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EXCLUSIVE: In conversation with Ada Hegerberg

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In an exclusive interview with Sporting Her, Ada Hegerberg shares her thoughts on the upcoming UWCL game against Juventus, DAZN’s incredible numbers, and her return to the pitch.

Upcoming Game Against Juventus

With the UWCL quarter-finals beginning on Mar. 22, I had the opportunity to sit down with Ada and discuss the upcoming game. The seven-time UWCL champions face Juventus, who came through an intriguing Group A to overcome the likes of Chelsea and go to the quarter-finals.

“First of all, you don’t take easily on an opponent, like Juventus. We played them already last season. Unfortunately, I couldn’t play those games, but they were tough games.”

Lyon faced Juventus in the Round of 32 of the 2020-21 season, and it’s fair to say that the first leg was a nail-biter. Ada recalls how difficult the game was with a score of 3-2 to Lyon, but the squad beat Juventus in the second leg with an aggregate score of 6-2. However, this was the previous season, and Juventus has undergone significant changes, including a new coach. Former Arsenal coach Joe Montemurro took over as Juventus coach ahead of the 2021-22 season and has since modified how the team plays.

“You know, Montemurro is a tactical guy. And I’m sure he’s prepared his team in the best way possible. So we’re not taking these games easily. We need to be sharp; we need to be on top in the way we play, combining credit chances.” 

Lyon is looking to make a comeback this season after losing last season to their arch-rivals Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals of the UWCL and then losing the league title to them. They want to win the UWCL for the record 8th time, and Barcelona is in their way again just like they were in 2019, only this time, Barcelona is a completely transformed team. Still, the French giants want the title of the best European Team back, and the team is ready to make that happen. 

“I’m very excited about this (UEFA Women’s Champions League) because we have been waiting a long time to get the Champions League Football back. It’s been a long winter, I can tell you. So this is the season’s highlight, and I mean the quarter-finals – already we’re playing at great stadiums. A lot of people will be watching, through YouTube channel with DAZN. So, everything is settled for good football so now its up to us to perform really.”

 

DAZN’s Incredible Numbers

Ada Hegerberg is the brand ambassador for DAZN, who emphasized how important the platform has been in providing UWCL coverage and broadcast all over the globe. DAZN is a dedicated live-sports streaming service that made a historic deal worldwide covering and broadcasting UEFA Women’s Champions League. And it’s fair to say that it has been an enormous success, and the numbers prove that as well. 

“I’m just incredibly happy that now we’ve finally got a platform, DAZN came in.. “smack”.. gave us a platform. The statistics have been amazing. The feedback has been enormous.” 

Here are some of the data for the Group Stages provided by DAZN:

  • Total Views on DAZN UWCL YouTube Channel in Group Stages: 14M+
  • Top countries by views on YouTube:
        • France
        • UK
        • Spain
        • Germany
        • USA
        • Italy
  • Most Viewed Match on YouTube: Barcelona vs Arsenal (Oct. 5)
  • Total # of Territories tuned into DAZN UWCL YouTube Channel: 216

And this is just the YouTube data. The figures for the DAZN streaming platform are equally spectacular. The statistics show that people will watch it if we offer women’s football a platform. With this, we would also witness the growth and development of women’s football as well as the money would come in, which has been the number one objection voiced by many.

Speaking about DAZN – “you can see that the response is enormous, more than 200 markets have been watching, it shows that there’s been a lot of interest, you just need to give us the platform, and we’ll deliver.”

 

Ada’s Return to the Pitch 

Ada Hegerberg is undoubtedly one of the world’s most prolific attackers. After a successful season with Lyon, Ada became the first recipient of the Ballon d’Or Feminin in December 2018. Lyon revealed in January 2020 that Ada had sustained an ACL injury and would be out for the next 21 months. After months of hard effort, she finally made her comeback against BK Hacken in the UWCL group stage. 

 “Being back on the pitch is incredible. Every time when I step on the pitch, I feel like a little kid again; I’ve been repeating myself for so many years now. But I definitely feel like a kid as I am very fortunate to kind of make my comeback. Being taken away from football is a nightmare of an athlete. And I am just getting back to it. I just wanted to enjoy myself because we sometimes forget that football is a game.” 

Ada scored her first two goals in the league against rivals Paris Saint-Germain, and Lyon won the thrilling encounter 6-1. It goes without saying that the GOAT is back, and scoring a brace in one of the league’s biggest games means a lot to Ada and the club. 

 

 “We’re very lucky and fortunate to do what we’re doing and being paid for it. So I’m slowly getting up to speed; I think the callback or the return, you could say, has been great. I feel like I’ve been fine. My goal back and slowly finding them. My style of playing. So this is something that I find a lot of joy and working on every day in training.” 

Ada Hegerberg is an inspiration to everyone, and her path back to the pitch demonstrates that it takes desire and hard effort to achieve anything in life. The UWCL returns on Mar. 22, and we can’t wait to see Ada play again. Let it be known that the UWCL’s leading goal scorer is back, and she is determined to reclaim the title of the greatest team in Europe. 

 

Written by Unnati Naidu

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