We Are Chelsea - How It Started: Zećira Mušović

Episode Date: June 12, 2024

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.ukThis week, Caz De Moraes is joined by Chelsea goalkeeper and Swedish international Zećira Mušović. She is here to tell us all about how her journey to becoming a top-level goalkeeper, and how she would like to be a role model for the next generation of girls coming through. She also reflects on her highlights of the season and winning the PFA community award for her excellent work off the pitch.Send us your questions to [e-mail] watch the full episode on YouTube, click here: https://www.youtube.com/@chelseafc/videos#WeAreChelseaMusic courtesy of BMG Production Music  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I didn't have any female role models, which is when I think about it, it's pretty sad. But at the same time, I'm really proud because that's one part of the game that we have developed. We are actually role models for the next generation. Hello and welcome to We Are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you in association with Skoda, who are the official car partner for Chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport. I'm Kaz de Mores, and part of the reason, for doing this podcast, is to inspire the next generation of players, but to also give you all

an insight into what it takes to reach the very top. We're going to find out how it all started with some of the biggest stars on this Chelsea team, but also find out their origin stories, what inspired them to get into the game, and also what setbacks they've had to overcome along the way. And today, I'm very pleased to be joined by Swedish International and Chelsea goalkeeper Zuchira Mucevich. Well, Zachira, I'm very happy to have you on the podcast. Welcome to We Are Chelsea. How are you? Thank you of having me. I'm good, thank you. How are you? I am very well. This is a beautiful place. It is. I wish this was my home.

I know. Me too. I say that every time I come here, I'm like, wow. Let's start from the beginning with you. What was a very young Zachira like? Oh God, good question to start. A young Zachira, very ambitious, I think. back then, wanted to win everything. It didn't matter if it was on the pitch, in school, push-ups, like everything. I wanted to, a big winner that hated to lose. And I think that's who I am today. I am sensing a theme with all of the Chelsea players. Everyone, I spoke to Fran. And I was like, she's really competitive. I spoke to Neve. And I'm like, she's very competitive. And she told me she was a sore loser. Spoke to Hannah. Suddenly, I'm like, you're all extremely

competitive right yeah and i think you have to be that to make it to this this stage i think yeah no you have to be a winner you have to to not wanting to lose so i think that's a important trade to have if you wanted to make it to the very top and are you still competitive even maybe off the pitch when you play board games with your family should i not play monopoly with you i pick my moments i think when i have a fair chance of winning then that's when the winning mentality kicks in and then it's like no it will be impossible to lose today okay i love it well back to your early life when did you first get into liking playing football when was it first on your radar i loved all sports so i uh on my lunch breaks in school do you say lunch breaks yeah yeah uh i loved playing

basketball handball football it was me and my best friend with all the boys um but i started to play football when I was nine, a coach back then we had a school tournament that he came up to me and he was like, you're pretty decent, you want to join us. I was like, no, I think I will start to play table tennis or something else, but he got me to football and I fell in love from the first day. I love that. Were there many opportunities where you grew up for girls? I think I come from a culture, well, I have two different cultures that I, I have two different cultures I come from Sweden, I'm born in Sweden, but my family, they flew from the Yugoslavian War in the early 90s. So I have the Balkan culture as well, where it's not that common to play

football as a girl. So I think the Swedish culture and the society allowed me to play football, but it was a lot of question marks from my other culture, the Balkan culture, where it was like, should you really play football, should not be studying something or something like that? So it was it was a bit tricky but yeah I still ended up playing football I guess how do you battle that if that's happening at home but then your outside culture is giving you something else because I guess you could have easily gone maybe not what was it that made you go no I think I'll really like this and I'm going to keep pursuing it I just loved being with my friends and playing football I had my best friend and we did everything together my my brother he was playing football back then and he's

