We Are Chelsea - Get to know Sjoeke Nüsken and Livia Peng

Episode Date: May 19, 2026

This is We Are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you in association with Škoda, the official car partner of Chelsea Women and proud supporters of women's sport.www.skoda.co.ukOn this episode, we're joined by midfielder Sjoeke Nüsken and goalkeeper Livia Peng who talk pottery, padel, moving permanently to Stamford Bridge and bread making!To watch the full episode on YouTube, click here: https://www.youtube.com/@chelseafcwomen/videosComment below your questions and Whistleblower dilemmas! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Would you ever want to play it out in the field again or are you quite interested in the goal? I would love to see it. No, I don't think so. I think I'm just going to stay in my goal and let the others live the picture. Welcome back to We Are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you an association with Skoda, the official car partner for Chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport. I'm in Warbank and today, I'm joined by two Chelsea team mates and from what we've seen two really good friends as well. I'm really excited for this one.

This is We Are Chelsea with Shoka Nuskin and Olivia Payne. Well, thank you both for joining us. How are you both today? Good. Oh, good. I like it. Finished training. Now we're here.

How's training going for you both? Good. It's fun. We're in a good mood today. We're synchronising. You're sort of coming to the end of the season now as well. How do you feel like that's gone for you both this year? Obviously, it was my first season here.

so it was really exciting to get into this big, big club and my childhood dream came through. So, yeah, it was really exciting and just, yeah, also knowing or getting to know great people as well. So that's really cool. Yeah. We've seen that you guys have been hanging out outside of football. Whose idea was pottery painting? Ah, I'm searching. Was it your idea?

I think it was yours. Mine? Yeah, I think so. Okay. We are doing a lot. Yeah. Like dates. Someone was saying that we are going on dates.

Oh, that's really sweet. I like it. Yeah, but a couple dates with our boyfriends together. That's really nice. Who was better at pottery painting? Did it get competitive? Yours is nice. Well, mine is still alive.

Yeah. Mine is broken. Yeah. I made like a cup, like a mug. for coffee and inside you can see like this a little sprinkly i don't know how to say it when like when it's not like how to say it oh is it got a crack in there yeah crack in there yeah i don't know why that's the most important yeah i did a vase so now every week i'm going to um buy flowers oh that's actually really hot is there a group of you that do things together outside of

football or is it just like a you two little club thing? No, we're a group and also we're playing paddle. A lot of paddle, yeah. We like to play paddle. Paddle seems to have made a real appearance in the team. We've had a few people come on and talk about paddle. Who is the best at playing paddle on the team? Not live, I know.

Yeah, it's okay for you to say that because it's true. So I think CO is really, really good in paddle. Who usually organizes the group activities? someone you like sometimes you sometimes me it mix up a little bit yeah so you next tell tell them about your next idea yeah i want to go to puppy yoga but it's fantastic yeah i know but i don't want to go yeah you don't actually do that much yoga no it's like just caddling with puppies yeah you just sit there and play with puppies so it's nice yeah it's wonderful we need we need to go okay it's great i asked maybe five or six times already but yeah i'm always like no

we go for pedals. Always excuses. Oh no, nobody actually does any actual yoga. You just play with the dogs and it's a lovely time. Okay, so. But do you like dogs? Yeah, yeah, it's okay. Okay. No, I like dogs. It's fine.

I would never have a dog though, but... I imagine that you've not got a massive amount of time for a dog because you're training schedule is crazy. Well, some players have a dog. Yeah, they have a dog, but I think you have to organize a lot of things. Yeah, because I imagine with away games and stuff, and coordinating that's a lot more difficult. It's quite similar with our sourdough starter.

Yeah, true. It's the same topic. Yeah. We need to take care of your sourdough starter. We have a sourdough starter. We're baking bread. No, stop. This is the best news we've had on the podcast today.

Who's chief sourdough maker? I started to doing it, and I gave a little bit of my starter. So now I have a starter and hers died. Yeah. So now I'm going to go and give her back her starter. So we can bake again. Yeah, perfect. Do you have a name for your sourdough starter?

No. No, no, really. But I would... Mine is called C-O. Oh, no. That's true. Yeah, I feel like we should name the new sourdough starter. Okay.

