大象传媒 Women's Footballer of the Year 2019: Ada Hegerberg profile

Video caption, Meet 大象传媒 Women's Footballer of the Year contender Ada Hegerberg

We are profiling each of the five nominees for the 大象传媒 Women's Footballer of the Year 2019 award. You can vote for your winner on the 大象传媒 Sport website until Thursday, 2 May at 09:00 BST (08:00 GMT). The result will be revealed on Wednesday, 22 May on 大象传媒 World Service.

Age: 23 Position: Forward Plays for: Olympique Lyonnais

Achievements in 2018

  • Won the Champions League and league title with Olympique Lyonnais
  • Finished the Champions League season with a record 15 goals and moved into the top 10 all-time scorers
  • Awarded the inaugural Women's Ballon d'Or

Did you know?

  • Hegerberg will not be at the Women's World Cup this summer - she has taken an indefinite break from international duty because of what she called a "lack of respect" for female players in Norway
  • Her sister Andrine plays for Paris St-Germain
  • After winning the Ballon d'Or, Hegerberg gave Brazil legend Roberto Carlos the trophy to look after for the remainder of the ceremony

In her own words

Greatest achievement of the past 12 months?

The biggest experience was winning the Ballon d'Or, although I want to say winning the Champions League. That's the highlight of my career - when I won the Ballon d'Or I was like 'wow, wow'. What a year it's been.

What was the first football shirt you owned?

It must have been from Roma, but I had Arsenal and Barcelona too. My brother is a hardcore Leeds fan so I also had a Leeds shirt. I had to.

Who's the most famous person on your phone?

Would you believe me if I said Cristiano Ronaldo?! No, it's Roberto Carlos. We took a selfie together at the Ballon d'Or and he asked me to send him the photo.

On being nominated for the 大象传媒 Women's Footballer of the Year...

It's amazing to be nominated. It's a big deal for me and a great honour. It's something that pushes me and gives me a lot of inspiration.

Finish this sentence: football for me is...

Life. It's life for a lot of people and that includes me.

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