such a big role model for me. So of course I had to play football too. And I think my big love and passion for the sport that made me, I didn't hear the people around me that much. It's more I think the last few years that I've really realized, okay, what obstacles I had to push through to be able to play football. But back then I just did what I love and it was nothing wrong with that for me. Yeah, absolutely. Talk to me about the first team. that you played for? It was a team in Helsenborg in Sweden called Statena EF. I came there the first day, I was really nervous. I was biking to training and I was like, oh, how will this go? But then as soon as we started to play football, it was a sense of belonging to a group and I met my best friends there

and I just loved what I was doing. And it was the best time of my life, I think. Oh, I love that. And what about position? Where did you start? Were you always in goal? No, I was an outfield player at first. I was the tall girl at the midfield who was doing all the kicks and throw-ins and everything. And then I had my best friend up top who was a bit of a more creative player who was scoring the goals. So it was us too creating the chances and the goals. But then now I think around age of 12, I tried the goalkeeper position, and I liked it. It was a role that was really clear, and you had the chance of being the hero for your team. I love to help out my friends, and I think that's a position where you can really do that. It is a position where you can be the hero, but it's also, you're kind of like the silent hero, aren't you? It's like the striker gets all this glory, but then the goalkeeper can really, literally, no pun intended, save the game. Yeah, you can destroy the game as well. It's a double-edged sword. Yeah, I think it's a

position, maybe the position on the pitch where it's really black or white. Either you've made a good game or, yeah, you've destroyed the game and not by playing bad the whole game, but just that one specific moment. And I think that pressure is something that's really triggering me all the time to be, to want it to become better and to improve my game. but also something that I like as a person. I love being in pressured moments and really where you have to step up in the right moments. Wow. You love being under pressure

because I was going to say how much of the mental side do you have to work on? Because I know, Neve, for example, talked a lot about her mental health and I know that it's really difficult for all footballers but I guess from what you've just said around goalkeepers, there's an extra added layer maybe. Yeah, I think you're totally right. I think the mental aspect of the goalkeeping position is maybe 80% of it. The most parts you're playing actually in your own head. And I think it's an individual sport in a team sport. So you have to be strong. You have to have a big belief in yourself. And not least, you have to be able to cope with your own mind. Who were your idols growing up and were any of them goalkeepers?

I think when I started playing football, my brother was my biggest idol. I didn't have any female role models, which is, when I think about it, it's pretty sad. Yeah. But at the same time, I'm really proud because that's one part of the game that we have developed. Yes. We are actually role models for the next generation. But yeah, I had, Serena Williams was a big idol for me, but she didn't even play football. But it was just because she was huge in what she was doing.

was the best and I wanted to be the best me too one day then hope solo later become my role model but that was that was later when I when I found out that she was existing I mean yeah you touched on your brother can you explain a little bit about how much of an impact the support of your family and friends had on you back then my family means everything to me and the journey they made from fluing Bosnia to come into Sweden. And all that journey of integrating in a society in that way that they have done. They mean massively to me, both as a goalkeeper and a player, but also as a person. I think their support has been huge along this whole journey so far.

And I think the love from them and always seeing me as, the person, Zetschera, rather than the players, actually, is something that I value highly. And I think that's when we speak about the mental part of goalkeeping position, that's a huge part of it, to not be identified as just a player back at home. Like when I go home, I'm a normal person. And that's something that takes away the pressure from the sport, from the position, from all the from all the pressured moments that you have in this in this career how big is your family is it just you and your brother and your parents or are there more of you you can think that it's only my

brother and my parents because that's the those are the ones that I always mentioning and my sister they're like hello are not existing in this family but I have two older sisters one brother and mom and dad and then we have 10 nieces and nephews so we're a big family and I'm the baby I'm the baby in the family my brother is the next one after me

and he's 11 years older than me so 11 years older wow you really are the baby of the family oh my gosh and have you ever played a match where they've all come to see you yeah yeah they are they come to my games often and at least when I used to play in Sweden they were always in the stance with my with the goalkeeper shirt so it was no they are massive support and how much of an impact do you feel on your I guess your nieces and nephews who are growing up seeing the women's game in the

