Sophia is 10 and plays in the Bloomsbury Futsal Academy. She’s rediscovered her passion for the game by switching the outdoor pitch for the futsal court.
We’re celebrating Sophia’s story as a part of our ‘My game, my rules, my wins’ campaign alongside the 2025 UEFA Women’s Euro tournament – rewriting what it means to be a winner and show that more girls playing football means more winning, for everyone.
For Sophia, winning means practising a skill in training so that she can pull it off in a match. Read Sophia’s story in her own words:
“Before Bloomsbury, I was playing for my grassroots club in a mixed team. It was mostly boys, and I wasn’t playing a lot of matches with girls.
It’s nice to play with boys sometimes because it helps you get better, but I don’t think they were used to having girls on their team. They didn’t like it, some of them weren’t nice. They would start dribbling, get tackled and then I’d have to recover the ball instead of them. I think I lost my love for football because of that.
I was introduced to futsal on YouTube, I saw Coach Kyle playing for his team. I liked how it’s smaller than normal football and I told my Dad I wanted to try it. I went to a few sessions and started to get back into it. It was difficult, there’s lots of running and when I first started I sometimes would do too many skills and get in trouble. You need to move the ball quicker, it’s more fast-paced.
I’ve been playing in Bloomsbury Futsal’s Academy for seven months. When I went for the first time, everyone was really friendly. Some of the girls helped me when we did a drill I hadn’t done before and they’re my friends now. I really like the togetherness of the team.
Some days, when I’m really excited and I haven’t played that much football in the week, I put on my kit before bedtime. Then in the morning. I can just take it off and go straight there.
Girls’ football is better than boys’ football. It makes me feel excited because I want to play more. I really like Millie Bright and Alessia Russo. Lucy Bronze too, she’s my favourite because she plays right back and I play right back.
I’ve started playing on the wing more, I like showing my skills and scoring goals. We had a tournament and played against a team of all Academy girls in the final. There was a penalty shootout and I haven’t taken a penalty in ages, but was eager to take one.
I scored. I didn’t feel nervous about it. I practice a lot at home, and pick the same corner every time, my lucky corner. Practice makes you better. If I’ve practised a skill and then do it in a match, it’s a win-win: I’ve nailed it and I can get past a player.
I’m excited for the Euros. I went to watch England vs Portugal at Wembley. England demolished them, Portugal were scared to play against them. When they play against Spain or France or Germany, though, I think it will be a close match.”
