Key Points
- Linda Caicedo has scored two goals from two games at the Women's World Cup.
- The Colombian star overcame cancer as a teen.
- She says her coach offered vital support.
Colombia's Linda Caicedo started the country's Women's World Cup campaign with a bang, becoming the second-youngest woman to score a goal in the competition, and winning the official Player of the Match award two games in a row.
During the team's second match, Caicedo curled the ball into the top corner in the 52nd minute against Germany. Colombia won the match 2-1 after a stoppage-time header from Manuela Vanegas.
The team are now preparing to face England in the Quarterfinals on Saturday night.
But as recently as three years ago, the 18-year-old Caicedo was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and thought her football career would never get off the ground.
This is the incredible story of how she made the world take notice.
Colombian supporters celebrate after Linda Caicedo scores during the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 soccer match between Germany and Colombia. Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi
Colombian football team called Linda up very young
Caicedo was born in the Colombian town of Candelaria in 2005. It's in a disadvantaged area and the footballer recently returned to donate 100 bags of groceries, without media tagging along.
At age five, she started playing football, despite nobody else in her family playing.
She was so talented as a child that she was given her senior debut for club América de Cali, aged just 14.
A year later, she started for the Colombian national team, but around that time, she began to feel pain in her abdomen and underwent scans.
She was eventually diagnosed with ovarian cancer and prescribed powerful chemotherapy just as her footballing career was about to take off.
She says Colombian national coach Nelson Abadia, who has been in the role since 2017, gave her crucial support.
"There was a difficult process, thank God I could overcome it," she told FIFA.
"My family was always behind me and my coach beside me was always very close.
"He was often calling me. I was going into surgery one day, and I felt really bad, like I could not play top-level football again; he said relax, you will come back. So I want to thank my coach.
After surgeries and six months out, she was back playing football again, and in 2020, she signed for Deportivo Cali.
Linda Caicedo celebrates after scoring against South Korea in Colombia's opening match of the 2023 Women's World Cup. Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts
By 2022, Caicedo was in demand to start matches not just for Colombia's senior team but also for the Under-17s and Under-20s.
She played in a remarkable four tournaments that year and was awarded Player of the Tournament at Copa América Femenina, in which the Colombian team came second in, losing the final to Brazil.
In February 2023, she signed for Spanish powerhouses Real Madrid, days after she turned 18.
"I'm still growing, and that pressure is difficult sometimes, but that's why you need to find physical and mental balance. I try to see everything that has happened to me as a good thing and try to have fun, because playing football is my passion," she said.
After four goals in about as many months with the club, the hype for the player was growing ahead of the Women's World Cup.
It took just 39 minutes for her to make her mark. Caicedo became the youngest player to score in this World Cup in Colombia's 2-0 win over South Korea, darting in from the midfield and curling in a shot from the edge of the box.
Assistant coach and Abadia's son Mario described the young player as "from another planet".
Caicedo had a bit of a scare at training ahead of the Colombia-Germany game - she slowed to a stop, put a hand to her chest, and laid down on the pitch as teammates and medical staff rushed to her aid.
"It's just an incident, she was tired," Abadia said. "She was a bit stressed as well, because she was playing in her first World Cup ... (which) has great relevance. And she's 18 years of age. She's a girl as far as football goes. But she has a great capacity and great character to assimilate all of this.
"That is why she's one of the players in the world today who is a rising star. And it was just an episode, it's finished, it's over. We're quite happy about this. No problem."
- With additional reporting by Reuters.
