Soccer in Colombia: Growing an ‘unimaginable’ domestic league from national-team momentum
This is the first installment of a new monthly series at The Athletic called “Soccer in ___. ” Each article will take you inside the women’s game in a different part of the world. Whether through players’ stories, a standout moment or a snapshot of the history of the sport in a particular nation, the purpose of this series is to bring the world of women’s soccer closer together as we prepare for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil — the first edition of the tournament to be held in South America.
To start, we head to Colombia. For as long as Leicy Santos can remember, she has had a ball at her feet. Growing up in San Sebastián, a remote village in the northern province of Córdoba, she spent her days playing soccer with her brother and his friends.
Her mother did not approve at first, but her father, a player himself, understood her passion. This passion carried Santos to the capital city of Bogota at 12 years old to join the Club Besser football academy and later to the United States, where she played collegiately at Iowa Central. She competed for her country in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before returning to Colombia to make history.
In 2017, she signed her first professional contract with Santa Fe, and promptly led the club to the championship in the inaugural season of the Colombian Women’s Football League. “I never imagined fulfilling my dream in my own country,” Santos told The Athletic by video call last week. “I viewed that as completely unattainable.
I envisioned fulfilling that dream in Europe or somewhere else, but certainly not back home. I told myself, ‘This is an opportunity to literally mark a turning point — a before and after — for women’s football in our country’. ” The history of women’s football in Colombia, much like Santos’ journey, is not linear.
Continue to the original source for the full article.