“See you in Tokyo” was the banner after Chile’s 2-1 aggregate victory over Cameroon in April to secure his first Olympic qualification
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Chile lost the FIFA women’s world rankings five years ago due to inactivity.
Now, after finishing second at the Copa America 2018, qualifying for a first World Cup the following year and having a superstar of seven-time Champions League winner Lyon, they will face Team GB at their first Olympic Games.
It’s a climb that puts the nation, coached by Jose Letelier, at number 37 among the top 40 teams in the world for the first time.
But it was promoted far from the international stage and instead built by the determination of the local teams in Chile and the people who run them.
“The clubs did 80% of the work,” said Paula Navarro, a driving force behind the climb.
After 14 years at Santiago Morning, Navarro has lifted the club from the bottom up and brought women’s football to the top.
At least half of that Olympic squad have played under Navarro at some point in their career, including Lyon’s new goalkeeper Christiane Endler, who played for Santiago Mornings futsal club in the 2015 Futsal Copa Libertadores.
Paula Navarro has led Santiago Morning to three consecutive championship titles since 2018
Navarro was the head coach of Santiago Morning until last year when she decided to take on a more administrative role as deputy director of women’s football. Nevertheless, she shows up at every training session and on game day.
“The national team has achieved its success with the players’ clubs,” Navarro told BBC Sport from the club’s training ground, which is dominated by the snow-capped Andes.
“That’s the most basic thing about this national team, the daily work with the clubs.
“That’s 80% of the work – and the last 20% is done with the national team.”
In February 2019, Navarro and Santiago Morning made history and changed the standard of domestic women’s football in Chile after the introduction of the first professional contracts.
“When someone wins a title and gets results, the directors always ask that you want,” said the 48-year-old, recalling building her squad in 2018 for her first championship win.
“I made five finals before this 2018 final and lost them all, but this time I felt different. When I had my coffee in the morning, I thought, ‘If we win, what do I want?’ If the men ask about things, so will I. “
While the players celebrated their 3-2 win over Palestino at the Estadio Nacional, Navarro began collecting rubbish on the pitch and was helped by club president Miguel Nasur.
Showered in confetti and champagne, Nasur asked Navarro what she wanted after she won.
“I told him that I would like to sign four Chilean soccer players as the first professional female soccer player in the country and that I want to start this project,” she said.
Three months later, Maria Francisca Mardones, Daniela Pardo, Marcela Perez and Nicole Farje duly landed groundbreaking deals.
Christiane Endler is Chile’s most successful soccer player and signed with Lyon last month
By the end of 2019, Santiago Morning had 14 players under professional contracts. Two more championship titles later, this number has risen to 24 by 2021 and includes five Olympic players.
“We are not asking for millions, we are asking for practical things for the future of the club,” added Navarro.
“We used to train on a municipal artificial turf pitch. Now we’re training in a training center with four grass pitches.
“With every request we always try to improve the conditions of the team; contracts, infrastructure and health insurance. I don’t know what to ask next, but it will be something that matters and remains for the family.” next generations. That’s the most important.”
Until the 2019 World Cup, the 2008 U20 World Cup was the only major women’s football tournament in Chile that could qualify as a host. That wait was ended with the growth of individual players and rising standards, which forced the Chilean Football Association to pay more attention, arrange more games and allocate more resources to the national team.
Only one player in the starting XI who took on Argentina to qualify for the 2019 World Cup, Maryorie Hernandez, played club football in her home country.
There are now 12 players on that Olympic squad, plus six more in France, Spain, Sweden and Brazil – a result of the improved strength of Chilean football and the transition to professionalism.
The goalless draw against the two-time world and 2016 Olympic champions Germany last month was proof of this progress.
“Some players returned to Chile because we gave them better resources and conditions,” said Navarro. “Karen Araya came back from Seville because we pay her more, she plays a lot more than in Spain and she has an international tournament like the Copa Libertadores.
“This is fundamental to the success of the national team; the training times, the training conditions and that the players can devote themselves to football and be athletes 24 hours a day.
“It’s gotten better as three out of four clubs follow suit and we’re growing slowly every year. But there is still a long way to go.”
source https://outdoorsportsnews.com/tokyo-olympics-the-rise-of-the-chile-womens-football-team-5/
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