Celine Chuang, a young footballer of the Malaysian Women’s National U-15 Team, created history when she became the first female footballer in Malaysia to play for one of Germany’s largest football clubs, FC Bayern Munich.
Since July this year, Celine, aged 15, has been playing for the second squad of the U-17 FC Bayern Women. She does not see her gender as an obstacle to keep her from competing on the pitch, showing that women can participate in sports that are predominantly taken over by men as well.
After watching her elder sister and brother on the pitch, her enthusiasm for football sparked off.
“I started training seriously in this sport about four years ago when I was 11 years old at the Persatuan Sukan Bintang Biru (PSBB), Penang.”
“New and fun techniques that can be learned is one of the factors I fell in love with this sport besides helping me maintain mental health when faced with stress,” she said.
With a strong desire to improve her performance further, Celine made the decision to move to Phuket, Thailand to undergo training at the British International School Phuket (BISP) Cruzeiro Football Academy for two years prior to moving to Munich.
“While training in Malaysia, I learned a lot about the basics of football. However, in Thailand, the training is more intense and in-depth because I train every week under the Cruzeiro methodology,” says Celine.
The life of the young player changed when her family decided to move to Germany, following the pursuit of further education in Munich by her brother. In order to develop her German language abilities, Celine has taken it upon herself and looks forward to a promising future.
Aspiring to become a Bundesliga and World Cup professional footballer, Celine took another step forward and last February took part in the Bavarian club selection.
“All my efforts so far have been worth it when I was announced among the 10 new players selected to join the second U-17 FC Bayern Munich women’s squad.”
“I am also very grateful to have been given the opportunity to play with the FC Wacker München e.V men’s squad,” added Celine.
With her previous experience of training with the U-13 and U-15 Boys Team at the Cruzeiro academy in Thailand, Celine is already accustomed to training with male teammates.
“Playing and training with Wacker München e.V. has given me more confidence and allowed me to improve my football techniques,” says Celine.
Sharing her impressions over the four months of training in Germany, Celine says it took some time to get used to cold weather training and resolve the initial language barrier.
“Despite having to face various challenges, the community here is very friendly and welcomes us here (Germany). I have been able to adjust after settling here since last June.
“However, we are currently only training online after the competition and the league here has been canceled and postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” she explained.
In the German football community, especially after scoring one goal for the U-15 FC Wacker München e.V. Boys’ Team and another goal for the second squad of the U-17 FC Bayern Women in two official German leagues, the name of Celine is beginning to receive attention.
After winning a 2-1 win over the Cambodian team in Chonburi, Thailand, Celine had earlier scored her first international goal for the Malaysian U-15 National Women’s Team at the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Women’s Championship in 2019.
Source: Facebook