One of my friends is, hers is called J-Doh, like J-Lo. J-Lo? We're going to think about it. Yeah, that's a good idea. She's Jennifer Dopez, and I think it's actually one of the best things that anybody's ever said. Liv, you were one of the first players I spoke to on the podcast. How have you found the rest of your season at Chelsea since then?

Really exciting. Yeah, it was really different, yeah, from my old club in Germany, Verdebrim. So, yeah, a lot of new things. I get to know the team really well now and, yeah, I'm just enjoying it. And, yeah, it's really nice to be here. And I think I said the same when I, when I first came here, but it's still the same. Like, I really, I'm really thankful to be here.

Do you feel like you've settled in a bit more now? Yeah, yeah. And most importantly, because I asked you about it when you're on the podcast last time, how much exploring have you done in London? I think more now. Yeah, I've been to a lot of musicals. A lot of musicals.

Well, three. Which ones have you seen? Moola Rouge. Yeah. Wicked. Oh, that's my favorite, yeah. Yeah, and Mamma Mia. Oh, great.

choices. Fantastic choices. And a lot more to come. What's next on the list? I think the Lion King. Oh, the Lion King's really good. And maybe the greatest showman. Yeah, the greatest showman. Have you mastered the tube yet? Are you still getting lost? It's better. They look like there was some learning behind that. No, I think now I know where to go. In the beginning, it was like an airport for me. It was so big. But now it's better. Once you get your head round it, it's all right. But getting your head round it is a real challenge. Who in the team do you think you've bonded with the most since joining?

C-O, for sure. And nice to have you on the podcast together. It's so sweet. Question for both of you. Who on the team makes you laugh? Thanks. We have like a funny team. Yeah, we have a lot of funny teammates.

Kura is funny as well. Yeah. We've spoken to Kira a couple of times on the podcast, and it just descends into absolute madness every time we have run. We spoke to Becky about the goalkeeper union doing celebrity lookalikes, and we heard you got Meryl Streep. What's that? Your celebrity lookalike.

Ah, yes. Yeah, that's really funny. When we had Millie on the podcast, we asked her who she'd like to, be played by in a film about her life and she said Kevin Hart. I don't think that was supposed to be implied as a lookalike. But if you could have anybody play you in a film, who would you pick? Must be a famous person.

Yeah. I mean, if you want to give an honourable mention to anybody that's not. My sister. She knows me. That's a great shot. Does she like acting and stuff? Yeah. She's quite similar to me.

So she would be like a really good see or so. She would be a white person. There we go. In the film about Sierra's life, let's get to see her sister in. I like it. She's looking like me as well, so it's easy. This podcast is brought to you by Scuder,

the official car partner of Chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport. His football season is time for after-work training, muddy boots and early morning weekend games. Whether you play five-aside after work, cheer on the kids from the sidelines on a Saturday morning or gather with your mates to watch the big leagues every weekend. Skoda's the perfect companion for your everyday adventures.

Skip around town in your all-electric eniac or give the squad a lift home in the seven-seater coda. There's something in the range to suit teams of all ships and sizes. But don't just take my word for it though. Search the Skoda Range today and jump in to see for yourself. We're going to play a game. Have you ever played two truths and a lie? Yeah.

Yeah. Have you got something prepared for me? Yes, of course. Oh, here we go. We're locked in. We're locked in. We're locked in. Livya, do you want to go first?

Yes, please. First fact is as a kid, I had like a net, like a hair net on my hair. To like for everything. Like I would sleep with it. I would train with it. I would do everything with it. So that's the first. True.

The first true. Okay. So second one is I played piano when I was young. And the third is. I was a striker when I was young. Oh. Okay, the first one is true. Why?

I feel like that's too specific. Yeah, it's too specific. And I saw some pictures. I think you showed me this already. Okay, that's bad for me. And I'm not sure if you played piano. I think you wanted to play piano. You want to learn it?

Did we not talk about it? I think piano is the lie. Are you sure? Yes. Sure. Yes. Sure, sure. Oh, there's some tactics going on here.

Am I right? Yay! Good job, good job. It was too easy. Yeah, that was easy. I think every goalkeeper is like starting to play up front and going back then, no? Yeah, as a striker. Would you ever want to play it out in the field again?

Or are you quite in the game? I would love to see it. No. I don't think so. That was a firm. I think I'm just going to stay in my goal. Let the others do the next. I think you could play with us.

