Intimate Photos of Footballers' Lives During the Women's Euro 2022

Most of us will never get anywhere close to the thrill of walking out onto a football pitch with thousands screaming for your team, but you can always try to live vicariously through Goal Click. In a nutshell, the social enterprise mails disposable analogue cameras to players around the world to see what comes back. They’ve ended up with photos of teenage girls playing football in the hulking shadow of Mount Tupopdan in Pakistan, 2019 Women’s World Cup players in pre-training for the match of their lives and elite freestylers pulling spectacular tricks in Chile, India and beyond.

This year, they’ve handed those trusty cameras to 12 international women’s footballers in the run-up to competing in the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 tournament. The players from England, Austria, Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal and beyond documented their lives in the weeks leading up to the Euros – finishing club seasons, playing in cup finals, national team training camps, international friendlies, and even the first matches of the tournament.

If you ever wondered about what goes on behind the scenes of playing for your country, the photos offer an intimate and unvarnished look into the lives of professional footballers, ice baths and all.

You can check out a selection of photos below, with words from the footballers themselves.

You can see my Arsenal teammates Mana Iwabuchi, Lydia Williams, and Cailtin Foord - most of these photos were taken at our training ground, London Colney. I wanted to show something a bit different, abstract, and unpredictable. So often you see the same photos on Instagram of action shots or selfies. 

I am hopeful that the Women’s Euro will leave a legacy that lasts for generations, but for me that legacy should start with the next generation. Kids need to have access to football in schools. I hope that by showcasing the talent, excitement, and passion of women’s football at the top level, it will act as a catalyst for young girls and boys wanting to play football too. The next step then is to provide the opportunity to play. Whatever it takes: investment, time, energy, it needs to be done. 

When I started playing, the topic of women's football was not at all present in the media in Austria. That has changed, especially due to our success at the 2017 UEFA European Championship (when we reached the semi-finals). The attention is much bigger now, simply because many more people are interested. Many more girls also started to play football. I hope that the upward trend of Austrian women’s football will continue, especially after the European Championship. 

I wanted to capture the special atmosphere in our Hoffenheim team and the Austrian national team. The atmosphere is always good, and everyone enjoys being together. You also get an impression of where we hang out and what it looks like in our dressing room. It shows what we experience in everyday life as a football player.

A special moment was the huddle before our friendly game against Brazil. In the huddle, being very connected and very present, we were trying to convince ourselves that this game was just a football game. And it was, but it was also so much more. For the first time in history, the women’s national team were playing at Parken – the Danish national arena. We set a new spectator record of 21,500 people of different ages and gender. No one on the team had ever played in front of so many Danes cheering for us live. Many players, including myself, still get touched by thinking of this moment. We made history.   

I showed my teammates and staff at Orlando Pride and the Icelandic national team. We travel a lot with Orlando Pride. I wanted to show my teammates and staff in their element and their personalities. The people and culture around you are often the thing that shapes you. 

With my national team it is our preparation for the Euros, both in Poland, Germany and then in England. The Icelandic national team is built off positive energy and hard work, so I wanted to capture the good vibes from the team.

The future is bright. The young girls coming up now are amazing, they are talented, brave, humble, have a great attitude and work extremely hard to be their best. After the Euros the focus will be on qualifying for the World Cup.

I tried to capture special memories of winning the league with Liverpool along with even more special memories building up to our first major tournament with Northern Ireland.

Representing my country means absolutely everything to me. It is something that I pride myself on - making my family proud and carrying my late grandads name on. My grandad was my inspiration growing up. He used to drive me to football and was the reason I was able to play at such a young age. He bought me my first pair of football boots and I will never forget that. 

I want to contribute and drive the success of women’s and girls’ football in Northern Ireland beyond my playing days. I want to leave Northern Irish football in a better place than I found it, so I feel I am on my way to doing so.

Our goalkeeper Patrícia Morais. I wanted to show our preparation for the Euros and a “look inside” our Portuguese national team camps at Cidade do Futebol. I love representing my country. It is a privilege to be here, and I am so proud of that. It is the recognition of my everyday work. It is also a reminder to work hard and try to be the best version of myself, as a player and as a person.

@misszing