Fiona Julia O'Sullivan (born 17 September 1986) is a former
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 played as a
striker
Striker or The Strikers may refer to:
People
*A participant in a strike action
*A participant in a hunger strike
*Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant
*Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America
People wi ...
for clubs in the United States, Sweden, France, Germany and for 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 ...
team Notts County. Born and raised in the United States to an Irish father, she has been capped for the Republic of Ireland women's national team. She was described by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) as a strong, imposing attacker.
Since retiring as a player, O'Sullivan has worked as a coach, trainer, speaker and mentor of young athletes. Her annual youth soccer camp in the San Francisco Bay Area O’Sullivan Soccer Academy reached its 20th anniversary in 2022.
Early life
O'Sullivan was raised in
Marin County, California
Marin County is a County (United States), county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and ...
where she began playing soccer as a youth. In four seasons with the varsity team at Sir Francis Drake High School (now Archie Williams High School), O'Sullivan finished as the team's top-scorer three times and league top-scorer twice. She was captain of the squad that made it to the Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) finals. O'Sullivan holds the record for career goals at the school, including a brace in a rivalry match against undefeated Marin Catholic in 2004.
In the summer of 2003, O’Sullivan founded her local soccer camp as a means to buy her first car. With only three signups in the first week, O’Sullivan enlisted her younger brother as her first counselor to have substantial numbers.
University of San Francisco
O'Sullivan attended the University of San Francisco from 2004 to 2007. She scored a total of eight goals for the
San Francisco Dons
The San Francisco Dons is the nickname of the athletic teams at the University of San Francisco (USF). The Dons compete in NCAA Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the West Coast Conference (WCC), of w ...
in her four seasons. Her most successful varsity campaign was 2006, as she finished team top-scorer with five goals despite missing half the season with a knee injury. This included a hat-trick against the San Jose State Spartans. In 2007, during her senior year at San Francisco, O'Sullivan captained the squad and was the team's leading goal scorer. O’Sullivan was praised by head coach Pam Kalinoski as someone who could play at a higher level.
Club career
United States
In the
2010 WPS Draft The 2010 WPS College Draft took place on January 15, 2010. It was the second college draft held by Women's Professional Soccer to assign the WPS rights of college players to the American-based teams.
FormatChicago Red Stars, but after attending their preseason training camp, was released from the initial 26-player roster in March 2010. O'Sullivan had previously accepted a call up to play for the Irish national team and travelled away with the Irish despite the Red Stars coach Emma Hayes asking her to stay and compete for her spot.
Instead O'Sullivan played the 2010 season with the California Storm, alongside soccer legends
Brandi Chastain
Brandi Denise Chastain (born July 21, 1968) is an American retired soccer player, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion, two-time Olympic gold-medalist, coach, and sports broadcaster. She played for the United States national team from 1988 ...
and Sissi. Seven goals in ten games saw O'Sullivan named to the all-league second team.
Europe
O'Sullivan signed a contract with 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 AIK in July 2010. After scoring two goals in seven games for AIK, O'Sullivan switched to Damallsvenskan newcomers Piteå IF in January 2011. Nine games for Piteå IF yielded one goal, before O'Sullivan was sent to Kvarnsvedens IK of Division 1 on loan in June 2011.
In December 2011 O'Sullivan left Sweden for French Division 1 Féminine club
ASJ Soyaux
ASJ Soyaux Charente (''Association Sportive Jeunesse de Soyaux Charente''), commonly known as Soyaux, is a women's football club founded in 1968 and based in Soyaux, France. The club had played in France's top division except for spans of relegat ...
. In the second half of the
2011–12 Division 1 Féminine
The 2011–12 Division 1 Féminine season was the 38th since its establishment. Lyon are the defending champions. The league schedule was announced on 31 March 2011 and the fixtures were determined on 10 June. The season began on 3 September 2011 ...
season she contributed four goals in nine league games for Soyaux, as well as one in her single Coupe de France Féminine appearance, but the club finished in 11th place in the table and were relegated. This left O'Sullivan looking for a new club: "I thought if I go down with this team, I could lose a couple of years in my career playing in a second tier division when I felt like I should be playing in a higher one."
O'Sullivan signed for SC Freiburg of the Frauen Bundesliga in July 2012. Finding conditions in Freiburg more congenial than those in Sweden and France, she described Germany as a good fit. She made a strong start to the season, before the untimely death of her mother and a knee injury derailed her progress. Freiburg finished fifth in the
2012–13 Bundesliga
The 2012–13 Bundesliga was the 50th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. The season began on 24 August 2012 with the season opening match at Westfalenstadion involving defending champions Borussia Dortmund and SV Werd ...
table, as O'Sullivan scored six goals in 13 appearances.
During her time as a professional player, O’Sullivan continued building th O’Sullivan Soccer Academy each summer back in the United States. O’Sullivan fit in workouts before and after the long days of camp in the California summer heat to stay in shape, often flying back to Europe the night following the last day of camp. O’Sullivan described her summers as “unique and challenging.”
“I had to meet C Freiburgin the Austrian Alps for preseason training,” O’Sullivan said. “I missed the fun day of rafting, and got there for the triple day fitness test. That was absolutely brutal after three weeks of camp.”
In June 2014, O'Sullivan scored a hat-trick in Freiburg's 7–2 win over BV Cloppenburg. It was her final game for the club, as she transferred to Notts County of the
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 ...
later that month. O'Sullivan wrote her name in Notts County lore when she marked her debut with a televised equalising goal against
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 ...
