Young women in a Rio favela hope to overcome violence in the favelas to play in the Women’s World Cup in 2027

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – A 20-minute drive separates the historic Maracanã Stadium from Complexo do Alemão, one of the most impoverished and violent favelas in Rio de Janeiro.

One of its residents, 15-year-old soccer player Kaylane Alves dos Santos, hopes that her powerful shots and impressive dribbling will allow her to cover the short distance from the favela to the stadium in three years to play for the Brazilian team in the championship final. 2027 Women’s World Cup.

This chance, once remote, became more realistic on Friday, when FIFA members voted make Brazil the first Latin American country to host the Women’s World Cup.

Local organizers have suggested that both the opening and final matches are likely to be played at the 78,000-seat Maracanã Stadium, which hosted the final matches of the 1950 and 2014 men’s football World Cups.

The dos Santos teenager knows the obstacles to her playing for Brazil remain enormous – in 2027 or later. She doesn’t have a professional club to play for, she only trains twice a week and her diet isn’t the best due to the few food options in the favela.

Most importantly, she is often unable to leave the house to play when the police and drug dealers shoot at each other. Complexo do Alemão.

Still, she is excited and hopeful about Brazil hosting the Women’s World Cup, which has resulted in a huge boost in her confidence.

“We have a dream (of playing for Brazil in the Women’s World Cup) and if we get that chance it will be the best thing in the world,” dos Santos told the Associated Press this week after training at Complexo do Alemão.

She and about 70 other young women from the Bola de Ouro project train on an artificial grass field in a safe 3-square-kilometer (1.15 square mile) area of ​​the community.

If not on the field, Dos Santos and his teammates will be happy just watching games in a tournament they could only dream of watching up close until FIFA members voted for Brazil over the joint Germany-Netherlands-Belgium bid. The Women’s World Cup was first played in 1991 and will have its 10th edition in 2027.

Five-time champions in men’s football, more than any other country, Brazil has yet to win its first Women’s World Cup trophy. Until then, it is unlikely star Martha, at 38 years old, he will be in the cast. Dos Santos and thousands of young female soccer players who overcame sexism to play the sport are eager to take inspiration from the six-time FIFA Women’s Player of the Year award winner and write their own story at home.

As many female soccer players experience in Brazil, Santos and her teenage companions rarely play without boys on their teams. Until recently, they also had to share the field with five-year-old girls, which didn’t allow the older players to train as much as they would like.

“(The Women’s World Cup in Brazil) makes us focus even more on trying to improve. We need to be able to play in this,” said Kamilly Alves dos Santos, 16 years old, Kaylane’s sister and also a player on the team. “We need to keep training, sharing our things.”

His team, which has faced academies from big local clubs like Botafogo, is coached by two city activists who have already tried to become players.

Diogo Chaves, 38, and Webert Machado, 37, work hard to take some of their players to the Women’s World Cup in Brazil, but if that isn’t possible, they are happy to keep them at school.

His nonprofit group is funded exclusively by donations.

“In the beginning, basically, the kids wanted to eat. But now we have all this”, said Chaves, adding that the project began three years ago. “We believe they can make the national team. But our biggest challenge is opportunity. There is little here for children, not just for girls.”

Machado said the two coaches “are not here to deceive anyone” and do not believe that all the young women they coach will become professionals.

“What we want from them is that they are honest people, we all need to have our character,” said Machado. “We want to play and make them become nurses, doctors, firefighters, some profession in the future.”

The two Santos sisters, like many of their companions, believe that it is possible to reach the Women’s World Cup as residents of Complexo do Alemão. Brazil has more than 100 professional women’s soccer teams, and other players also live in favelas.

But it won’t be easy.

“Sometimes I have to cancel appointments because of the shootings, because there are burning barricades,” she said. “Sometimes the police tell us to go back home, they say we can’t go down and point their guns at me, at my mother,” said Kamilly.

His sister hopes the pair overcome the violence, against all odds.

“I want to make a living playing football, make all my dreams come true,” says Kaylane. “And I want to leave Complexo do Alemão. I want to make it happen.”

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