Bare Feet, Bruised Toes – Cristiane, a Brazilian trailblazer

“Simply put, football was my passion, it always has been,” Cristiane tells Goal and Plan International, a global children’s charity harnessing the power and popularity of football to help some of the world’s poorest children to fulfil their potential, while fighting to transform girls’ lives through education with their Stand with Girls campaign.

“It was love at first sight. I was the only girl in my street that played with the boys. I tried to play the games the girls played, but I played a little rougher, so they wouldn’t let me in. I’m not sure if it’s because I played football or because I always had bruised toes, bare feet, which wasn’t [considered] ‘nice’,” she recalls. And the prejudices she encountered were not restricted only to her peers.

“People really offended me, but it’s much worse when you hear it from an adult. When you’re a kid, you just think about playing and you don’t think about boys’ or girls’ games, so it hurt more when it came from an adult. Sometimes I arrived home crying from the things I would hear, from people who knew exactly what they were saying.”

Cristiane channelled the negative energy into the fire that fuelled her desire to realise her dreams, though it was far from a smooth ride, with obstacles arriving at every turn. Upon realising just how talented an adolescent Cristiane was, a friendly neighbour – who would become something of a footballing mentor to her – attempted to convince her mother, Mrs Ivete, to let the girl play. Instead, she took her daughter to ballet, gymnastics and even capoeira. But when Cris arrived home in floods of tears from the verbal abuse, a decision was finally made: “From now on, my daughter will play football,” insisted a defiant Mrs Ivete.

At 12 years-old, Cristiane attended her first formal training session. By 14 she had joined the first club of her career, Juventus da Mooca, and it was there that the free-scoring striker understood that football was her destiny. Two years later, the girl who had to fight to join games on the street was playing for her country. She played her first World Cup before participating in first Olympics.