This week, Tribal Football.com talked to Deyna Castellanos, the Venezuelan international, about where she intends to play professionally once her college career ends in a few months, her hopes for the Venezuelan national team in the future and her social media presence along with her ambassador role for FIFA.
Deyna Castellanos, the Venezuelan international, is a world class star who is finishing her collegiate career this season at Florida State University this fall and then will turn professional. Castellanos has been capped at the youth and full national team level and is now a senior at Florida State University, which won an NCAA title in 2018; she is one of the favorites to win the college national player of the year award (MAC Herman Trophy). Castellanos scored 19 goals (second in the NCAA) in 2017 and the second-most goals scored in a single season in FSU history, trailing only Mami Yamaguchi's 24 goals in 2007. (Yamaguchi went onto a professional career in Sweden with Umea and Halmstad, in Japan with Nippon TV Beleza and Okayama Yunogo Belle, in the States with the WUSA's Atlanta Beat and played with her national team, where she was in late consideration for the 2011 Women's World Cup team that won the title. Yamaguchi now plays in the semiprofessional United Women's Soccer League for AFC Ann Arbor near Detroit, Michigan).
Besides an outstanding collegiate career, Castellanos has compiled a plethora of awards on the international stage. She was a FIFA Best Female Player of the Year Top 3 Finalists (2017), when she was selected as a finalist over Sam Kerr who had set an all-time and single season goal scoring mark that season for Sky Blue FC as well as key goals for the Matildas, drawing the wrath of Megan Rapinoe—which typically is a sign that you have arrived on the international scene when Rapinoe turns her vitriol on you. Rapinoe said at that time, "The award just doesn't hold a lot of weight when you've got someone on the list ''ve never heard of. It signals to us and it signals to the rest of the world that FIFA doesn't really care." It is quite disingenuous of Rapinoe, one of the self-proclaimed leaders on women's football in the world today, that she hadn't of heard of her. If she still doesn't know of Castellanos, she will over the next year or two after she turns professional." The final list was compiled from input from national team coaches, national team captains, media representatives and fans, with each group getting a one-quarter weighting.
Castellanos became just the third current NCAA student-athlete to be a top 10 nominee for the FIFA Best Female Player of the Year Award, after two Canadians—Christine Sinclair (2002) from the University of Portland and now Portland Thorns in the NWSL and Kadeisha Buchanan (2015) from the University of West Virginia and now Olympique Lyon, while Castellanos was the first to be among the top three award finalists.
She was also a top 3 finalist for the 2017 FIFA Puskas Award for goal of the year when she was with the Venezuelan U-17's at the Women's World Cup in Jordan in 2016. Her goal against Cameroon from the center circle was outstanding and she won the Bronze Ball and Bronze Boot in that tournament. She was the only female scorer among the 10 goals in consideration for the award and made the final three along with Arsenal's Olivier Giroud and South African goalkeeper Oscarine Masuluke, who at the time was with Baroka FC and is now with TS Sporting in South Africa.
Castellanos scored five goals in seven games at the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, earning Bronze Ball and Bronze Boot honors, as Venezuela finished fourth for the second consecutive time—in 2014, she was tied for the Golden Boot award on 6 goals with her teammate Gabriela Garcia (who now plays with Deportivo de La Coruna in Spain). Castellanos now holds the all-time record for scoring in the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup with 11 goals. She also led all goal scorers with 7 in the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (for developing nations) as Venezuela won the silver medal. In addition, she scored four goals against Bolivia in the Copa America Femenina 2018 (a 8-0 win), which doubled as the 2019 Women's World Cup qualifiers, but Venezuela finished third and out of WWC race with WWC finalists Argentina and Brazil in their group.
Deyna Castellanos in action for FSU. Photo Source: Courtesy Florida State University Athletics
Florida State is now 4-0-2 (W-T-L) with the two defeats coming in narrow losses on the road to UCLA (2-1) and USC (3-2 in overtime) on August 29 and September 1 respectively, with Castellanos scoring her club's second against USC from a long-range shot into the top left corner of the net. She discussed the importance of those matches, even though FSU lost both games, "[It is] for when we get to, later in the season, to know what to do to be perfect; it is very important for us to be playing against these teams." She particularly cited the more physical play that they encountered in their western trip as different as what they face typically in their region.
