Who Is Yolanda D'Souza? The Hat-Trick Queen Of India

Yolanda D'Souza's journey from Goa to the world stage is like no other. Often called 'The Hat-Trick Queen' and 'The Madonna of Goan Football', her exemplary victories and matches brought unprecedented wins in Women's Football in India. Young Yolanda started playing football with her brother Francisco and went with him to play in the nearby villages like Candolim and Parra and from there she went on to become the first woman to score an International hat trick for the Indian Women's Football team. 

Yolanda D'Souza's Journey from Goa to the World Cup

Her journey started from playing in her neighbouring villages to finally being a part of the Goa Football Association. In an interview with Goal Yolanda recalled some moments, "We had a friendly against Candolim. It became the first recorded (women's football) match. And then other villages started playing and we started playing friendlies before we started getting support from the GFA (Goa Football Association)." During the 70s and 80s, Yolanda was at the peak of her career and even received Bakshi Bahaddar Jivbadada Kerkar Award by the Government of Goa in 1979 and was also voted "Player of the Decade" by the Women's Football Federation of India (WFFI) in 1980.

Her stellar career and historic moments along the way make us feel inspired by her journey and another moment worth remembering was the Adams Vs Eves match in Panjim, Goa in 1973, where the women won against men with the score of 3-1. From there her journey takes a pick. Most of the North Goa villages had women's football teams but the village Yolanda hailed from- Calangute did not. She recalls saying, "Calangute had many athletes - most of them coming from my school. So I caught hold of some of my friends and I showed them how to play the game on the beach. Some of the boys asked us to come to the ground and so we started playing with the boys."

She has scored hat-tricks in every debut match and won! "The title of 'Hat-trick Queen' was befitting her record of scoring a hat-trick in each of her debuts - for Calangute Village against Candolim in 1975, for Goa at the 1976 Nationals at Sultanpur and for  India vs Swedish club BET in her international debut match at Lakhimpur in 1976." as mentioned by Goal. 

State-Level Hockey and Badminton Players

Yolanda was not only a Football player but also a hockey and badminton player. She mentions how no sport during the 70s and early 80s was very professional, so every sport she played was out of passion and love for that sport and representing it at the national or state level. She was the State player in both hockey and badminton. She told how she swiftly changed to football and why, "Before I could represent India in hockey, I shifted to football because the backing that we got for football wasn't the same that we got for hockey. In fact, we were very good in hockey and I was selected for the India team but unfortunately that year we did not go to Russia because of some reason and immediately after that, I joined football."

In her International debut in 1976 Indian women's Football team got a total of 7 wins and that also marked Yolanda as the only player to score a hat-trick for the team. Yet soon after the World Cup of 1981, Yolanda left football to pursue her ever-lasting passion for Arts.

Her Passion- Arts

She narrates why she left football, "When I played football, I was also studying arts. In fact, on many occasions, I wanted to leave (football) because art is something I wanted to do till I die but football is something that has a timeline. You cannot go on playing forever." She further added, "So I decided that once I stopped playing football, it must be Arts because you cannot serve two masters at one time. Art was also my passion and it takes as much time as football. Even if I wanted to be a coach, it had to be your whole self."

Her story not only inspires us but also brings to light that women have the full potential to excel in their respective fields and also strive to fulfil their passions and their dreams. Women should not be expected to fit into one role. Yolanda's trailblazing career and historic hits have made her immortal but her resilience and determination to pursue her passion- arts makes her even more dynamic.