You're playing a lot like when we're playing small side games. You're playing with us. Yeah. Right. So here's two truth and a lie. All right. So my overall topic is 10. So what?

10, number 10. Oh, I like it. Yeah. I was thinking about it. So my first fact, oh, I'm getting nervous. Ah! My average of sleeping is around 10 hours. Yeah.

I scored 10 goals the last season for Frankfurt. Or I was in a tournament for 10 finger typing, like on the computer. Yeah, that's great. Is that a thing? Yeah. Yeah. I hope so. So.

You've just given it away. Well, the thing is, I thought you would have scored more goals than 10, but now. I think you're sleeping 10 hours. for sure. Do you take your sleep really serious? Yeah. I can sleep very long. Yeah, so I think that's true. That's the dream. And then the finger typing. See, that one also feels oddly specific. Yeah. What was it again? Can you explain it again? Ten finger typing computer. So you're like sitting on a computer and you need to like be as quick as you can. Like with 10 fingers. Yeah, we had that in school. Yeah. Yeah. But I went to a tournament. And yeah, I don't think that's true.

I don't think I ever did that. Did we do that in school in the UK? We did that in school. And we had to do it like fast, fast, fast. And then they would paper on top of your hands. So you couldn't see where you're going. That's crazy. Yeah.

I feel like I've missed out on a whole chunk of life experience by not learning how to type properly. I honestly can't figure out which ones are there. But I don't think there's tournaments about this. Well, for sure it is, but you have not been there. You're sure. Yeah. I went to one.

Nah. Nah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like my mom was my teacher. She had like a big class. I'm shocked.

And she took me to a tournament. Yeah. How can you explain how you going to World Cups? World Cups? Yeah. I feel like we need to see you type. Yeah, no, not anymore. I was young.

And I did it just once and I didn't win because I was with older ones. And I was like so upset about it. I was like, I didn't win. Go to work. cops when she was younger. So she would need from every country, people from every country and then, oh my

God. Who's playing your mum in the film about her life? There's going to be a Netflix series about C's mum typing really fast, like the Queen's Gambit but for typing. That's crazy. Okay, that's a good one. So you scored more than 10 goals, right? Less. Less? Yeah. I think four or something. I played Santa back.

Yeah, sure. So there we go. Talk me through your sleep set up then how do we have specific conditions do we listen to sounds do we have a preparation before bed talk me through the routine um i normally go to bed like 15 past 10 then i switch off my phone and laying in my bed washing my teeth before washing my face this is my normal routine and then sometimes i do a meditation before i go to bed sometimes before game and And then I can fall asleep quite easily, like in 10 minutes, less than 10 minutes, I fall asleep. And then I can sleep until I wake up, and it's around 10 hours. I like that.

We're taking the sleep very, very seriously. Are you also a serious sleep in the year? Yeah, and not like 10 hours, but yeah, a lot of sleep as well. Yeah. Have you got a sleep routine? No, really. I'm just going to sleep when I'm tired. Same.

We've got some fan questions for your birth, if you're ready to answer. What's the funniest thing that's happened since you joined Chelsea? Well, we are not prepared now, so we need to think about it. Funniest thing. Well, for sure, there's a lot of funny things. Because when you were last week talked a lot about your initiation. Yeah, that was really funny. What did you do for your initiation, CA?

I was singing, blue is the color. I was young. I like that. What's something that fans wouldn't expect about life at the club? Maybe that we are here quite long in the day. So we're coming and then... You're having breakfast and lunch here? Meetings and like we leave maybe at three, four.

So maybe people think we're just training and going on. I don't know. No, you've got quite long training schedules and it's beyond just the training schedules. There's then the international camps. and things like that. There's so much more to football than I think what people realize.

Who's the most competitive in the squad? Oh, we have a lot once. You are like really on top. I am really, but Verle? Yeah, Verle is competitive as well. Like when we're playing pedal. Oh my God, yeah. Yeah, you are competitive.

But she's competitive in everything. Yeah, okay, yeah. When I'm losing, I'm in a bad mood. You're a bad loser? I would not say bad loser, but... Bad mood. Bad mood. Yeah.

But after the game, everything is fine then. Yeah. Yeah, I can be normal again. Libia, how are your studies going in? Great. No, it's okay. Yeah, I have exams soon again, so... Yeah, how...

