FC Nordsjælland: A Year In The Life
Ásla Johannesen, Denmark
Ásla Johannesen is a Faroe Islands international who plays for FC Nordsjælland (FCN) in the Danish top division, the Elitedivisionen. Based in the Danish town of Farum, the club is part of the global Right To Dream Group - with academies in Ghana, Denmark, and Egypt focused on ensuring social and personal development of its academy players. FCN was the first club in the world to sign with Common Goal. In 2017 they launched a professional women’s football team, along with a girl’s academy and continue to maintain the ambition of developing and promoting significant numbers of players from their two academies.
Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your football life?
My name is Ásla Johannesen, I’m 24 years old and I come from the Faroe Islands. I’m training to become a cabinetmaker alongside my semi-professional football life. I have a girlfriend and together we’re having a baby in January.
I’ve been living in Denmark for almost 3 years playing for FC Nordsjælland. I moved for one reason, to play football at a higher level. I had only been playing back home before I came here, and since I felt like the Faroe Islands didn’t have enough to offer when it came to football, I had to seek other opportunities. FCN had an open training session in January 2018, and I participated. Then they wanted me to start as soon as possible, so I moved in February 2018. FCN had announced that they wanted to develop women’s football at the club - and I wanted to be a part of that.
In the beginning we were known as Farum BK, and we played in the 2. Division which is actually third division. We had to prove we were good enough for the best league by winning all the way up. And so we did. After 6 months we won 2. Division, after a year in Denmark we had won 1. Division and we were in the qualification group to get a spot in the best league. We won the group in Spring 2019, so 18 months after moving to play in third division, we had a spot in the top Danish league. Our first season in the league was great, we ended in third position and we won the Cup Final.
What has been your football journey up until now?
I started my own journey by myself. Back home, football Is very, very male dominated, so for me personally, it was ONLY my own drive, interest and love for football that pushed me to figure out where to start to get moving!
I knew a person who had played football in a school in Denmark before, so I had to talk to her and hear how it was and how she got there. She knew a guy in Denmark that could help figure out how to get tryouts in Denmark if I really wanted to. In the meantime, I tried to work out how to get time off with my job, if this became a reality (which by the way I did not believe at that time). My boss apparently loved the idea, and thought it was about time that female football players went to play outside the country, so he offered to help me with the practical stuff IF any club showed interest. And there was interest – after two tryouts, one with FCN and one with another team in the top league, FCN really wanted me to come play for them.
I had a month to pack my stuff, say my goodbyes to friends and family, and get ready to move. It’s the best choice I’ve ever made, and everything I’ve sacrificed is worth it. My mom always told me, even when I hesitated: “There’s a reason you want to do this, give it at try because you can ALWAYS come back home with a one-way ticket, if things don’t work out.” And so I did.
The first period in Denmark was really tough for me, I didn’t know anybody, I didn’t feel anyone was really interested in getting to know me, I felt lonely. Still, it was worth it every time I stepped on the pitch and trained harder, faster, and better than I ever had in the Faroes. There were a lot of things that felt really rough and tough to get through (especially all the things I felt I was missing out on back home and around football in general). Today I see it differently. Today I’m grateful, because now I see it as a lesson. I learned more about myself than I ever would have by not being alone and pushed outside my own comfort zone. And the things I felt I was missing out on back then – well today I just have to admit we all have our own journeys, so I see a lot of people missing out on mine too. I have made my choices and the results I get in football are because of those choices. For me it is all worth it.
What did you try to show with the photos? Was there any wider meaning with the photos?
I tried to show a season in the life of my football career. I showed my FCN teammates preparing for a game, doing yoga while travelling for an away game, training in a backyard during the summer to stay in shape, and washing gear because of corona - the pandemic hits us hard, and in order to continue playing we had to wash all of our gear, our own clothes and everything after every training. We did it for the love of the game.
I also showed my FCN teammates after winning the 2019 Cup Final 2019. I felt huge joy and pride. It was our first time in the league, and we won the Cup Final even though we had a very hard group (we beat Brøndby and Fortuna Hjørring, the two best teams in Danish league for a long time).
There is a photo of my teammates and a teammate’s baby in the FCN tactical room. We’re more than just players. We’re friends, we’re family, sisters and mothers – this is a good way of expressing that by sitting in our training gear and enjoying a minute with our teammate’s baby.
