WIEKE KAPTEIN fondly recalls the “crazy” moment she became the youngest player to feature in a Women’s World Cup for the Netherlands.
Now the 19-year-old Chelsea midfielder has her sights on a new history-making target.
That is helping the WSL leaders to a first-ever Champions League triumph next year.
It was on August 1st last year in New Zealand a month before sealing her four-year Chelsea switch that Kaptein stepped out on to the pitch in the World Cup.
Like Brazil icon Pele, the Dutch starlet was just 17 when she made her first outing in the game’s top international tournament.
Reflecting on her substitute appearance in the Netherlands’ 7-0 group stage thrashing of Vietnam, Kaptein who now has 14 senior international caps said: “It was crazy.
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“When coach Andries Jonkers told me I needed to come on in the 45th minute against Vietnam, it was a dream come true.
“I was standing there smiling to myself and not even thinking that this is a World Cup game.
“All I could do was laugh and enjoy everything that I did there. I was really honoured to be a history-maker.
“I’d never experienced a Euros or World Cup at youth team levels because I couldn’t go and needed to stay at [old club] Twente.
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“The girls in the team helped me a lot because I was only 17.”
Kaptein, who was born in Hengelo in the east of the Netherlands’ Twente region, is accustomed to breaking new ground as a teenager.
She was just 15 when she signed her first professional football contract for Twente.
Since embarking on her first full season at Chelsea this term, she has become a trusted option as a starter as well as from the bench, making four substitute appearances in her seven WSL games.
Kaptein hopes that learning from Blues skipper Millie Bright and fellow midfielder Erin Cuthbert (right) can help her development.
She added: “I’m learning a lot from Millie, from Erin and particularly all the players who have been here for a long time.
“I’m honoured to be with them on the pitch every time.”
“I’ve developed myself a lot here since the beginning of my career at Chelsea. I’m looking forward to doing that again and again.”
Along with attempting to claim an eighth WSL title, Chelsea are chasing Champions League glory under boss Sonia Bompastor.
While a domestic trophy clean sweep is among their goals, Kaptein hopes 2025 will be the year they topple all their rivals in Europe.
So far in the competition they have won every game, with Kaptein a starter in last Tuesday’s 2-1 victory away at Real Madrid.
In February, the Blues will discover who out of Manchester City, Bayern Munich or Wolfsburg will be their quarter-final opponents.
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Kaptein said: “We want to win the Champions League this season and everyone wants to win the WSL again.
“The other cup competitions are also prizes. We want to win everything.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
