Pushing Football Forward
Nicole Billa, Austria
For the UEFA Women's EURO 2022, Goal Click collaborated with 12 international women’s footballers from across the national teams of Europe. The players, from Netherlands and Denmark to Portugal and Switzerland, documented their football lives in the weeks leading up to the tournament – finishing club seasons, playing in cup finals, national team training camps, international friendlies, and even the first matches of the Euros.
Nicole Billa is a striker for the Austrian women’s national team and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Frauen in the German Bundesliga.
Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your football life?
I started playing football at the age of five with my hometown club SV Angerberg, and I continued playing there for a few years. At the age of 15, I made my Bundesliga debut for Wacker Innsbruck and attended the women's academy in St. Pölten. In 2015, I joined TSG Hoffenheim, where I was able to take my first steps in the German Bundesliga. I still feel very comfortable here with the club, and last season we also played in the Champions League for the first time.
When I started playing, the topic of women's football was not at all present in the media in Austria. That has changed, especially due to our success at the 2017 UEFA European Championship (when we reached the semi-finals). The attention is much bigger now, simply because many more people are interested. Many more girls also started to play football.
What did you try to show with the photos?
I wanted to capture the special atmosphere in our Hoffenheim team and the Austrian national team. The atmosphere is always good, and everyone enjoys being together. You also get an impression of where we hang out and what it looks like in our dressing room. It shows what we experience in everyday life as a football player.
The photos were taken in all kinds of places that you see when you are on the road with your teammates. Some were taken at our training ground, but I also took the camera with me on away trips.
What does the future look like for you and for Austrian women’s football?
My goal in football is first and foremost to stay healthy and happy. I do not want to lose my enjoyment of playing football. I will stay on the pitch as long as I can or as long as I enjoy it. That is the most important thing in my opinion, everything else will then come by itself.
I hope that the upward trend of Austrian women’s football will continue, especially after the European Championship. We must keep on willing to push the sport forward and keep on supporting the projects that bring girls to football or kids to sport in general.
