“We take one step in the right direction and two back if we don’t keep up the fight.” Wolfsburg’s Nilla Fischer has seen women’s football change a lot in her 20-year career and she is adamant that progress has been won only by fighting for it. “You can never let it be or let it rest. To get better surroundings, money, everything, it’s always a fight.”

Fischer is known for being outspoken in defence of women playing football but also, as a gay woman, in being an advocate of LGBT rights. She is one of three top European footballers to front a “Strong is ... ” mini-documentary series for Uefa’s #WePlayStrong campaign about their lives off the pitch, discussing issues ranging from mental health and self-confidence to sexuality and injury trauma. Fischer’s has had more than half a million views.

“Every person has to decide for themselves but for me it’s about taking the chance to help younger people,” the Sweden international says of her decision to be so vocal on issues that are important to her. “It’s important to be outspoken to show the public that it’s OK, it’s totally normal. I’m very happy with my life and any other person can be too.”

When Fischer first spoke publicly about her sexuality it was not planned or polished; instead she instinctively answered a normal question with a normal, honest, answer. “It was just a random interview, they asked me if I was dating and I just told them everything: ‘Yeah I’m dating a woman and blah blah blah.’” What she did not expect was the scale of the reaction, both positive and negative, to her telling her story.

“The reaction was mostly just good,” she says. “In the community it’s always positive. Of course with social media and the internet there is the opportunity for people to write their opinion and send it to you. They can hide behind the screen.

“I know there are people out there who get a lot more hate and more threats than I do, so I try to think about that and think: ‘I need to do this because it’s important for the rest of us.’ Most of it was good but being a woman playing soccer, and being a gay woman, provokes a lot of hate.”

Rather than getting her down, it is the hate that motivates her and gives her a sense of responsibility. “We’ve come far but there’s a lot of work to do. I think when there is such a big reaction it shows we need to do more and we need to be more outspoken, because it’s not yet normal.”

Fischer’s growth as a person and her perspective on football have been heavily influenced by her wife, Mariah-Michaela Fischer, who works with victims of domestic abuse. “It sounds weird maybe but I just play soccer,” says Nilla thoughtfully. “Soccer means so much to me but it’s also just soccer. Before I met her it was the end of the world if we lost. But hearing what she does in her day job, with abused women, wakes you up. It’s just a totally different world.

“It’s something that’s really helped my soccer. I still hate to lose. It’s really important to me to perform well but it’s not who I am as a person. That should be obvious but it’s really helped me get a different perspective on life and made me want to use my voice in some kind of way to get attention to questions that are important to me.”

Fischer is the anchor in the middle of a solid Wolfsburg defence. The German side completed a domestic double last season and reached the final of the Champions League, taking the lead in extra time only to be crushed 4-1 by Lyon after they went down to 10 players.

Fischer (second left) and Pernille Harder with Wolfsburg last season. Photograph: Ronny Hartmann/Uefa via Getty Images

Still thriving at the top of women’s football at 34, Fischer has had to adapt the way she plays. She was shifted from her preferred midfield role to centre-back and works hard on keeping her body ready. But she feels that, had the football been at the level it is now when she was starting, she would not have made the grade. “It’s so much faster and all the players are fitter and more technical. If I played the same way now as I did when I was 20 I wouldn’t be good enough but that’s really great.”

Instead the Sweden international is preparing for her fourth World Cup and it will be her last: “It’s out of the question to play another after this one. But if we qualify for the Olympics, you never know. I’m just trying to enjoy my time here with the club and the national team. As long as I can play at this level and it’s fun I will try to but we’ll see.”

The country’s best finish at a World Cup was runners-up to the US in 2003, before Fischer’s time. In 2015, having scraped through their group with three draws, they lost to Germany in the last 16. But the team are going to France next summer in a much better place. They reached the Euro 2017 quarter-finals, losing to the eventual champions, the Netherlands, and have qualified for the World Cup ahead of the Euro 2017 runners-up, Denmark, topping the group.

“In a big tournament you really need the momentum,” Fischer says. “It could turn for us, it could be that we’re just not there in the summer. But with the result against Denmark and the way that we played we’re really happy and it looks really good for the future and next summer.”

Talking points

Marta collects her award for best Fifa women’s player of 2018 from host Idris Elba. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

• North Carolina Courage capped a record-breaking season – during which they lost once in 28 games – with a 3-0 play-off final win to secure the 2018 NWSL Championship. Their veteran forward Jess McDonald was named Most Valuable Player after scoring twice, with the Brazilian Debinha grabbing the other. Courage add the trophy to their NWSL Shield, earned by winning the league).

• Glasgow City and Hibernian stayed neck and neck at the top of the Scottish Women’s Premier League on 50 points with three games to play, with Glasgow top on goal difference. Glasgow put six past Rangers, with Kirsty Howat and Megan Foley each scoring twice, while Hibs beat Hamilton Academical 4-2.

• Rehanne Skinner has named her England squad for the first round of Under-19 European Championship qualifying. Manchester United’s Emily Ramsey and Manchester City’s Esme Morgan, who picked up World Cup bronze medals with the Under-20 side, are included.

• Fifa has announced that tickets for the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France will go on sale on 19 October via tickets.fwwc19.fr/uk