“Being nominated for the Best Player 2017 was one of the biggest achievements in my career”

Lele Villar, one of Brazil’s top players, talks about her beach soccer journey and the difficulties she has faced on the way

Lele Villar, like many Brazilians, has beach soccer in her blood. Having grown up playing the sport, she is now a soccer coach and is one of the world’s very best in the sport. 

However, unlike many beach soccer stars, Lele has played most of her matches on the sand for clubs, as her home nation has only recently formed a women’s national team. She reflects on how her the difficulty of getting into the sport in her home country.

“I started at beach soccer when I was 13 years old, because there were always a lot of little schools along the beach and it was an opportunity for the girls to play football. It was so difficult at that time to find football for women.

That was when I fell in love with beach soccer, and today it is my great passion, my fuel in life, and I do it with enormous pleasure, discipline and responsibility, even if it is not something professional, that I can make a living from, I see it as if it were. 

And of course, I see clearly that with each passing year conditions improve, championships increase internationally and nationally, teams develop more and seek new players, starting to move money, and also new teams are being formed, as well as new national teams. I feel that it is also a promising moment for women’s beach soccer.“

Just having played for clubs, Lele was nominated in the three-woman shortlist for the Best Woman’s Player in 2017, the first year that the award was given. She has since won numerous individual awards, a Olympic medal at the World Beach Games and the first ever World Winners Cup with Italian side, Pavia.

It wasn’t until the summer of 2019 that a Brazilian squad was finally put together for the World Beach Games Qatar, and Lele Villar was one of the first names in the brand-new roster, as La Canarinha finished with bronze medals in their first official tournament, 

But when she’s not picking up medals and lifting trophies, what is life like off the sand for the 26-year-old Brazilian?

“I used to work at my father’s company during my time in administration. But after that, I started physical education, and now I’ve been teaching for almost two years at Escolinha do Zico, as a PE teacher and soccer coach for children between 4 and 7 years old.”

When asked to name their main influences in their sporting career, many athletes refer to people, but Lele has a different way of seeing her situation in beach soccer.

“The main influence on my career was the opportunity to leave Brazil for the first time in 2016, and to play in Europe the first women’s Euro Winners Cup with Catanzaro. At that time, it had been about two years that we found it difficult to play beach soccer in Brazil. 

In addition to achieving a dream of playing abroad, I could see that beach soccer was taking steps forward, with clubs wanting to sign and exchange players. It was remarkable and very productive, we finished in fourth place, and since then I have been playing in the Euro Winners Cup for four years, as well as three Italian championships.”

For a relatively young player, Lele has an impressive number of achievements already, but she likes to steer attention away from her personal successes, preferring to selflessly recognise the value of the team, the key to any truly great team sports player.

“I believe that my individual achievements, as well as pride and motivation for the group, add up to responsibilities. They are the harmony of playing with people who already stand out, because that is what I try to pass on to them, to learn from each other constantly. 

Most of the time, I have the privilege of sharing the dressing room with players who are willing to learn from each other, who are humble in their skills, and recognize that their greatest value is as the collective. I have always played in unified and organised teams that come together, the objective must be unique.”

Beach Soccer honours:

– Bronze Medal in World Beach Games Qatar (2019)

– 1st Brazilian women’s team (2019) 

– Winner of World Winners Cup (2019) with Pavia 

– 3rd place in Euro Winners Cup (2018) with AIS Playas de San Javier, 

– Nominated for World Best Player (2017) 

– Runner-up and Best Player in Brazilian league (2017) 

– 3rd place and Top Scorer in Brazilian league (2018)

– Runner-up in Italian league (2018) 

– Winner of Carioca, Vitória and Vila Velha Brazil (2019)