Clearly, those of us women who play football wish that there was more coverage.
I never liked going to school and would sham and play football. I played in the centre forward position. If ever given a choice, I would love to represent Barcelona.
I don’t want to be perceived as the money-grabbing 20-year-old; I just want to be perceived as the kid who loves to play football.
I think people admire us for dedicating our lives to be professional athletes. But we need more people to come and watch club games; we need to encourage girls to play football from an early age.
I could hardly walk for six months, never mind play football. I was limping for so long. I was walking with crutches – as in, properly walking – after about the first month because I thought it was much better to put my body weight on and build up the strength.
Well, I wanted to play football and I chased football for a little while.
When I started to play football as far I was concerned I just played football. I didn’t want all the stuff around it, the press and that.
I just try to go about my business, love the game, prepare every week and play football.
I admire Romario a lot, he was my idol together with Ronaldo, but I do not have anything to prove to anyone. What I have to do is play football.
I wanted to play football, and my football coach told me if I wanted to be a football player, I should wrestle. That’s why I started to wrestle.
There is part of you as a female – no question – that feels like you have to be overprepared and outwork the men because people are automatically going to look at you and say, ‘Well, you didn’t play football,’ or, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ because you are a female.
I just play football. You understand what you are getting into. They’re always trying to improve it, make it better and safer and more efficient. It is what it is.
You can’t play football without having a good training pitch.
I just want to continue to play football and be myself.
Judge me on how I play football, or judge me on when you meet me.
My brother-in-law was a Tottenham fan. He introduced me to football and brought me to Tottenham. At the time I just wanted to play football so I would go anywhere to play.
We’re doing a lot of work in schools getting girls to play football, breaking down any taboos there might be, and we’re seeing them get interested and bring their families along, where they have such a good match day experience that they’re coming back.
I decided at 10 I wanted to be in a band; everyone else wanted to play football.
I was going from Furman to the University of Georgia. I transferred to play football.
I’ve got a lot of affection for the people at River and I think it’s mutual. The fans quickly understood that I came here hoping to play football.
Manchester United are always a team that try to play football, try to play football from the back.
If I could play football, I’d play football. But not women’s football – real football. Or I’d just date a quarterback.
The world is not going to come to an end because I’m not going to play football anymore.
My first love is football. When I get the chance, I play football for fitness.
I’ve always known I could play football. I went to Arsenal and West Ham as a kid, but I took a year out because I wanted to play with my mates and get that competitiveness back. I got that fighting spirit and I never want to lose that.
Once I wrapped my head around the idea of going and ignored a lot of people that were saying a lot of bad things about going to the US to play football, it was a great decision for me.
I used to finish school and go and play football.
All I do is play football, eat, sleep, play with my kids, play football.
If you speak to girls who play football alongside lads, they’ll tell you that you almost have to earn the right to play with them. It’s annoying that you have to do that, but once you’ve done it, the barriers are down.
I’ve been very fortunate and blessed to have been able to play football at LSU.
I went to Madrid to play football but I couldn’t because I was never left in peace.
My dream is to get the young people off the streets, to make it possible for them to play football in the stadium instead.
I just have to stay focused and play football with a smile on my face.
I’m just happy I get paid to train every day and play football. I can’t ask more than that.
I wanted to go to college and play football.
My son was a goalkeeper in soccer, and he luckily never had much head trauma. He never had any concussions or anything. I really wanted him to play football, but now I’m thankful he didn’t.
I’ve always been hungry to play football.
If football is your passion in life and you would rather play football for 20 years and have a shortened life span, that’s your choice.
Trust in the great American ingenuity. We can derive more intelligent, more brain-friendly ways we can play football.
When you’re a kid that’s all you want to do, go out and play football.
My son is 6. I wouldn’t let my six-year-old son near any football field. And if any coach asks my son to play football, I’ll sue that coach, and I’ll sue the school.
It’s alright people saying they get £100,000-a-week, they get paid well or whatever, but they want to play football.
I play a lot of football, but let me tell ya, I am nowhere near as good as Jamie Tartt. I wish that I could play football like he does.
When I left Liverpool, I could have stayed in England but that would have meant joining clubs that didn’t play football – just a long-ball game.
I always want to show them I can play football.
I do have a son. He’s out of school now. He never played football. And it had nothing to do with me. I was actually crushed that he didn’t play football. I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is awful.’ My brothers all played football. My dad played football.
People said: ‘You’re too big to play football,’ but I kept playing and it just happened that people have caught on to me and taken to me. The nicest thing I get from it is that I can be myself and people seem to like it.
It’s kind of nice, and rewarding, to have been on the journey from having to play football and work to being a professional.
The Champions League was something very distant for us. I grew up in a very small town with 50,000 inhabitants, and it was a way of being able to watch my idols or people I admired play football on television.
I drove my Mum crazy, because I wouldn’t go out and play football or join the Boy Scouts, I’d just sit at home and play the guitar.
God has blessed me with the ability to play football.
My mum and dad were very strict with me and I am grateful for that because all I wanted to do was play football and I didn’t want to go to school.
There is only one thing I want to do here, and that is play football to the best of my ability. If I let things start distracting me, I’m not going to be able to do that, which will jeopardise the team as well.
I don’t picture myself as a normal person when I play football, and I don’t think anyone else pictures me that way as well.
It is important that I get to play football.
Clearly, those of us women who play football wish that there was more coverage. But it’s one of those things that happens. Every year the level is getting higher, and I think we surprise a lot of people when the world focuses its attention on the World Cup or the Olympics final.
I feel like my brand goes as I play football. If I turn into the greatest football player that I can be, I feel that my brand, how people look at me, is all going to be positive.
I don’t care if you’re my brother – if we go play football, I’m gonna try to crack your head open. It doesn’t mean that I don’t love you. It doesn’t mean that I don’t respect you.
I want to play football for 20 more years. And then coach for 45 years after that.
Outside football, I just love life, you know. We’re lucky to play football, to have all this body. Everyone’s watching us. You see how many people, they come and watch the game. It’s unbelievable, you see how many people they come. They shout your name and just enjoy life.
I didn’t pick wrestling over football. My coaches picked that for me. I never wanted to wrestle in college. I always wanted to play football. They thought I was too small, but I had a lot of heart.
I get up every morning and thank God for giving me the opportunity to play football.
I was never big or fast, but I got to play football and box.
I am very proud of being Brazilian, but I am also thankful for having the chance to play in Germany for four and a half years. I have completely changed the way I play football because Germany is a tougher, faster game which is more tactical with tighter marking.
The one thing I’ll never do is I’ll never jeopardize my preparation. I’ll never jeopardize any time or energy or efforts that need to be put into my preparation to play football.
I’m really just excited to play football. It’s a win-win situation for me. I just got to go out there and do what I do best. It’s what God blessed me to do, so I’ve got to do it.
The North East is a tough, working-class area. Its people boast great humour. But for two days every year, when Newcastle and Sunderland play football, it’s absolute chaos. And very nasty. It borders on tribal hatred.