One shot is of my teammates Maria Lindblad and Flo. Flo’s son and partner are also in the photo, Patrick and Radish. It was taken after a victory at home, playing in ‘The Danish Cancer Society’ shirts. She is one of my role models on my team. I see myself in that shot just months from now.
What are the opportunities for female footballers in Denmark and Faroe Islands?
The opportunities are a lot better here in Denmark than in the Faroe Islands. But there are reasons for that. First of all, Faroe Islands has a population of 50,000 people in total living on the Islands. Around half are women, so 25,000 women and of those, half are young, and half are older, so 12,500. And if half of them play sports, and a half of that plays football, and half of that wants to play seriously - we’re down to a very small number of football players…
So just the fact that we have a National Team, we have a league, we have some players trying to keep up that level is amazing. The Faroese Football Association is trying very hard to develop women’s football back home – but I have to admit that we are a couple of years behind Denmark and other countries around us.
Something happened in Danish football a couple of years ago which also started a movement. It started with the national team starting to get results, and that grew international interest grew in the players playing in Denmark. A lot of players went abroad to play professionally and because of that the National Team is better today than it ever has been. I believe that Danish women’s football has entered a good cycle - players playing abroad are getting better and better, and it gets harder to become a national player (everyone’s dream). Because it is harder, the players back home start to work harder and raise the level of the Danish league. Then the interest in women’s football in Denmark grows and more people want to see us play, and that’s when the marketing comes in. This is just my point of view, and I believe if we can enter the same cycle in the Faroe Islands, things will change.
What does football mean to you?
Football means the world to me. Not only because it is football, but especially because I know as a football player, I can make a difference. I can pave the way for Faroese football players to play internationally and by that maybe raise the level on the national team.
I can also be a role model for A LOT of young girls dreaming of playing football, but not daring to do anything about it because of the male domination. Maybe I can play a part in girls choosing football (as a female role model), because of my story and my work paving the way for the younger generation. At least that is my drive. We will see if it’s true.
What is the future for Danish and Faroese women's football?
The Danish and the Faroese football stories are so different. The future for Danish football is to get more finances to the players to make them full-time professionals. That way the level will rise and hopefully society will see the value and watch, building on the good story they are already telling.
Faroese football needs to find that cycle and enter it – send the players out, raise the national team level in order to get some results, make it harder to get selected for the national team, so the players back home work harder in order to be a national team player. And so on…Even though it seems ridiculous to send the few talents we have overseas, I believe it is necessary to raise the level in the future.
What does your family think of your job as a professional soccer player?
My family had a hard time believing my dream in the beginning. It was new for them, a very different story and I had to show them. Today they are the most supportive, they believe in me and they believe I will do great things with my life. That means the world to me. I believe I changed a lot of people’s perspectives by proving them wrong!
What is unique about playing for FCN?
FCN’s story is unique. Other teams in Denmark copy FCN’s way of doing things, which is GOOD because it is necessary in order to put value into our work. FCN has great values and does a lot to live up to them, and I appreciate that.
What is your favorite photo?
We have been playing in LGBT shirts to show our support to the LGBT community. Since I myself am gay, I have grown up in a conservative society with a lot of judgments and lack of rights for the gay community because of religion. Playing for a club that shows big support, raises the LGBT flag on Gay Pride days and develops LGBT/Rainbow T-shirts makes me extremely proud. It makes me feel appreciated and wanted.
I myself enjoy doing charity work. In 2016 I biked from Faroe Islands to Paris in a week with “Team Rynkeby” in order to raise money for children with cancer. I have been participating with different cancer charities because the least we can do as wealthy humans is help when we have the opportunity to. And it just gives an extra boost for me personally when they choose to combine charity and sport! I loved playing in the pink ‘break cancer’ shirt as knowing that when the shirt was sold, the money went to scientists working to develop medicine and fight cancer.
“Everyone has the right to Dream” is something I took in when moving here. As a female from the Faroe Islands, I did not feel like I had a right to dream as I did, especially when others tended to made fun of it (and still do sometimes). When people tell me I have no value, I look at that sign and remember where I came from, where it all started and where I am now – building on and achieving my goals and dreams.
