Eli Sarasola: “I retire before soccer retires me”

EIixabete Sarasola Nieto (San Sebastián, April 12, 1991) retires after fourteen years as a professional and after having lived soccer in Spain, the United States and the Netherlands. Has made a name in the Netherlands, where he has played in the big two: Ajax and PSV. Now you want to help professionalize women's football in the Netherlands, although he does not rule out returning someday to his native San Sebastián.

-It's time for the withdrawal, how did you decide to hang up the gloves?

-I had not made the decision for the crisis, the decision was made a long time ago. It bothers me enough to end up like this, it is not what I wanted. I wish I would have retired on the field playing the last game. It is what there is, the most important thing now is health.

-He retires very young, he is only 29 years old …

-I've been playing professional football since I was 16, hanging around and away from home. It is many years of throwing myself to the ground, being a goalkeeper is all day throwing myself to the ground and the body suffers. I wanted to finish my career still in full physical condition and not that football would take me away.

– Too bad it has not been possible to win the first league in the history of PSV, because they were leaders when the competition was suspended …

– They have given us the first place, but there is no champion, it seems normal to me because there was half a season to play practically. We don't know what would have happened. It would have been PSV's first league, the club wanted it, we were on our way to winning it, but to win such a league halfway would have been bittersweet. It would have been nice to end the season and win the league. It is what it is. They have given us the pass to Champions, which is the first time that the club has achieved it, so something is something.

– it has remained with the thorn nailed of not having been able to gain the title?

-He painted very well, but also last year and the matter went wrong. More experienced after last year. The team was strong, it rages because it is not only the league, but the Cup was also about to play. We could have won two titles and in the end nothing.

-He ends his career after having gone through three countries and great teams.

-The experience of going away from home when I was 18 years old, then going to the United States, which I really enjoyed, and it was hard, it is not an easy experience, but I learned a lot and here in Holland where it took five years and it is almost my home. Many clubs and nice experiences.

-What has been the best moment of your career?

The league with Barcelona. Because since I was little I had always admired the Athletic girls who stood out and won leagues filling San Mamés, which I have also seen them once. I did not imagine that I could win a league and be a professional footballer. Winning a league like those lionesses I saw in San Mames is very nice. That day I cried because I had never imagined that I could get there, it marked me a lot.

-And your worst moment?

When I broke my thumb in America. The season there is very short, they are four months played. I broke my thumb in my second year, which was my last year, at the beginning of the season and I went to the doctor and he said that they had to operate on me and that the season was over for me. I went mainly to be able to play soccer and there the adventure ended.

– Was playing in the United States a dream?

-I had always wanted to go to the United States because since I was little I followed Mia Ham. He was my idol, with that generation that won the World Cup and filled stadiums. I wanted to experience that and when the opportunity came, I packed my suitcase and left. It was to fulfill a dream. It was a great adventure, I didn't know that much English… I had to learn the language, the country, the culture… It was much more than soccer. I stayed one more year in the United States after the injury. Then I said it's time to play football again and I went back to Europe

-And how does the Ajax opportunity come to you?

-I have always been very restless ass. I had not played for a long time and I began to send emails to teams in Europe, Australia … half did not even receive the emails, of which they answered me the one that best suited me was the offer from Ajax. It was from one day to another. If you come next week we will give you a test, if we sign you up you will stay and that's where I went. Pack your bags and again to Europe. In a week we signed you and I had half the classes in the United States. I've always been a little crazy, but it's been worth it.

-Holland is already a special country for you …

-He has been here for five years. At the beginning it was a culture shock, I came from the United States and here another language, another way of doing things … after the first year of making the truth to the country that I liked. I live in Amsterdam which is a beautiful city. Then came the option to stay or return to Spain and I decided to stay a little longer.

-And he made a name for himself there.

-Yes, things here have gone very well and that's why I wanted to stay. Whenever I had the opportunity to come back here I could play Champions and he would call me because he had never played or the PSV project. With Ajax I made a name for myself and I have a good reputation in the Netherlands and I have played in the two biggest clubs.

-What do you have planned for the future?

-In the short term stay here, I also have my partner and my life here. Try to help women's football as you can. Here to the competition, we are trying the collective agreements, that everything is evolving as it has in Spain. To be able to help where I can.

-How do you see the evolution of women's football since its debut today?

-When I started in Barcelona we trained in San Joan de Espí twice a week, then in another field that was an ankle twist, we changed into some barracks that were not even changing rooms, to see how it has evolved not only in Barça, but See that an agreement has been signed. And it hasn't been that long, it's been ten years. Imagine the people who played before my generation, the pioneers of the feminine who had to ask for vacations in order to play and go with the National Team.

-The World Cup has been an important push.

-In the World Cup in numbers it is impressive. In Holland that I lived here the European was incredible. It is seen that little by little it is advancing. More teams are vindicating themselves. Now people care. It is thanks to visibility.

-Are there many differences between women's football in Spain and the Netherlands?

– At the moment in Holland we are not as well as in Spain. As for selection yes, because the European championship and world runners-up, but the domestic league not so much. Now you can watch women's football every weekend and that gives women's life because it is very visible. This in the end attracts people, sponsors … here we need people to know that we exist. After the European, people saw that these girls know how to play and are going to win things. You have to pull that to get it into the league. It is shocking that the team throws so much and the domestic league does not.

– It has the thorn of not having made debut in the absolute Selection?

-It would have been nice to be able to go to some concentration and see how my level is compared to the rest because I have been away for many years. In the end it is like everything, the great level of Spain, the preference of the coaches … would have been nice. I have been out of Spain for many years and it is more difficult to see how I am playing and to follow me a little.

– Being outside of Spain from the age of 21 also makes it difficult.

I don't know, maybe yes and no. I do not know the interest that the coaches had in being able to follow my path. It is also possible that I would have stayed in Spain and never gone. I do not regret leaving Spain because I have really enjoyed and learned a lot …

-Why did you become a caretaker?

Because they tricked me. When I was little I wanted to score goals, the goal was boring. I played football seven at the age of 13 with Añorga and one day training I started to play the fool of a goalkeeper and they saw me and said 'aim manners'. Sometimes they put me as a goalkeeper, I played better than the goal we had and in the end in difficult games they put me. When I made the jump to the senior team, they told me 'if you play as a goalkeeper you go to Nacional and if not to the Regional one. And from there everything evolved: the Euskadi team, the U-17 team … and since then I have been there.

-The taste of the goal has caught him …

-I don't know why people play as a player, I think it's the most beautiful position there is. Attention, how specific it is… I don't know why I didn't like it, because I really enjoyed it.

-What do you remember of your debut at 16 with Real Sociedad?

In Lezama and against Athletic. We lost 7-2, it wasn't my fault. So in Athletic he was way above Real. It was nice to debut in a derby. Leaving aside the result was spectacular.

-They say the goalkeepers are a little crazy …

-We have a special touch. She considers me quite normal to be a caretaker, because I have met them very crazy and crazy.

-Who has been your idol in goal?

Eli Capa. It has always been my reference. He retired very young too. When she started playing as a goalkeeper I was training with her, when she was still playing as a goalkeeper I did a training with her because she had played in Añorga too. I was also lucky to have her as a coach at Real for one season and she has always been my benchmark. 22 I took it because it was his number in Athletic. It left a lot of my career and what I have done.

Do you think of returning to Spain one day?

Let's hope, I want to return to San Sebastián, the city of my eyes. In the short term I stay here. I'm not saying no because Spain lives very well and I miss the food. I'm not saying no because I love Spain.