Pernille Harder:
Female footballers can be idols like Ronaldo and Messi

Chelsea forward Pernille Harder has urged female players to rival the Ronaldos and Messis of the world as idols for young girls.

Iran PressEurope: "When I was young, there were not that many women's players for me to see on the platforms or see games on TV. Most of my idols were actually men's players," she said.

"Marta de Silva was one player that I looked up to and was my big idol. I watched YouTube clips of her, so she was my inspiration.

"In the last five years, I feel like it's really been growing a lot and many games are now on television.

"Many of our games here in England can be watched in Denmark. I find it really good.

"So many young girls can watch us play and now we can be their idols instead of [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo."

Harder was speaking at the World Football Summit 2020 where she was named the first-ever Best Female Player, having netted 38 times for Wolfsburg last season.

She left the German champions to join Chelsea in September for a women’s world record fee of around £250,000 and has scored three goals in six games.

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