Women's game must not be forgotten: Hegerberg

Norwegian player says it is important female representation is not lost

CANBERRA: Ada Hegerberg's voice in football is a powerful one given she claimed the first ever women's Ballon d'Or, owns four Champions League titles with Lyon and has earned her place among the finest female players on the planet, all by the age of 24.

Hegerberg's talent is matched too by a fearlessness in standing up for the rights of her gender in her sport.

She refused to play for Norway at last year's World Cup due to perceived inequality with the men's team and drew widespread praise after collecting her Ballon d'Or in 2018, having refused to indulge a request that she 'twerk' on stage.

Yet even for one of the game's most successful players, the sprawling effects of the coronavirus pandemic bring doubt. "It's a strange situation for everyone," Hegerberg says in a telephone interview with AFP. "Everything is uncertain."

Unable to see her husband in Poland or her family in Norway, Hegerberg is confined to her apartment in the French city of Lyon, where she is recovering from the anterior cruciate ligament injury she suffered in January.

She has an exercise bike, physios, who visit but maintain the health measures in place, and history books. "I'm reading Ken Follett at the moment - history in the 13th century, it takes your mind off things a bit," she says.

Fight for prominence 

But Hegerberg is concerned about the future too and she is adamant the women's game must not be forgotten in football's fight for survival.

"It's very, very important women's football doesn't lose position," Hegerberg says. "Obviously men's football is in first place, with all the questions about money and when leagues will restart, but it is very important women's football pushes for position as well.

"We will be sitting in the second row in all of this but we can't fade into the background."

Most women's teams in Europe operate at a financial loss, relying instead on the profits of men's sides until progress allows them to support themselves.

But football's economic crash as a result of coronavirus means nothing is guaranteed.