era that it's in now I think it's I'm really proud about that I think they're really talented I have high hopes of their football careers oh really yeah but not least I can see the the girl, one of the girls, she's playing football and I'm just so, so proud that she has someone to look up to and that I can hopefully pave the way for her and that she can just dream big. This podcast is brought to you by Skoda, the official car partner of Chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport. Whether you're playing five aside after work, cheering the kids on from the sidelines on a Saturday morning or gathering with your mates to watch the big leagues at the weekend. Scoda's the perfect companion for your everyday adventures. Zip around town in the

fully electric eniac or give the squad a lift home in the all-new seven-seater Kodiak. There's something in the range to suit teams of all shapes and sizes. Don't just take my word for it. Search the Scoda range today to jump in and see for yourself. Do you remember your first professional contract, how it came about? What was it like when you'd realized this? is going to be my job, I'm going to make this my professional life. I don't know. I don't think I've realized that even today, I think just seeing this as a job for me, that's something that doesn't feel true. Like, it's, it's, I'm doing what I love and I'm getting paid for that. For me, that's something I can't really understand. And I don't want to understand it because I'm

in my best life. But I think going back to your question, my first professional contract, I remember playing in Statena with a women's team and then we played against FC Rousengarde, which was back then the best team in Sweden, one of the best teams in Sweden. And

it was a gap between those teams, but I had a decent game and they were like, okay, we're interested in you. And I remember the sporting director, he had a chat with my mom and she was like, no, no, no, no. She is going to study. She will stay to she will stay in this team and now she will not move to Malma which is like 40 minutes

train right so it's not far at all but she made it sound like it was the biggest move ever well you're her baby yeah I mean yeah you're right but she was yeah the sporting director came home to my family was sitting in the living room and and my mom and dad that they were so so cautious that I had to finish school in the best possible way. And I remember my brother once again, he was the one who convinced them that it's okay. Like she will be able to take the train 40 minutes.

She will still manage to complete the school in a good way. But yeah, that was my professional contract. I love that. That is brilliant. I'm just trying to imagine them sat in the living room trying to convince your parents. And they are not easily convinced, not at least my mom. You have to have good arguments if you want.

her on your side. Oh, really? Well, maybe that's where you get it from. Maybe that's where you get your, I'm going to go. Your go-getting personality might be from your mom. Did you ever see yourself moving from Sweden to play abroad in another country? Not when I was young. I always, when I got the question, I was always saying, I want to play in a team where I can have the best facilities and conditions. Do you say conditions? Yeah, conditions. To become the very very very best. And I think back then the Swedish league was really, really good and it was one of the best leagues in the world. And I was playing in a club where I was 40 minutes from my family and I was living my best life. So back then, I was like, no, no, I will play in Sweden and stay in

Sweden for the rest of my life. But then as the years went by, I felt that I was, the WSL was getting better. The European football was getting better. And I started to feel like, okay, maybe I'm done in Sweden with my development. I've reached the limit and I need to test myself and go out of my comfort zone once again to find new levels within my game. And that's when I started to look outside Sweden and that's when Chelsea came in the picture. But we often talk about sacrifices within our sport and in our careers and you often talk about missing out parties and not be able to hang out with friends and stuff like that

but I think that's moving to Chelsea that was maybe one of my that was my biggest sacrifice that I've been pushed to to make in my career and that was actually to leave my family and to leave that close closeness to them for at least from the from a distance perspective I guess there's a lot of sacrifices that being a professional athlete has that other professions don't when it comes to your food, when it even comes to other sports that you may or may not be allowed to participate in. When you look back at your time at before you came to Chelsea at Rosengarde, how do you feel about your time there? I loved every day of it.

