Matilda Assabil: 10-year-old becomes youngest professional female footballer in Ghana
Matilda Assabil has made history as the youngest professional female footballer in Ghana after making her bow in the Women’s Division One League.
Matilda Assabil has made history as the youngest professional female footballer in Ghana after making her bow in the Women’s Division One League.
The 10-year-old is currently on the books of Starlet Ladies, a club based in Atico in Accra, where she plays as a midfielder.
Matilda went viral earlier this week after her story was brought to light by Angel FM’s Joyce Annor Yeboah on her Twitter handle.
TV3 Ghana later did a video feature on the prodigious midfielder, where she revealed her dreams of playing at the highest level.
“I started in Takoradi and then I came to Tema. My dad encouraged me to do it. It’s going very well for me so I’ll continue with it. They provide everything I need,” she said.
The coach of Starlet Ladies Evans Tetteh believes Matilda is destined for greatness, insisting she has so far impressed in her time with the club.
“We speak to her every time and we’ve asked her not to keep the ball for long. She’s playing with older footballers and she could get injured,” Tetteh noted.
“When we speak to her, she listens and that’s why we have agreed to play her in our games.”
Meanwhile, Matilda picked Brazilian legend Ronaldinho as her role model and hopes to pick some lessons from the two-time Ballon d’Or winner.
“He [Ronaldinho] usually does the rainbow flick and a lot of skills that I like and I want to replicate them in my game,” she added.
