Linda Sallstrom: "There's still so much wrong within football – if nobody says anything, it’s never going to change"

Linda Sallstrom is the winner of the 2024 Player Activism Award, one of the three FIFPRO Merit Awards. A striker for Swedish club Vittsjo GIK and Finland international, Sallstrom is a social media influencer who is using her voice to raise awareness about human rights issues and various injustices including inequality, discrimination and corruption.

By Linda Sallstrom

I’ve been playing professional football for 17 years in Sweden, France and a little bit in Finland. The last few years, I have been studying medicine. After football, I am going to be a doctor.

I started playing football when I was in kindergarten. I was a goalkeeper at first, but when I discovered scoring goals was more fun than picking the ball out of the net, I became a striker. I’ve always been super competitive, just like my sister. I don’t think we ever finished a game of Monopoly ...

When I started as a professional footballer, I only played and minded my own business. I can’t say I was the best team-mate. But as I got older and more mature, I wanted to make a positive difference. I became aware that I have a voice and that I can use it to do good and stand in solidarity with those who maybe don’t have as big of a voice and are trying to make the world a little bit better.

I believe that we are all born equal. We should all have the same rights, and, most of all, we should feel safe and should not be discriminated because of who we are, who we love, what we look like, or whether we are disabled or non-disabled.  

When I see someone being discriminated or exploited, then I feel very strongly about that. I want football and sports to be inclusive for us all. Everybody should be safe and not have to fear for their safety.

I’ve been inspired by various Swedish women’s players such as Magdalena Eriksson, Nilla Fischer and Hedvig Lindahl, who have been using their voice for a long time, and by former Finland captain Tim Sparv. I wanted to contribute and play my part. I know that other people have inspired me, and maybe someone else will feel inspired by me and get the courage to do the same. Maybe that creates a chain reaction that leads to change.

I’ve spoken about a lot of different matters, mostly related to human rights. I tried to raise awareness about the injustices of the Qatar World Cup such as corruption, the treatment of labourers who lost their lives, and the damage to the environment. These issues were ruining the game for me. I couldn’t celebrate the World Cup as I normally would.

Earlier this year, I spoke up by confronting fans who were behaving very badly at one of our games. It became a big issue in Sweden and started a discussion among players, fans, clubs and the federation on how to improve the atmosphere at matches.

With the Finnish women’s national team, we have taken a stand many times. We supported the Cypriot team, who fought for equal treatment, and we showed our solidarity with the Spanish team by wearing wristbands and t shirts with supportive messages. We’ve been doing this for a few years now and we will continue doing this.

I wish I wouldn't have to do it. I wish that the world was perfect, so I wouldn't have to speak up year after year and demand change. For many years, it's been mostly women’s players speaking up as we are in a constant fight to be taken seriously, to grow our game, to be treated with respect, and to be treated equally. My generation has had to deal with this my whole playing career. I feel that's what women must do, whereas men can focus on just playing the game. That can be tiring sometimes because I just want to play football. But there's still so much wrong within the football community and if nobody says anything, it's never going to change. If I say something, maybe somebody else will speak up, and then somebody else, and so on.

I am part of Team Human Rights, which is an athlete advocacy group established by the Human Rights Association in Finland. The team also includes other footballers such as Tinja Riikka Korpela, Riku Riski, Linda Ruutu and Essi Sainio, as well as Panu Autio, the executive director of the Finnish football player union. We aim to promote human rights in the sports community and improve athletes’ understanding of human rights problems in sports.