I won't say that now, but I remember I hated some of the days. I was, it's been, it was, I played there for eight years and I I grew so much both as a person and as a player as well they taught me how to become a proper winner it was a club where we won pretty much everything in Sweden but also that I had my important years of my life there I studied as well when I was playing and I grew a lot this person I learned a lot about myself I learned how to deal with mistakes, with challenges, obstacles along the way, because that's something I learned back then, that all these titles and glory and good performances, like everything comes with a prize. And I think I've learned that a mistake, if we look on one single thing, like a mistake is not a

mistake, it's a learning opportunity. And that's something that I learned during those years, not least. And that's something that's really, really important as a player, as a person, and as someone who wants to be the best i guess and you touched that you were still studying so your mom won that battle and you had to finish your studies yeah i mean i want to study i'm a curious person who who wants to learn something every day and i've i've studied a lot but i remember three specific years three hard years i was studying in in lund which is 20 minutes from malmo i was still living in helsenburg which is 40 minutes from almost. My days started really early in Helsenburg. I was driving to Lund to go for a class and then I went to Malma for a training and then back to Lund for another

class and then home late in the evening in Helsenburg and that was how my my years was spent, but it was well worth it. I have a degree. I'm really proud about that and I have I learned a lot. What's your degree in? Economics, that specific one. But I was I studied well. So he didn't even study something that's slightly easy. I was bloody hard. Bloods, sweat and tears, but she's here now. Literally.

Talk to me about how Chelsea came onto the radar. What made you interested and how did you know they were interested? I think we played when I was playing in Sweden, we played a training game against Chelsea. I don't know. I can't remember what year it was, but I had a decent game again. It feels like the story is just repeating itself. And then Chelsea was, I think they were following me for a long time, but I didn't know that. And then they contact my agent and I heard about them. I heard about, I knew that they

had a brilliant goalkeeper coach. I had a chat with him and he said that he could make me a much better goalkeeper. And I was like, Yep, I'm going there. Because, no, I heard a lot about Stuart, the goalkeeping coach. I heard a lot about Emma. And those are, like, the people you're working with, that's something that I value highly, and that's something that I valued highly back then.

And that was a big reason why I went for Chelsea. And you mentioned the sacrifices. How was it adjusting when you first moved country and new club, new language, new everything? I think when I first got the question about Chelsea, it was a no-brainer. I was like, yep, I want to go there because that can make me reach my goals one day. But then the time went and I got closer to the moving date. And I remember clearly like two weeks before I was set to move to the UK.

And I was like, oh, this is a nightmare. I don't want to do this. I don't want to leave my family. I don't know if I even want to play football because I don't want to move away from my family. So we're all talking about living your dream and living your best life. But back then, it was like my biggest nightmare to leave my family. So I was doubting myself so, so much if I even wanted to do this. And how old were you?

I was, it was, this is my fourth year. So it was four years ago when I'm 27. So I let the listeners calculate that one. But yeah, it was, but then I did it. And I came to Chelsea, I had my Swedish friend in Jonah Anderson and Magda Erickson, who played here before. And they welcomed me and it felt like I instantly, I just became my second family and my English family. So it wasn't hard at all. It was just those two weeks that was so, so awful.

I remember my brother saying on New Year's Eve, he was like, can't you just go so we can rip this? off and we can like start to live a new life where you're not living 40 minutes away from us. But yeah, it was, I don't think my first time here was hard at all. It was like I saw straight away that I will be working with top people in every position. So that was the easiest part of it all. What advice would you give to someone that might have been the same age or maybe younger where they've got a big opportunity is something that they love but they are feeling that kind of pull,

push of should I go or should I stay? I think when you get into those moments where you feel really nervous or pressure or stressed, I think you have to look at it as something that's not given to everyone. Like it's a privilege to be in those situations

because that means that you're being tested in a big way, you're being tested if you can go outside your comfort zone. I think like it sounds, it sounds like a cliche, but it's outside the comfort zone where the magic happens. And I think my time in Chelsea and my step to Chelsea was one of those. Okay. So essentially, it's scary, but go for it anyway.

Yeah, because it will bring good things. Tell me about some of your favorite moments in a Chelsea shirt. Oh God, I have a lot of good moments in Chelsea. I think the last week when we played Bristol, that's definitely going into my list of favorite moments in Chelsea. I remember when I was sitting home watching Arsenal City. I can't remember when I cheered for Arsenal the last time. But I was so down before that game. I was like, we're in a tricky position.

