Naomi Girma’s route to the biggest transfer in women’s football

Even taking her historic move to Chelsea out of the equation, Girma is still undoubtedly a trailblazer in her own right.

Having debuted for the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) in 2022, she became the first player of Ethiopian descent to represent her nation.

Girma is extremely proud of her heritage, especially as it is one of the many things that tied her to football to begin with.

“I first started playing with the Maleda soccer club which was like a community organisation and was where all the Ethiopians in the Bay Area just got together,” she told Olympics.com.

“I really started playing because of my dad and my brother and how uh they loved it – from there, I started playing competitively.”

As a young girl, Chelsea’s new No.16 loved watching old tapes of Brazil’s golden era – the likes of Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Pele and so on.

But as much as that inspired her, it was being away from the TV and on the field that lit a fire which burns bright to this day.

“I think, for me, it was less about watching and more just going and playing as a kid and just loving the sport, loving being with my friends and teammates.”

That kind of attitude is what eventually led Girma to one of the top collegiate programs at Stanford.

Three years ago, coincidently in London, in the company of her best friends, Girma watched on as she was selected as the no.1 NWSL draft for the San Diego Wave.

Then manager Casey Stoney was particularly keen on working with the young defender, having spent her playing career in the centre-back role, too.

Together, the pair helped bring Girma’s game on leaps and bounds – the English coach highlighting areas of the former’s game she had not even thought about before.

“[Stoney] helped me a lot… I think something that she paid attention to that I hadn’t had a coach emphasise before is patterns and footwork,” she explained.

“I think that’s hard to understand and know how to teach unless you’ve been in that position. Detail to footwork is something that helped me [improve].”

There is no denying that, either. Girma’s rapid rise to the top has seen her dubbed one of the best ball-playing defenders in the game.