The growth and evolution of the women’s game has a crucial player in its development – grassroots football. Youth development plays a key role as it helps laying the foundations for the upcoming generations who, hopefully, can take the game to the next level.

Every year, several international tournaments at youth level are held across the globe, in particular during the summer months where most of the senior domestic competitions are on break, making room for these ambitious girls to take centre stage by showcasing their talents and skills in these events.

In the past weeks, a couple of Maltese youngsters have been part of an important tournament held in Sweden, where they managed to leave a positive mark with their solid displays in the Nordic country.

Goalkeeper Giulia D’Antuono and offensive player Emma Ciantar Piccinino joined the youth ranks of Swedish heavyweights AIK Solna to participate in the Solversborgcupen, in Solversborg.

The tournament consisted of two groups with five teams and one group of six teams for girls between the age of 15 and 16 that included some of the best crop at youth level in Sweden.

While D’Antuono caught the attention with her numerous saves as AIK custodian, Ciantar Piccinino helped her team win matches through her goals as she scored three, finding the net also in the knock-out stages.

Both Maltese players had also the opportunity to meet up with Samantha Ammanuel, one of AIK’s prominent players at senior level and who is also part of the U-20’s Sweden’s selection.

“It was a different but at the same time an amazing experience for me,” D’Antuono told the Sunday Times of Malta.

“Undoubtedly, this experience has enabled me to gain more confidence on the pitch because I was surrounded by fit, strong and determined players from whom I could learn every day.”

The Mosta goalkeeper, with whom she played 29 games between the senior and U-19s championships last year, stressed out the importance of communication during her experience.

“Communication was a strong point in our team - they see it as a very important factor in team sport and it helped us to perform at our best in every game as well.”

The same thoughts were echoed by her fellow Maltese partner Ciantar Piccinino, who is on the books of Raiders Għargħur, as she described her experience in Sweden as ‘amazing’.

“I learned a lot from my time at AIK Solna,” she explained.

“I was able to see how Swedish players play and this helped me to absorb more football knowledge - for example how they switch play and the timing in the game.

“Ultimately, being disciplined on and off the field was also beneficial for us.”

Both players were under the guidance of coach Andres Beltran, who heaped praise on the effort and commitment shown by D’Antuono and Ciantar Piccinino.

“Emma (Ciantar Piccinino) showed that she is a very good player with a high level of technique and an exceptional shooting effort,” Beltran said.

“She always showed great attitude and that was important to the environment of our team.”

Emma, together with another Maltese player Justyne Caruana, was once again under the guidance of Beltran in the popular Gothia Cup following the tournament in Solversborg, where she scored two goals as AIK reached the last 16.

D’Antuono, on her part, was described by Beltran as a “fearless goalkeeper”.

“She showed great composure in one on one situations and is a goalkeeper with quick reflexes – most importantly, she is also very tall which for her age is a huge advantage.”

Asked about the set-up of the women’s game at AIK, Beltran explained that there is a lot of support from the club, which makes him very happy and has helped him to settle at the 12-time Swedish championships.

“One thing that I really appreciate at this club is the feedback of the parents, with whom we have established a solid

relationship as we feel that their voice is important to our development.”

Moving forward

Beltran feels that the Women’s World Cup has been a game changer for the movement and he feels that the number of girls playing football across the world will increase.

“Taking Sweden into account, we arrived third in the Women’s World Cup and that was absolutely fantastic for us,” the AIK coach said.

“On the other hand, there is still a lot of prejudices in the game and I feel that it is a pity, given the number of girls playing the Beautiful Game.”

D’Antuno and Ciantar Piccino saw this international experience as a motivational one and they feel that should there be more Maltese participation in such tournaments, through individuals players or teams, it would boost the domestic game.