We lost against Liverpool. The title race is tricky for us. and then the Arsenal won and I was like living on clouds I was driving to King's Meadow to play the game against Bristol I was so just high on life and we won the game with 8th Nail

and it was a superb performance from everyone so that's definitely one of my favorite moments I think who did we play was it Aston Villa when we I passed a long ball to Sam she scored we won in the last few seconds that's definitely one of my favorite moments i just think were you just living on the edge

though that's where i find my favorite moments talking about the title race you're living on the edge yep and i i love it you've won multiple titles here at chelsea how much does success spur you on and give you that determination I think success with the right people, and I think the right people is what I have around me here in Chelsea. That's what motivates me the best in the most. It's not the titles in itself. Yes, I won a lot. I won a lot here in Chelsea together with my team.

I won a lot in Sweden together with my team. I won a lot in FC Rusinger together with my team there. But I think it's just the journeys we create together and the daily work we put in to read. to reach those like everything that's happening behind the scenes that's what motivates me and drives me to to work even harder every day and to go to that training after this podcast and be like yes i want to become a better version of myself today well talking about behind the scenes you won the pfa community award this season for all the outstanding work that you've done off the pitch can you tell us a little bit about that work and what you've been doing i feel very proud

and honored that I won that award at the Chelsea Awards and I feel like I mentioned it before when I was nine years old and started to play football I didn't have that female role model so that's something that I'm really passionate about and I'm really passionate about the next generation and to paving the way for them so they can play football an even higher level with better quality with a bigger interest around the game so that's something that I value highly and I want to take that role as seriously that I can and I want to to pay that role in the best possible way that I can so I'm I'm taking every opportunity to inspire the next generation to show that everything is possible and but maybe I'm selfish in that too because I think that's what gives me the biggest

energy and the biggest motivation because when I see them I see myself and I see like you've just started your journey it's so much more to come and I want to help them with that. Well, the next generation are going to be seeing sold-out crowds at Stamford Bridge. How does it feel playing at a sold-out crowd at Stamford Bridge? It feels amazing. It's something that I dream, I dreamt of, but I didn't know that I was dreaming of. So when I was scared, I wanted to play for a sold-out crowd and for a big club and with big players.

but I didn't know like it was that picture wasn't clear it was just something that I wanted to do but I back then I mean I my AC Milan was my favorite team because that was my brother's team but it wasn't like I could play with the men's team so I was just dreaming but I didn't know what I was dreaming about but today you can actually play for a sold-out um Stanford bridge in Chelsea with top players so yeah I'm definitely living my dream Well, Zatira, you're clearly very talented, economics degree, football player, and I hear I have to watch my back as a host because there's a little meme hosting duty that you've been doing. Tell us a little bit about it.

Yeah, what should I tell about that? I don't know how I ended up there, but yeah, that's one big thing of mine and I'm really excited to share the next episode. Who's going to be on the next episode? So the next, the fans has been going crazy about this. And they have demanded Emma and Denise. And I've said that, I mean, it's not really possible with that pair. But we have, I think, sorry Denise, but I think we have an even better pair. And it's Emma Hayes and Lauren James.

Oh, okay. That is, yeah, screw the economic degree, screw the football career. We have another episode of meme girls with Lauren James. out of my house. I mean, I don't know if you can get any better. Well, I guess I'll have to leave it there. Because even though we've said, screw the rest of it, you have a training session to get to Missy. Sorry. Thank you so much. The cheer. It's been an absolute pleasure speaking to you and I could have spoken to you all day. Thank you. I'm sorry about my English, but yeah, I didn't apologize. Your English is fantastic. I'm doing my best. 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, who are the official car partner of Chelsea Women and proud supporters of women's sport. Remember to subscribe to the feed, give us a review and sending your questions to We Are Chelsea at chelseafc.com. See you next time.