By Emma Smith
(BBC) At 11pm on the day she signed for Real Madrid in February, Linda Caicedo was not out celebrating with family and friends. Instead, the 18-year-old was calling a young cancer patient about to undergo surgery back home in Colombia.
It shows where the priorities of Caicedo lie – she may be one of the breakout stars of the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup on the pitch, but off it she knows there is much more to life than football.
Her journey so far includes a professional and international debut at 14, a cancer diagnosis at 15, and a move to one of the most well-known clubs in the world.
The latest step of that journey came in Sydney, where she jinked in from the left wing and fired through the gloves of keeper Yoon Young-geul as Colombia beat South Korea in their opening match, to earn only their second ever win at the Women’s World Cup.
Caicedo’s goal means, at 18 years and 153 days, she is the second-youngest South American player to score a goal in the history of the tournament, with only Brazil icon Marta doing so at a younger age.Invoking Marta when comparing female footballers is a big statement to make – but Caicedo looks the real deal.She has been the poster girl for the rise of women’s football in Colombia, who only qualified for their first World Cup in 2011 but have been a growing power since.Born in the town of Candelaria, Caicedo came from a poor background and has never forgotten the sacrifices needed to get her to this point. She recently travelled to Candelaria and donated 100 grocery bags of food to people in need, with no media brought along.She has a close relationship with the Colombian manager Nelson Abadia, who has been in charge of the national team since 2017 but was involved as technical assistant from three years earlier.”In 2016 I started with youth divisions, I had Linda here, she was 12 the first time I took her to the national team,” said Abadia. “She evolved from there.”