“The fight of the female players is for equality, to get more attention, just as men’s football gets,” midfielder Yéssica Rodríguez, 28, said. “If we compete at the same level, then we have nothing to envy. We are warrior women, we have strength and we have shown it. We are left with no choice but to keep fighting.”
Last March, the president of CONMEBOL, the governing body for soccer in South America, said that “women’s football has no ceiling.” For this group of Venezuelan players, smashing glass ceilings has been an almost weekly experience.
“My fight has been hard work and sacrifice,” said Emperatriz García, a 22-year-old defender, who was voted best player of the match in Atlético’s final game, despite a heavy defeat to River Plate. A few weeks later, she was selected for the national squad to compete in the Basque Country International Women’s Cup in Spain in early April.
García has had to face more hurdles than most. She had to play several matches in Venezuela’s domestic championship in 2019, including the final, with a serious knee injury. Unable to afford surgery, she undertook her own rehabilitation programme. “I really don’t want to talk about my knee now,” she says.
