Reality check for football ace Lisa
Scotland star Lisa Evans is recording her life in a series of vlogs to give an insight into the booming world of women’s football
SCOTLAND forward Lisa Evans has a starring role in the first women’s football reality show.
The 25-year-old, from Perth, is one of only four professional players picked to portray their lives in a vlogging series run by Uefa.
European football’s governing body want to increase awareness of women’s football among teenage girls throughout the continent.
Lisa plays for Arsenal and will be joined on the show by German striker Eunice Beckmann and Austrians Sarah Zadrazil and Laura Feiersinger.
“Uefa approached us,” said Lisa, who was playing for Scotland in La Manga, Spain, this month.
“The four of us all know each other. Eunice, Laura and I played together for Bayern Munich in Germany before I joined Arsenal. We’re best friends – really, really tight.
“Sarah plays for another German club and is good friends with Laura so I know her through that.
“That’s the nicest thing about it. There are four of us who went our separate ways after playing in Germany and now we’re in the vlog together.”
The weekly series – which involves all four players filming their own lives – kicked off on January 18.
Lisa added: “I didn’t know what a vlog was before Uefa started talking to us about the series last year.
“I knew about blogging, but not video blogging. They flew the other three to London and we did the photoshoot and the introduction clips there.
“We also had a training day and they showed us videos of good vlogs and how to use the cameras.
“It’s very much up to us when we film. It’s not like we’re thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’ll have to turn on the camera again.’
“It’s pretty much when you want to do it. They said they want four or five videos per week but if I’m having a really boring week, I’ll probably just send them three. Another week, I’ll send seven or eight.”
Lisa joined Scottish champions Glasgow City when she was 16.
The head coach then was Eddie Wolecki Black, who survived a life-threatening stroke when he was manager of Airdrie in March 2016. He was in the away dressing room at Cowdenbeath and had to be rushed to hospital in Edinburgh during the half-time interval.
Eddie’s coaching helped develop Lisa into a Scotland player and she caught the attention of top German side Turbine Potsdam when they beat Glasgow City in a Champions League cup tie.
She was offered a contract by the former East German club and stayed there for three years before joining one of the best teams in Europe, Bayern Munich, in 2015.
Lisa was pictured on the balcony of the Munich Town Hall with Bayern Munich men’s stars Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben after the teams had won their respective Bundesliga titles.
After five years in Germany – by which time she could speak the language fluently – Lisa signed for Arsenal and is now based in London.
Since making her Scotland debut in 2011, she has played 67 times for her country – including last summer’s Euros in Holland.
She added: “The vlog is an insight into my life as a professional footballer.
“My life is good – it’s very good – and I think that comes across.
“I’m in such a privileged position and that’s really what I want to show people – how much fun it can be.
“There’s not really anything out there to show young girls what our lives are like.
“A reality show is the closest thing to what we’re doing. It’s showing little snippets of what we do every day.
“Normally, it will be pretty much about my life at Arsenal.
“I’m really enjoying being at Arsenal. For professionalism, it’s absolutely up there as one of the best clubs I’ve been at so far.
“We train five days a week, with two days off. On top of that, we have three gym sessions so it’s eight all together.
“We train at the same time as Arsenal’s mens squad, although we
don’t have much contact with them. “When we use the gym, we’re more alongside their young academy players.” Opportunities for women players to become full-time professionals have increased in the last few years. Until recently, it was confined to countries like the US, where women’s football is massive. There are more than a million registered female footballers in the States, but there are also professional opportunities for women in Sweden, Germany, France and Iceland. Several other European countries – but not Scotland – have professional women’s clubs and players. England are leading the way, with the Football Association investing more money in the sport than any other country in Europe. Lisa said: “Women players won’t get the money the men are getting but being able to dedicate yourself to something you absolutely love doing is very special.
“It’s not at the stage where we’ll be able to retire when we stop playing. We’ve got degrees and you need something to fall back on.
“But in 10-15 years. it might be different.
“In England, you notice a massive difference in terms of the media and the marketing around women’s football.
“I think some people are still a bit naïve, especially in Scotland, about how much women’s football has progressed.”
Scot Kayleigh Grieve, who is responsible for women’s football marketing and sponsorship strategy at Uefa, is involved in the show.
She said: “We want to show that these girls are top pros, but they still have fun and balance in life.”