Portugal’s Jéssica Silva: ‘I play for the kids so they can believe in my path’

The Women’s World Cup is less than a month away. Excitement is building and for some of the players heading to Australia and New Zealand it will be the pinnacle of their careers.

For many it will be a first taste of the biggest tournament in football. Portugal are one of the countries that are making their World Cup debut and Jéssica Silva, for one, cannot wait for them to kick off their campaign against the Netherlands on 23 July.

Silva is one of her country’s finest footballers of all time, dazzling fans with her dribbles and beautiful play in 100 senior international matches. Now back with Benfica, she has already won the Champions League with Lyon and played in Sweden, Spain and the United States.

“It’s scary that it is just one month to go but we are in a really happy moment with a lot of pride among the group,” Silva says. “We have to work extremely hard to arrive in the best possible shape.”

Following Francisco Neto’s appointment as head coach in 2014, Portugal have played in the Euros twice – 2017 and 2022 – and finished third in the group qualification for the 2019 World Cup. Silva points out, however, that the process to improve the women’s game in her country began long before she was first capped in 2011.

“It has been going on for a while,” she explains. “Not only under Francisco Neto, and not only with me and the current players. But these nine years have brought success, evolution and the growth of our team. There has been investment in the women’s game in Portugal so, looking at the big picture, it has been a collective effort to get into the World Cup. We have a different mindset, a new way of playing. We believe in our abilities, in our football.”

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