reims plays home matches at the Stade Auguste Delaune. Reims is one of the mo ...

, then settled in Italy where she found success with

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

teams including

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

and

Trani Trani () is a seaport of Apulia, Southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, by railway west-northwest of Bari. It is one of the capital cities of the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani (BAT). History Overview The city of ''Turenum'' appears for the ...

. After qualifying as a coach at the Coverciano centre, O'Brien worked for the

Italian Football Federation The Italian Football Federation (, ; FIGC ), known colloquially as (), is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano, the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It manages a ...

(FIGC) and served Lazio as manager.

Club career

O'Brien joined

at the age of 17, after the French club toured Dublin. She arrived in Italy in 1976, having won three league titles with Reims. O'Brien enjoyed similar success in Italy, collecting six Scudetti and two

Italian Women's Cup The Italian Women's Cup (Italian: Coppa Italia di calcio femminile) is the national women's football cup competition in Italy and was first held in 1971. Format Coppa Italia is open to teams competing in Serie A (10 teams) and Serie B (16 tea ...

s in a career spanning seven clubs and 18 years. Beginning at

, O'Brien won the league in 1979 and 1980, as well as the Cup in 1977. After the League switched to a winter season, she helped

win the 1984 League. Returning to Lazio and playing alongside

Pia Sundhage Pia Mariane Sundhage (, born 13 February 1960) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player. Currently, she is coaching Switzerland. As a player, Sundhage played most of her career as a forward and retired as the top scorer fo ...

, she lifted the Cup again in 1985. Later in O'Brien's career she won three consecutive League titles; two with Reggiana (1989–90, 1990–91) and one with Milan Salvarani (1991–92). The ''Dizionario del Calcio Italiano'' described O'Brien as an elegant midfield playmaker, adept at reading the game and capable of precise passing. She was bracketed alongside

Rose Reilly Rose Peralta (, born 2 January 1955), known as Rose Reilly, is a former footballer who played as a striker. She represented both Scotland and Italy in international football. Club career Rose was born in Kilmarnock and was brought up in St ...

, Conchi Sánchez and Susy Augustesen as one of the best foreigners to play women's football in Italy. In 2014 Italian football great

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

named O'Brien as one of the best players in the world and described her as an inspiration.

International career

O'Brien endured a relatively inauspicious international career. Due to travel and accommodation costs, the poorly performing Irish national team only called her up for their most important fixtures after she had

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

. In October 1973, O'Brien played for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

at the

Parc des Princes The Parc des Princes (, ) is an all-seater stadium, all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. It is located in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin (P ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Ireland were beaten 4–1 but O'Brien was named Player of the Match. O'Brien told

Newstalk Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...

radio in August 2014 that she won about four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

but was never invited to play for Ireland while based in

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

. In April 1990, while visiting Dublin, she played in Ireland's 0–0

1991 UEFA Women's Championship qualification The qualification for the UEFA Women's Euro 1991 was held between 9 September 1989 & 12 December 1990. Quarter finals winners qualified for the final tournament. The tournament also served as qualifiers for the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup, w ...

draw against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Personal life

O'Brien was from

Inchicore Inchicore () is a suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Located approximately west of the city centre, Inchicore was originally a small village separate from Dublin. The village developed around Richmond Barracks (built 1810) and Inchi ...

, Dublin. In 1987 O'Brien spent a period out of football to give birth to her son, Andrea. Following her retirement from playing she settled in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. O'Brien remained in football, serving Lazio as manager in the mid-2000s (she trained

in 2005-06 and Women Civitavecchia in 2007-08) and later working for the

(FIGC) as a coach. In 1999 son Andrea was playing in

A.S. Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: ) is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its exis ...

's youth team. O'Brien is reportedly a

cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...

Johnny Giles Michael John Giles (born 6 November 1940) is an Irish former association football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from management in 1985, Giles served as ...

and a more distant relative of Jimmy Conway. The

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

footballer

Ger O'Brien Gerard O'Brien (born 2 July 1984) is an Irish former professional footballer who played in the League of Ireland as a defender. He is the current Director of Football at St Patrick's Athletic, who he spent 5 seasons playing with. His former c ...

is Anne's nephew. She died on 29 August 2016 in Rome, Italy after a short illness.

References

External links

Profile
at

Football Association of Ireland The Football Association of Ireland (FAI; ) is the governing body for association football in the Republic of Ireland. Organisation The FAI has an executive committee of five members under the president, who receive expenses, as well as a p ...

Profile
at

Dictionary of Irish Biography The ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (DIB) is a biographical dictionary of notable Irish people and people not born in the country who had notable careers in Ireland, including both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. History The ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Anne 1956 births 2016 deaths Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate women's association footballers Association footballers from County Dublin Serie A (women's football) players SS Lazio Women 2015 players A.C.F. Trani 80 players Irish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate women's footballers in Italy Irish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate women's footballers in France A.S.D. Reggiana Calcio Femminile players Women's association football midfielders Stade de Reims Féminines players ACF Milan 82 players A.C.F. Prato players C.F. Euromobil Modena players 20th-century Irish sportswomen People from Inchicore