When asked about where she intended to play club soccer after her college season ends later this calendar year, considering between the U.S.-based NWSL, Europe and South America, she had no hesitancy when she said, "My goal is to go to Europe after the season. [I'm] not focused on any [specific] countries right now." When asked why Europe is her target she said that, "The best soccer is there; I like the possession soccer that they have and the style and it is more like my style of play—the ball on the ground, passing and dribbling—that is why I am going to Europe."
Since she is still in college, NCAA rules prevent student-athletes from signing contracts with clubs or even with agents until their college season is finished, when seniors then can start that activity. She explained that in terms of finding an agent—for which we have seen huge growth recently in the women's game—and ultimately a club, "When that moment comes. I will see how I will handle it; for sure probably a lot of teams will reach out when they know the season is over."
When asked what Venezuela needs to do to improve their national team performances and perhaps make the 2023 expanded Women's World Cup, she replied, "Venezuela needs more support from our federation, from our government, from all the people who have the money and have interest in our job and support it." Most of Venezuelans from 2018 Copa America Femenina side are currently playing abroad and many play in the Colombian league.
Castellanos is also known for her 1.2 million followers on Instagram, an incredible number and streets more than some well-known actors and actresses. She explained, "I post about soccer, who I am and what I do. I am honest and transparent with my social media. Having a very big platform will open many doors when I finish school." She explained that she has had social media fans from all over Venezuela since she was 14-year-old. When she arrived in Tallahassee, Florida for school when she was 17, she had 200,000 followers, gaining 1 million in three-plus years. She has done this work on her own as again, due to NCAA rules, "I can't have people helping me."
Deyna Castellanos (in maroon) for FSU. Photo Source: Courtesy Florida State University Athletics
She also has added to her visibility abroad as a FIFA Ambassador at the 2018 Men's World Cup in Russia, 2019 Women's World Cup in France and 2018 U-17 Women's World Cup in Uruguay, "I was a [FIFA] Legend, how they call it, promoting the World Cup and posting on my experiences. They give you courses and you prepare yourself and I want to be a reporter so they had me do interviews to people in Russia and posted them on social media in Spanish, [focused on] the female side of the men's World Cup." During the 2018 World Cup in Russia, she explained that she conducted interviews with players, retired players, coaches, fans and even with the current FIFA President Gianni Infantino
Infantino launched the FIFA Legends program in 2016 shortly after his election as President of FIFA, "to bring football back to FIFA and FIFA back to football." The FIFA website states that, "The organization aims to reconnect with the roots of the beautiful game and the players and coaches that have helped write the history of the world's most popular sport, through the FIFA Legends Programme. It is a programme, not a title or a hall of fame, designed to bring together former top players and coaches from men's and women's football to promote and support football and its wider mission around the world."
Deyna Castellanos wants to be a journalist as a career. She is intelligent, fluent in Spanish and English, and will do well in her field, but she first will grace the football fields of Europe and continue to drive the improvement of the Venezuelan national team program, has she has done for years at the U-17 level. She also has huge potential to be a modern marketing force with her social media presence and can cut across markets and deliver access for companies for global programs at a level which only a few women players can do at only a domestic level (Alex Morgan, and Sam Kerr are some pan-national exceptions).
She has had a strong career so far in American soccer through her four years at Florida State and it will be interesting to see how her career progresses in Europe. A television reporter who is based in Europe and has covered the last three Women's World Cup said that Castellanos will have a huge impact at the European Club level and that many teams will be vying to sign her to a long-term deal and build their side around her skills. Before she goes to Europe, she has a college season to finish and it will be interesting to see if she leaves for Europe with a second College Cup title to add to her international awards. She is definitely on the way to being an internationally recognized star, at the level of England's Lucy Bronze (who went to the University of North Carolina for one year), France's Wendie Renard, the Netherlands Vivianne Miedema, Norway's Ada Hegerberg and Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd of the U.S. It will be interesting to see how Deyna Castellanos progresses in her various interests over the next two years but we will be hearing of her exploits on the field and likely in sponsorship and advertising roles with companies in the seasons to come.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
