Luso-American athlete selected to join Portuguese National U-23 team

The young athlete  Hailey Pereira, 19 years old, is one of the 22 players called by national coach José Paisana, for Portugal Under 23 soccer team.

The team will face two friendly games, against England and Sweden.

Hailey is a girl of Portuguese descent, who studies physiotherapy at Coastal Carolina Univer-sity.

“The Portuguese team faces the Bristish counterpart on April 6, in Marinha Grande, followed by the game against Sweden, on the 10th, in Leiria”, adds Portuguese Socccer Association. “Both games are scheduled to start at 4 pm [local time]”.

Among the players called up by the National Coach, there are also footballers from CS Marítimo, FC Famalicão, FC Nantes, LANK Vilaverdense, Le Havre AC, OL. Marseille and SL Benfica – among others.

The international debut of Hailey Pereira, who will wear the number 19 shirt, will put the Portuguese-American player against two of the best U-23 women’s teams in the world – England (4th best) and Sweden (3rd).

Before playing for Coastal Carolina Univer-sity, Hailey played for Bryant University, in Rhode Island, where her talent quickly prevailed – she was the best player of the 2018-2020 season. 

In Eastern New York’s Olympic Development Program (ODP), she was ranked among the top 80 pledges nationwide what got her the Patricia Louise Masotto and Brenda Driscoll Scholar-ship of The Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA ). 

Her soccer history also includes participations at New York Xtreme, Force FC and training sessions at the Red Bulls Development School.

Besides her soccer talents, Haley was an honor roll student (member of the National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society and Science National Honor Society) at the Liceu de Mahopac, NY, where she graduated, she 

Hailey was born in Mt. Kisco, in the New York county of Westchester.

Her grandparents on the father side are the emigrants José Lopes Pereira and Maria Virgínia Pereira, born in Leiria-where her father, Jorge Pereira, was also born, who was only 10 months old when he emigrated to Ossining. 

The Pereiras, who also lived in Tarrytown, now make Carmel, NY their home.

“Hailey has been playing since she was 3 years old, influenced by me – I also played soccer at Iona College, where I graduated, and my father, who played in Portugal”, says Jorge Pereira, speaking exclusively to the newspaper LUSO- AMERICAN from Portugal, where he arrived on Sunday, with his daughter for this great adventure.

He considers Hailey “a very versatile player, who is both a wing defender and a central midfielder.

A fan of Benfica (her father supports Porto…), the Portuguese descendant had to obtain Portuguese nationality in the middle of the pandemic (“it wasn’t easy at all”, reveals Jorge Pereira) to be able to wear the selection’s kit – “which makes her truly honored, and nervous at the same time. 

After all, it is the realization of a dream. She waited many years for this opportunity to happen.

Unfortunately, the pandemic, COVID-19 postponed the dream”. But did not make it impossible!