Spain Hero Olga Carmona’s Journey

As a small girl in Seville, Olga Carmona tried everything. Everything other than soccer. Her parents signed her up for classes in swimming, tennis, even flamenco dancing. But she had only one obsession: soccer. Now at the age of 23, she has become an idol for girls across the world.

Carmona had caught a glimpse into the world of soccer after watching her brothers, Fran and Tomás, train, though she was unable to join in. She became a fanatic, joining her brothers in collecting stickers of LaLiga players in her album. Eventually, as she celebrated her seventh birthday, her parents gave in and let her attend a training session, much to the relief of the whole Spanish nation 16 years later.

Watching her plow down the left flank on Sunday evening before firing a pinpoint effort beyond Mary Earps, it’s hard to imagine that she struggled for minutes in her youth team. The coach’s son played in her position and she couldn’t get minutes on the pitch for love nor money.

As she reached the pinnacle of her career, almost 12,000 miles away, Olga Carmona joined an exclusive club of elite sportspeople to score the winning goal of a World Cup final. While at the time she didn’t know it, her effort would seal the crown for Spain, and it would come before receiving tragic news.

Shortly after collecting her award for the final’s MVP, Olga would be told that her father had passed away before the game kicked off. Her family had opted to wait until the final whistle to share the news, knowing the incredible pressure she would already be putting herself under.

“Without knowing it, I already had my star before the game started. I know that you have given me the strength to achieve something unique. I know that you have been watching me tonight and that you’re proud of me. Rest in peace, dad,” the soccer star later wrote in an emotional post on X early on Monday morning local time.

‘Merchi’

With that hindsight, there is a tragic irony to the most memorable moment of her career as she wheeled away in celebration, lifting up her top to point to a message underneath on her undershirt. ‘Merchi’ read faint letters, written in black ink in her own handwriting.

“A few days ago, the mother of one of my best friends passed away,” she explained after the match. “It’s been a difficult few days, being on the other side of the world, and the only way I could be close to the family was to dedicate her the win, or in this case, the goal.”

In addition to having strong ties to her friends, Carmona is incredibly close to her family. She shares a tattoo with her mother to mark the occasion of her leaving the family home to move from Seville to join Real Madrid in 2020.

A picture of herself with her family features on her shin guards, which she briefly considered changing before the tournament in Australia and New Zealand. “I’m a bit superstitious and they’ve always brought me luck,” she explained when justifying her decision to stick with them.

In Sydney, Carmona was joined by her mother and one of her brothers, who flew out together on Friday, and little did they expect that they would witness their daughter and sister right herself into the history books. Amid the emotions, they may even have forgotten her pre-tournament promise that the superstar would buy her mother a new car if Spain won the World Cup.

Openness on the psychological support needed

That support from family has been essential throughout her career. Carmona made her Sevilla debut in the second tier of women’s soccer in Spain at the age of just 15.

She became the star of her home town team, helping them to promotion in her first season and then laying the foundations for Sevilla to become regulars in Liga F. Her role changed, adapting from an offensive left winger to a wing-back and eventually a full-back.

In 2020, she moved from her home in Seville to the Spanish capital of Madrid. She would share an apartment with Tere Abelleira, one of her team-mates for both club and country who shared Sunday’s victory with her.

Abelleira is only six months her senior and went through a similar experience, moving from the other end of Spain, the north-western city of Pontevedra, at the same time as Carmona. “I was clear that I wanted to live with someone from the beginning. You don’t know how you can adapt and arriving home and not seeing anyone, I couldn’t imagine that at the time. It helped me a lot, I matured as a soccer player and as a person,” Carmona explained to Diario AS.

The move from Seville to Madrid came just after Spain had ended harsh lockdown restrictions due to Covid-19. Restrictions remained in place, including curfew measures and limitations on travel, making it even harder to adapt to life at a new team in a new city.

“There were too many changes and they happened very quickly. Suddenly people stopped me in the street to take photos or ask me for autographs, plus I felt the pressure because at Real Madrid you only play to win,” Carmona told El País before traveling for the World Cup.

“I needed tools to learn how to manage this kind of situation. It’s to improve in everything, also as a person, and the truth is that it has helped me a lot,” she continued. Speaking further about her psychological support, she told Diario AS, “Your leg can work, but if your head doesn’t work… it’s no use”.

Three years on, the support has helped. Carmona ranks third in Real Madrid’s list of all-time appearances and has captained both club and country. Rather than just adapting to the pressure of a club the size of Real Madrid, she has well and truly thrived.

Courage, bravery and talent

It wasn’t all plain sailing for Carmona, even in Australia and New Zealand. She started all three of Spain’s group-stage matches but then found herself benched after a thrashing at the hands of Japan. That 4-0 defeat, which has long since been consigned to memory, was a turning point.

The thrashing could not have come at a worse time. The match saw Carmona don the captain’s armband for Spain for the first time as coach Jorge Vilda continued to switch up his team selection.

What was supposed to be an unforgettable experience, captaining her country in a World Cup, ended with her being the first player withdrawn from the action by her coach amid a humiliating defeat. For the following game, the round of 16 against Switzerland, she was replaced by Ona Batlle.

When Carmona did get her recall, for the semi-final against Sweden, she grabbed her chance with both hands. It was her who emerged as the hero with a powerful strike into the back of the net on 89 minutes to put her team into a first ever Women’s World Cup final.

Carmona is no stranger to such weight of expectations. She was appointed one of Real Madrid’s three captains only two years after joining the club and despite being one of the youngest established first team players.

There was no better show of her self-belief and courage than the Champions League meetings with Barcelona in 2021/22. With Real Madrid in their debut season in European soccer after coming to creation in 2019, Carmona scored in the first leg of this Clásico clash at the Estadio Alfredo di Stéfano, which ended in a 3-1 loss.

In the return fixture, in front of over 70,000 fans at the Spotify Camp Nou, it was Carmona who stepped up to take a penalty kick on 16 minutes which would give her team a fighting chance. She converted with a composure belying her age.

Anyone who knows her strength of character would not have been surprised to see her captaining her country and scoring the winning goal in a World Cup final. Especially coming only

Back to reality

As Carmona and her team-mates land back in Madrid this evening, they will head to a special celebration being hosted for the champions. With capacity for up to 20,000 fans at the open-air arena, the same used for the men’s team after their 2010 victory, there is bound to be a party atmosphere.

For Olga, it will almost certainly be an emotional night. Emerging from the stadium on Sunday night, she told journalists of her “excitement” about “celebrating our victory with the whole country”, already aware of the tragic news which the waiting media were yet to be told.

Following the celebrations and the intensity of these emotions, normal service will be resumed. The season is fast approaching for Real Madrid, where Carmona

But, unlike the superstars that have become household names for lifting the World Cup in the past, soccer is not all to Olga Carmona. She is close to completing an undergraduate degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, studying in Madrid and attending afternoon classes to combine her training schedule with her education. “I’m proud to be able to combine my soccer with my studies,” she told El País, “and, anyway, if I didn’t do anything, I’d get bored in the afternoon”.

After the last few days that she has had, even Olga Carmona might forgive herself an afternoon off this week. From the euphoric high of becoming a world champion to the tragic low of losing a loved one, she has become an overnight icon to Spain and the world.