I don't know how you fail. It's crazy. She's learning all the time. It's in my vacation. Like, I'm away, and I have... to do my exams so that's a little bit but yeah it's life yeah so summer break everybody's going have to have a lovely time and you're going off to do exams yes yeah no it's fine because it's all online and i'm like if i'm not going to pass i'm going to do it again like it's it's fine i'm not

stressing too much about it have either have you got plans for you summer break other than your exams i have a lot of plans but i didn't book anything yet i'm really late every week i'm like Cio, did you book? Well, yeah, I wanted to go to Zanzibar with my sister or like with my boyfriend, maybe to Madeira or then I'm thinking maybe I need to stay a little bit at home. Like I'm in between, I don't know. I don't know exactly what I'm doing in summer.

We've got lots of plans with jet setting by the sounds of it. You should come to Switzerland. Yeah, I want to meet you then. Yeah. Like your family. Hiking? Hiking, yeah. Hiking.

You look so happy about that then. Just like, yeah, hikings. Well, the thing is, when I was a kid, I was hiking a lot. So now it's like, it's coming back, but it was a period where I hated hiking because it was just, I did it too much as a kid. So, yeah, but now it's coming back slowly. Have you been hiking anywhere in the UK whilst you've been here? No, there's no mountains. But you can hike in the forest as well.

I went to a really like lacking. In Britain, there's no mountain. In Oxshod, I think in Oxshod, it's not far from here. You can go hiking. I've got no idea. I'm from an off-day. I'm from the off-day. We've got the three peaks up there.

Okay. How high? That's a really great question that I should know the answer to because it's not that far from my mum and dads. But we've got that, we've got Snowden in Wales. There's a few. But I don't, I imagine they're probably not as high as what they are in Switzerland. Do you have snow there?

I think it's snow there. Jordan, maybe. I'm not sure. Anybody cared to comment. I haven't got the knees to find out. Have you taught Hannah anymore, German songs? German songs? Yeah. No. Off gets Deutschland. Yeah. Off gets Deutsch and she's and so. It's like, let's go Germany. Score a goal. Like everyone is singing in the stadium. I like it. It's short and sweet. Yeah. Like Sprina carpenters. What do you guys think about the move to Stanford Bridge? It's really, really cool.

Yeah, really cool. Yeah, it's amazing. I think, yeah, for the fans, it's really, really nice for us. It's really, really cool. And just, yeah, to do a step, like, forward. And, yeah, it's really cool. But I think I will miss Kings Matter as well. Yeah.

Like, I had a lot of experience, like, emotions with Kingsenad now, like my first game and, I don't know, I will miss it. But I think Stanford Butch will miss it. be cool. What's the vibe like when you're playing at Stanford Bridge because obviously it's like the home of Chelsea now not just men's it's the home of Chelsea football is is there a different vibe when you're playing there? Well for me like as a kid I always watched like games played in in there and I've never been at Stanford Bridge before I came here so for me it was really special and every time yeah I can play there it's like really special for me so

Yeah. Yeah, for me as well. It's like a special moment when you're going out there. A lot of fans are there cheering for you, hopefully. Yeah, it's such a nice feeling. Are you looking forward to play more games there? Yeah. We've got some whistleblower scenarios from the fans where basically they've sent in some scenarios that they need help with and you get to be the referee in their lives. You get to give you a bit of advice. Our first scenario is someone I know will not stop talking through TV or movies. It's getting to the point where I can't ignore it and they've started doing it at the cinema. What do I do? Tell them. There was a look of actual anguish in your face then, Lerner.

You were like, that causes me stress. Yeah, it's stressful. But I would just tell them, I think. I would, yeah, I would say. so I can't concentrate on the movie please be quiet when I'm watching

something I've watched before we'll talk about it every now and again but talking in the cinema absolutely no that's just not fun and you can't tell strangers to shut up can you yeah well I would

it was the same with Mama Mia like when you went to the musical I would want to singing the song but you want to listen to the That lines me up. Yeah, I know. Like in the back, it was like, oh, what... You've paid to see the show.

You've not paid to me of everybody else. Yeah. And some of those people, there's a reason that they're not on stage. I'm just looking like this. Are you a big ABBA fan? Yeah, like, I went to the musical as well. So it was really nice.

