Women’s football has blossomed at all levels in recent times. The passion and potential of this movement is starting to offer vast opportunities across the globe. 

Promoting the image of some of the most talented female players is helping to raise the profile and popularity of the women’s game.

The 2019 Women’s World Cup showed there is also an audience for this sport. 
Girls from all over the world are now starting to dream about pursuing a career in football, sparking interesting stories about girls looking to stabilise themselves in the world of football.

This includes 11-year-old Crista Chetcuti Ganado who is currently on the books of Leicester City Women’s U-12 group.

Born in Malta, Chetcuti Ganado moved to England where she started to grow a passion for football. At the age of seven, she was enrolled at Papworth Blasters – a local village boys’ team, with the Maltese girl claiming numerous individual accolades including Player of the Season. 

She went on to represent the girls’ team of the St Ives Rangers U-11’s with whom she played in the County League before moving to the U-12’s of Cambridge City for the 2018-19 season.

It was here where Chetcuti Ganado made a name for herself in youth football. In one year at Cambridge, Chetcuti Ganado helped her side to win the County League and domestic cup. In addition, she was named Player of the Year. 

While she was constantly showing signs of improvement at Cambridge, she was invited to be part of the Development Squad, with whom she also participated in a U-15’s international tournament held in the Netherlands. 

Her showings in the Netherlands earned her the accolade of the Coach’s Player of the Tournament accolade while also catching the eye of different clubs including Leicester who at the end of last season asked Chetcuti Ganado for a trial.

After undergoing four stages of trial sessions successfully, Chetcuti Ganado earned a berth at the U-12’s side of the Foxes. 

Crista’s growth 

While the senior side of Leicester City feature in England’s Championship, Chetcuti Ganado will be playing in the Midlands Junior Premier League where she will be under the supervision of technical director Raffaele Long. 

As a technical director for the Regional Talent Club at Leicester City, Long is tasked with identifying, developing and supporting talented youth girls.

Asked about the development of Chetcuti Ganado, Long underlined that her progress is something that they are keeping a close eye on.

“Crista (Chetcuti Ganado) was selected at the trials last June,” Long told Times of Malta. 

“She is doing steady progress across the youth development model and I feel that she is on track to reach the specific targets that she agreed with the coaches prior to this season.”

Long added that at this particular age it is important to supervise the technical and social development of the players, because this is a crucial period in the girls’ lives.

“We work with all of our players to develop their technical, physical, social and psychological aspects of both football and their wider individual development,” he explained. 

“We look to work with players based on their current ability level and the potential that we see in them for a long-term career.”