Jessika Jayne Nash (born 5 October 2004) is an Australian

soccer 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 ...

player who plays for

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Mar ...

in the

A-League Women A-League Women (currently known as the Ninja A-League for sponsorship reasons), formerly the W-League, is the top-division women's soccer league in Australia. The W-League was established in 2008 by Football Australia (then known as Football Fe ...

. She has previously played for

Canberra United Canberra United Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Founded in 2008 by Capital Football, the club was an inaugural member of the W-League and the only club not affiliated with ...

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

, and

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

Early life

Nash grew up in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and played for FNSW Institute. Nash started playing football at the age of four. Nash's family was supportive of her career choice from a young age. Three generations of her family travelled to watch her play at the

2019 AFC U-16 Women's Championship The 2019 AFC U-16 Women's Championship was the 8th edition of the AFC U-16 Women's Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the women's under-16 national teams of ...

. Nash's father, Don, was a cricketer for NSW Blues. Nash attended

Hills Sports High School Hills Sports High School is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school, with speciality in sports, located on Best Road, Seven Hills, in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. E ...

, completing her studies in 2022.

Club career

Canberra United

On 20 October 2020, Nash signed for

for the

2020–21 W-League The 2020–21 W-League season was the thirteenth season of the W-League, the Australian national women's association football competition. The season started on 29 December 2020 and ended with the Grand final on 11 April 2021. Clubs Stadi ...

season, together with Clare Hunt. On 30 December 2020, Nash made her W-League debut against

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently since its formation, u ...

in a 4–3 victory for Canberra. Nash started the match playing the full 90 minutes, with Adelaide taking a 2–0 lead during the match, only for Canberra United to strike back courtesy of a

Michelle Heyman Michelle Pearl Heyman (born 4 July 1988) is an Australian soccer player and commentator who plays for Canberra United FC in the A-League in Australia. She became the all-time record goalscorer in the W-League in March 2021 after scoring her 7 ...

hat trick and a Laura Hughes stoppage time winner. Heyman praised Nash for her performance. After helping Canberra United qualify for the finals series with an unbeaten streak in March, Nash was nominated for the Young Footballer of the Year Award.

Sydney FC

In September 2021, Nash joined

ahead of the

2021–22 A-League Women The 2021–22 A-League Women, known as the Liberty A-League for sponsorship reasons, was the fourteenth season of the A-League Women, the Australian national women's association football competition originally known as the W-League until the p ...

season, together with

Sarah Hunter Sarah Alice Hunter (born 19 September 1985) is an English rugby union coach and retired player. She represented at four Rugby World Cups. At the 2021 Rugby World Cup, Hunter received her 138th international cap, passing Rochelle Clark to bec ...

, looking to progress her career.

Melbourne Victory

In September 2022, Nash joined

ahead of the

2022–23 A-League Women The 2022–23 A-League Women, known as the Liberty A-League for sponsorship reasons, was the fifteenth season of the A-League Women, the Australian national women's soccer competition. Western United joined as an expansion club, taking the tota ...

season. In August 2024, it was announced Nash wouldn't return to the club for the

2024–25 A-League Women The 2024–25 A-League Women, known as the Ninja A-League for sponsorship reasons, is the seventeenth season of A-League Women, the Australian national women's soccer competition. Melbourne City are the defending premiers and Sydney FC are th ...

season.

Central Coast Mariners

Following her departure from

, Nash joined

International career

Although the youngest member of the squad, Nash was selected as captain of the Junior Matildas, resulting in Nash being a pivotal part of the team during both

qualification and final tournament. Nash made her Junior Matildas debut on 17 September 2018, playing 90 minutes in an 11–0 victory against Palestine. She featured during six matches of

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

and she started all five games in the

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, playing 424 minutes. Nash made her senior

Matildas The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) s ...

debut in November 2021 in a friendly match against

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

held in Sydney, which resulted in a 0–3 loss for her team. In December 2024 she was a substitute in two home friendlies against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...

, which Matildas won 3–1 and 6–0.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nash, Jessika 2004 births Australian women's soccer players 21st-century Australian sportswomen Living people Canberra United FC players Sydney FC (women) players Melbourne Victory FC (women) players Central Coast Mariners FC (women) players Sportswomen from New South Wales Soccer players from New South Wales Women's association football players not categorized by position Australia women's international soccer players Women's association football defenders