, wheeling away in delight to milk the acclaim of the Lady Pies faithful. She added another goal against Birmingham City to finish the 2014 season with two goals in five appearances. In January 2015 Notts County coach Rick Passmoor praised O'Sullivan's impact as she signed a one-year contract extension.
With the return to fitness of Notts County's main striker Ellen White, O'Sullivan's appearances were more sporadic in
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
. She featured as an 83rd-minute substitute in the
2015 FA Women's Cup Final
The 2015 FA Women's Cup Final was the 45th final of the FA Women's Cup, England's primary cup competition for women's football teams. The showpiece event was the 22nd to be played directly under the auspices of the Football Association (FA) and ...
at Wembley Stadium, which County lost 1–0 to Chelsea.
Despite the loss, O’Sullivan tabbed the match at Wembley as a highlight of her career.
“I was not fully aware of how special embleyis to the English players. It’s similar in nature to a mosque, church, or Mecca. Seeing my English teammates walking through the tunnel made me realize how big of a deal it was,” O’Sullivan said.
By then she had already agreed to quit professional soccer, to return to her alma mater as an assistant coach of the San Francisco Dons. She reported for her first training camp the day after the English Cup final.
International career
O'Sullivan's father Aidan is from
Bantry
Bantry () is a town in the civil parish of Kilmocomoge in the barony of Bantry on the southwest coast of County Cork, Ireland. It lies in West Cork at the head of Bantry Bay, a deep-water gulf extending for to the west. The Beara Peninsula is ...
, Ireland while her grandmother is of Native American descent. On the advice of her boyfriend, O'Sullivan sent an email to the FAI advising them of her eligibility for the Republic of Ireland women's national football team. She made her debut against FC Indiana during Ireland's summer 2009 training camp in the United States.
Strong performances followed in Ireland's qualifying games for the 2011 World Cup. In August 2010, after O'Sullivan scored a hat–trick against Israel and took her total to six goals in five games, she was hailed as "a revelation". O'Sullivan was named FAI International Player of the Year in February 2011.
After the initial flurry of goals O'Sullivan's form deteriorated and coach Susan Ronan eventually left her out of a squad in 2012. Ronan later recalled O'Sullivan and praised her response to being dropped: "she has come back stronger, hungrier and fitter than she's ever been, so credit to her". O'Sullivan scored another goal against Israel in Ireland's final 2013 UEFA Women's Championship qualifier. The Irish won 2–0 in Ramat Gan but were already out of contention for a place at the finals.
O'Sullivan missed Ireland's
2013 Cyprus Cup
The 2013 Cyprus Women's Cup was the sixth edition of the Cyprus Women's Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Cyprus. It took place between 3–14 March 2013.
Defending champions France cancelled their participation ju ...
campaign with a knee injury sustained while training with her German club. In June 2013 she hit both goals as Ireland recovered from 2–0 down to draw 2–2 in a friendly with Austria at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Despite three goals from O'Sullivan, Ireland's
2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
The qualification for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup determined which 23 teams joined Canada, the hosts of the 2015 tournament, to play for the Women's World Cup.
The field was expanded from 16 teams in the 2011 edition to 24 in the 2015 edit ...
campaign ended in failure. In January 2015 she scored in a 3–1 training match defeat by Norway at
La Manga Stadium
La Manga Club Football Stadium is a stadium in La Manga Club, south of La Manga, Spain. It was a resort stadium and was used to friendly matches and as a resting and training place for the Spain national football team
The Spain national foo ...
.
With Ireland struggling to score goals since O'Sullivan's move into coaching, coach Ronan recalled the clubless striker for a friendly against the United States in May 2015, her final match as a professional. The match was played at Avaya Stadium, just two hours south of O'Sullivan's home in California.
The Irish fell to the USWNT 3-0, the No. 2 team in the world at the time. However, it was an emotional curtain call for O’Sullivan, who played in front of those who had supported her since her days at Sir Francis Drake High School.
“I’d spent a decade in Europe playing. Although I am Irish, I grew up in San Geronimo and I have such a huge family here who has supported me through high school, college, and came to all my games,” O’Sullivan said. “When I played at Avaya, I heard such a roar when my name was announced. It was an entire career coming together.”
International goals
:''Scores and results list Ireland's goal tally first.''
Personal life
O’Sullivan graduated from the University of San Francisco with a degree in international politics.
In August 2014, O'Sullivan was bereaved by the sudden death of her fiancé Devougn Lamont, a 30-year-old professionalbasketball player.
From 2015 to 2017, O’Sullivan was the University of San Francisco women’s soccer assistant coach and recruiting director while simultaneously working for local youth clu De Anza Force as the age group coordinator and recruiting director. In 2016 while at her alma mater, O’Sullivan met current husband Steve Domecus. Domecus, a former professional baseball player, was an assistant coach for the Dons’ baseball team. Domecus and O’Sullivan currently live in
Fairfax, California
Fairfax is an incorporated town in Marin County, California, United States. Fairfax is located west-northwest of San Rafael, at an elevation of . The population was 7,605 at the 2020 census.
History
The Coast Miwok Native Americans occupied ...
, and have two kids.
Since 2017, O’Sullivan has worked as the soccer director fo San Domenico School where she also coaches the girls varsity team.
Her summer soccer camp, th O’Sullivan Soccer Academy celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2022, and is currently flourishing in three locations throughout Marin and Sonoma counties in the Bay Area.