Stephanie Zambra: Player to coach

When football’s glitterati headed to the FIFA Best Awards at the end of 2025, Stephanie Zambra was recalling her own moment in that very bright spotlight.

Over a decade ago, she was there as one of the three shortlisted players for the prestigious Puskas Award, for the best goal of the year.

Then Stephanie Roche – before her marriage to husband and fellow footballer Dean Zambra – her effort from distance for Peamount United in 2013 went viral on social media.

“It was a crazy, crazy time,” the former Ireland international recalls. She was tagged in a tweet that told her she’d made the top ten, and she was astounded by the level of support she got.

“The whole country got behind me. I had people coming from all over the world to interview me - I had a guy from Brazil come over, which I thought was just mental that they were coming all the way over to interview me, because I was just an Irish girl who loved playing football. I wasn’t a superstar by any means. 

“I was just lucky to have so much support, and Irish people are brilliant in getting behind their own.”

As a player, she also represented Sunderland, and had spells in Italy, France and the USA, before retiring at the end of 2024. 

Steph enjoyed some immense highs during her playing career, but also some awful luck. She thinks those experiences help her to empathise with her players now.

“I’ve had a good career. I’ve got to experience some amazing memories. I’ve played in some great teams. I got to play in the WSL in England. I’ve played for my country a number of times, but there’s always those ones that you look back on and go, ‘If that had been better or if I hadn’t got that injury, what could have happened?’ But that’s the reality of football.”

She adds: “I do try to look back on my career and think of it fondly, but there’s also so many things that I’ve learned from and that have helped make me not just a better player or a better football person or a coach, but just a better person, because I’ve experienced everything you can imagine in the game.

“I try to share the knowledge and experience I’ve had with as many young players as possible to try to give them the tools to be able to deal with the stuff that maybe I wasn’t prepared for - I think that’s something that I can take from it, that I’ve learned from everything that’s happened and tried to turn everything into a positive as much as possible.”