Andria Michael 1

Andria Michael: "If I had a daughter, I wouldn't want her to be a footballer"

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Andria Michael has played for the Cypriot national team since 2006. This month her club Lefkothea folded, casting doubts on her future in football. The 33-year-old writes about the struggles faced by women’s footballers in her country, the importance of having a player union to rely on, and how Raising Our Game Europe 2025 can make a real difference to women’s football in Cyprus. 

By Andria Michael

Last month I attended FIFPRO Europe’s Raising Our Game closing conference in the Netherlands and when speaking on a player panel, I said if I had a daughter, I wouldn’t want her to be a footballer. That might sound strange coming from someone who is 33 and has played for my national team since 2006, so let me explain why.

Women’s football in Europe has experienced enormous growth in recent years, but while we’re seeing increased professionalisation and big audiences at the top level for the likes of the Women’s Champions League and the UEFA EURO, not all leagues and countries have developed as fast and the level of professionalism remains unequal across the continent.

Take Cyprus as an example. Even though I’ve been playing for the national team since 2006, it wasn’t until 2019 that we had our first official game. It reflects the attention that is paid to women’s football in Cyprus that it took us that long just to compete in Women’s EURO qualifying.

At times it feels like women’s football in Cyprus is simply unknown. Before my club folded earlier this month, we only had six teams in our domestic championship. Another team is currently on strike, meaning there are only four teams in action. The bare minimum.

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Andria Michael in action (Credit: PASP)
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Andria Michael at Raising Our Game Europe 2025's Closing Conference
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Andria Michael at Raising Our Game Europe 2025's Closing Conference with Laerke Tingleff Sondergaard (left)

Players aren’t on full-time professional contracts. While national team players get paid for representing Cyprus, it's difficult to break down how much we’re making when factoring in the leave we take from our day-to-day jobs. After all, it’s not just the time we’re taking off work for the matches – it’s also the hours we train, the hours we travel. When you calculate that time spent away from our jobs versus the national team expenses we receive in return, sometimes players are losing money.

Conditions are also still an issue. In 2019, a year in which the World Cup was showing the strength of women’s football, we faced Finland in November and we didn’t have long sleeves when playing in minus degrees. In fact, we didn’t have our own kit – we wore the men’s! We succeeded in pushing for change on that front, but still today the women's team is lacking basic requirements that we shouldn’t be lacking.

One of the main objectives from FIFPRO Europe’s Raising Our Game Europe 2025, also known as ROGE25, initiative is to level the playing field and increase the level of professionalism in women’s domestic football by elevating standards across different European countries. Cyprus is one of the 12 nations taking part in the project, and one of the key takeaways for me was that the problems countries have are often reflected by their nation’s mentality.

“Women’s football has witnessed enormous growth in a lot of countries, but sadly the same can’t be said for Cyprus.”

For example, Cyprus has a very similar mentality to Greece, and data from the project found that both countries need to focus on improving the same things to increase the level of professionalism in women’s football: standard contracts, employment stability, training and match environments. To help tackle these issues, FIFPRO Europe has developed a toolkit which is being given to the 12 player associations involved in the project; PASP in the case of Cyprus.

With PASP, players have someone we can go to and express our feelings and worries on workplace issues. Whether it’s contract, conditions, harassment – anything that we are worried about, the union is there. I cannot express enough how important it is to have an organisation like that looking out for us as workers, as players. The union is our voice when we cannot speak up.

I love football. I really love football. My love of the game will never die. But when I look back on the years I’ve dedicated to this sport, it feels like I’ve faced a lot of challenges for little reward as a player. With my club withdrawing from the league just this month, I guess my retirement came a bit earlier than I thought. So, with everything considered, why would I put my daughter in that position to go through what I've been through? What would she have to gain?

Women’s football has witnessed enormous growth in a lot of countries, but sadly the same can’t be said for Cyprus. I hope ROGE25 can start us on a journey to change that.

Raising Our Game Europe 2025

Editor's note

In January 2025, Lefkothea withdrew from the Cypriot Women's First Division due to financial difficulties and the departure of a significant number of footballers. Meanwhile players from one of the league's other clubs, Karmiotissa, have been on strike from training and matches. Most players have been unpaid since the start of the season. As it stands, the league is operating with four clubs. 

Fifteen years ago the Cypriot women's league had 14 teams competing; from that championship only one team still exists. More than 27 teams have started and eventually suspended their activity in the 25-year history of the women's championship in Cyprus.