Yeah. Oh, so our second whistleblower scenario. One of our group keeps pulling a weird face in all of our group photos, and we can't get a nice photo with all of us together. Do we say something, or just let the... them carry on doing it, I'd feel really awkward bringing it up.

I think I need to know what the face is. Yeah. Send it, sending the face. I don't know how I'd go about that. Or maybe you can ask the person who's doing the face to take the picture. That's a good one. That's a really good. I would do Photoshop, I think.

You two have been straight on that, right. Let's tackle this problem. Once and for all. You do it. I'll photoshop the face now. Have you ever had to Photoshop anything out of a photo? Yeah, it's hard. Well, for myself.

I'm really watching you like unpack some trauma sat here today. Yeah. Well, there you go. Either get your mates to take the picture so they're not in it or Photoshop a mouth. Our third scenario

is one of our friends who is the organiser of the group is always making plans that are close to them. and really inconvenient for everyone else. How do we sort this? Do we say something or just start booking things closer to us? I feel like I'm that friend, so I can't comment on this. I don't like going anywhere that's not a 15-minute walk away from my house.

So I'm with the friend from this one. But I think if you're the person who is not planning anything, you can't say anything. Maybe the person just plans something else, like closer to them. Oh. Like, I don't know. Yeah, the person who plans has all the rights. Yeah, like, all the rights. Do you hear that, friends?

If I organise, I have the rights. Yeah, I think that's, I think. So, no? I think that's a solid ruling. Who does the most of the planning out of the Chelsea team? Yo-yo. Yeah, yo and that together maybe. Yeah.

Are they quite good at getting everybody mobilized and to everything? Yes. Yeah. I'm really good at this. And they have a lot of ideas. Yeah, and it's not close to them, so it's in the middle where everyone can get to. So it's perfect. Well, there you go.

Either go in the middle, we'll start making plans you soon. Looking ahead to the rest of the season and the summer break, how have you both found this season? Yeah, so obviously, I've not been the season before, but I can just talk through this season. And, well, for me personally, yeah, it has been a lot of learnings. has been really exciting. I had a lot of fun and yeah I just love the professionalism. Obviously we had big goals and we didn't achieve all the goals we had. But we still have, yeah, I think we need to have our ambitions high and keep that high also if we didn't achieve everything we wanted but yeah let's go on next season.

Yeah, it was great. Yeah, I think for me personally, it was up and down a little bit, to be honest. Like some phases were not the best one. Sometimes it was quite good, so it was up and down. But, yeah, as Liv said already, we didn't achieve everything we wanted to, so this is a little bit upset. But we have another season next year. We are playing Champions League, hopefully, again.

So that's a good thing we can take off. the season. Yeah, I bet. Are you both excited for some time off? Yeah, to be able to rest and recuperate and yeah, I think because also, like, last year was the Euros and it was, it was so much fun and it was amazing, but I think when you have, like, big tournaments, you're not really resting. Yeah, you've got a real big time. Yeah, so I think that's my first, like, really, real break after many years, so, yeah, it's nice. Yeah, I can't wait, for you honest. Are you both going to take some time to go and see your families? Yeah, for sure.

I bet it's your first season out, Chelsea. I bet they're waiting to hear everything. Yeah. And to spend some proper time with you. They've managed to catch many other games whilst you've been. Yes, yes, they came here. Yeah, they visited me, so that was really cool. Oh, what was that like being able to have them?

Really good. Did they come to a game, was it at Stamford Bridge or at Kingswendo? um stand for bridge yeah oh that's such a good game you've come to as well yeah yeah so yeah they were enjoying it a lot that would be so fun um what are you both most excited about going into next season i think to have the same ambitions and to just like yeah now i'm settled in so i know how it works a little bit more so yeah just to get started again and um to yeah achieve our goals. I can't wait for the preseason camp, to be honest. Australia and Zealand. Have you been over that side of the world before? For the World Cup, yeah. But I

didn't see a lot from the country so I can't wait to go there again. It'd be really exciting to go and spend that time with the team over there. Well, thank you both so much. Thank you. Thank you. Coming into chat with state, it's been lovely and enjoy the rest of your season and new summer break. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening to We are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea women brought to you in association with skoda the official car partner for chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport remember if you want to get involved in the podcast this season comment below

your whistleblower stories and any questions and see you all next time