From ‘party girl’ to the Belgian top flight: Emma Coolen’s remarkable rise | Suzanne Wrack

Less than five years after deciding she wanted to make it at the top, the Dutch player has risen from tier eight to realise her dream

Twenty-year-old Emma Coolen cared little about the game. She knew nothing about the teams. But she was there, in Stockholm, on 14 November 2013 to watch the Danish side Fortuna Hjørring’s visit to Tyresö FF in the women’s Champions League, to impress another girl.

“She was a huge fan of Christen Press, who was playing in Sweden at the time with Tyresö FF,” Coolen says. “I had no idea what she was talking about but I thought: ‘OK, I’ll go there, get Christen Press’s autograph and she’ll love me forever.’ That was the plan.”

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