Lyon’s Christiane Endler: ‘Girls must have the same training as boys’

L yon’s Christiane Endler is the best female goalkeeper in the world, at least according to Fifa’s The Best award. She may lose that title next week, when the awards show for 2022 takes place, but has a chance to retain it having been included on the shortlist for a fourth consecutive year. Now that’s consistency. “I hope to win it again and I am really happy to be here again,” says Endler. “It means we are at a good level.”

After moving to Lyon from PSG in the summer of 2021, the Chile international won the French league and the Champions League in her first season with the club. Now she hopes to become the first person to win the best goalkeeper award in back-to-back years – but the challengers are strong: Manchester United’s Mary Earps, who won the Euros with England last summer, and Chelsea’s Ann-Katrin Berger, who won the Women’s Super League and FA Cup in 2021-22.

Endler and Berger, in fact, will soon face each other on the pitch, with Lyon and Chelsea drawn against each other in the Women’s Champions League quarter-finals, with the first leg on 22 March. “Berger and Earps have both had very good seasons overall,” says Endler. “I think they’re very worthy competitors and it is a difficult choice. But for me just being there and representing Latin American women is the most important thing.”

There was disappointment this week as Chile failed to qualify for the World Cup and Endler is well aware of the difficulty South American women’s football faces against some of the strongest teams and leagues in the world, such as the United States and many European countries. For her, the key to levelling the game is to prioritise younger generations – a lesson she has learned at Lyon. “The girls [coming through now] need to