The 19-year-old was voted the best teenage talent in the women's game, and has already shown how special she is on the global stage
Every footballing prodigy has that moment where they announce themselves to the world, when they are transformed from budding young prospect to a serious talent on everyone’s radar. For Linda Caicedo, the NXGN 2024 winner, that moment came on the biggest stage in the women’s game, at last year’s World Cup.
The scores were goalless as the clock prepared to tick into the 53rd minute of Colombia’s group-stage clash with Germany, the favourites to win the tournament. But it was the South American nation that were knocking on the door, and when Caicedo picked the ball up on the left-hand side of the box shortly after half-time, she broke the deadlock in truly special fashion.
Facing up to Sara Dabritz, and with Svenja Huth rushing in to challenge her, she waited for the perfect moment to sidestep the latter and cut inside the former, unleashing a gorgeous curling shot that flew perfectly into the top corner of Merle Frohms’ goal.
Immediately, the 18-year-old peeled away and raced towards the partisan crowd, one swarming with Colombia yellow and the odd space-themed purple jersey that their teenage prodigy was sporting as she netted a goal that would later be nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award. The fans were as big a reason as any to want to attend a Colombia match during that World Cup, such was the incredible support they provided some 10,000 miles from home, and Caicedo had given them a reason to believe this could be a truly magical month in Australia.
Sometimes, these moments of individual brilliance prove to be flashes in the pan, and the promising talents that produce them can fail to live up to the hype that follows. But Caicedo shows no signs of going in that direction. Indeed, right now, there is no teenager in the women’s game as captivating as Colombia and Real Madrid’s talismanic winger.
GettyBreaking through
It's impressive that we’ve even reached this stage, really, because Caicedo has been surrounded by incredible hype ever since her emergence in the Colombian top-flight as a 14-year-old. It was at that tender age that she debuted for America de Cali, marking her first appearance with a goal and her rookie season with a Golden Boot, her goals powering the club to its first-ever league title.
The records Caicedo smashed that season were incredible. The youngest player to play in Colombia’s Liga Aguila, its youngest-ever scorer and the youngest nominee for the Player of the Year accolade, the only downer on her first campaign in senior football was that she couldn’t help America in the Copa Libertadores, forced to watch from the sidelines as they were eliminated in the semi-finals because the minimum age to participate in the competition was 16.
After that breakthrough year, Caicedo made a controversial switch to America’s rivals, Deportivo Cali. It was a move that attracted a lot of attention and coverage, and the hype that was building around her only grew when Marco Caicedo, the club president, told in a radio interview what her next move would be. "Linda Caicedo is a football star and we managed to sign her for one year,” he said. “The contract was made this way because she will later go to play for Barcelona in Spain.”
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If Caicedo did well not to be swallowed up by all of this excitement around her, then what word can be used to describe the battle she overcame before she even kicked a ball for Deportivo? Aged 15, the bright young talent was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
“At the time, I didn't think I could play professionally again because of all the treatments and surgeries I had to go through,” she told . “Mentally, it was a very difficult moment in my life. I'm forever grateful that it happened when I was very young. I was able to recover, I also had my family's support, and I feel very good now. What happened made me grow. I feel thankful and happy to be here.”
It's an incredible way for her to reflect on what must have been such a terrifying time, and it certainly makes her rise to the top of the game all the more admirable and inspiring.
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Once Caicedo was well enough to return to football, she did so almost immediately, getting back on the training pitch with Deportivo days after her last round of chemotherapy treatment, once she had been declared cancer-free. The manner in which she returned to form after those six months out was quite remarkable, too.
In her first full season with the club, in 2021, she netted nine goals in 18 appearances, including four in as many matches in her first experience of the Copa Libertadores. It was enough to make her the joint-top goal-scorer in that season's competition and earn her a place in the tournament's Best XI, while her efforts in the league helped Deportivo secure the title.
At this point, it felt like Caicedo had already conquered and outgrown her home country. She was starting to underline this point with her national teams, too. In 2022, aged 17, Caicedo helped Colombia to reach three major finals – at the U17 Women’s World Cup, U17 South American Championship and the senior Copa America.
At the latter, it was abundantly apparent that she was ready to arrive in one of the world’s top leagues. Caicedo picked up the tournament's Golden Ball and was even named Player of the Match in the final, despite Colombia losing 1-0 to Brazil.
GettyBecoming a Galactica
That highly-anticipated move would occur just a few months later, triggered by her 18th birthday. However, it was not one that took her to Barcelona, as Marco Caicedo had said. No, instead, she would join the club’s most historic rivals, Real Madrid, whose women’s team was launched in 2020.
In the Spanish capital, the teenager is improving and developing at quite a rate. Having long been a direct and goal-scoring forward, she is starting to understand how to impact the tempo of a game, learning that not simply darting at defenders has its benefits and recognising the havoc she can wreak when she drifts centrally from her wide role.
Caicedo is still polishing her game off, particularly on the other side of the ball, but time is certainly on her side and the strides that she is taking forward are absolutely evident.