Misha Abarder sets off for Sweden to fulfil her Gothia Cup dream

The bags are packed, the goodbyes have been said, and a 15-hour journey via Istanbul awaits. For 13-year-old Misha Abarder, stepping onto the plane to Sweden is the realisation of a dream that began a decade ago on the local football pitches of Cape Town.

Misha is travelling to Gothenburg to compete in the 2026 Gothia Youth Cup as the youngest player on the Camps Bay Football Club under-16 girls squad.

First held in 1975, the Gothia Cup has grown into the largest and most prestigious youth football tournament on the planet. It is universally regarded as the youth equivalent of the FIFA World Cup. Every summer, thousands of teams descend on the Swedish city, turning it into a global festival of football.

This year features 1,963 teams from 79 nations. Camps Bay is one of just six teams representing South Africa. It is a place where future professionals are scouted and where young athletes test their mettle against the best in the world. For a teenager from South Africa, reaching this stage is a monumental feat.

“It is one of the biggest youth tournaments in the world,” Misha says. “It is like a dream come true to play in it, because it is like the World Cup for youth. If you play in it, you are one of the best.”

The reality of the trip took time to set in. The invitation arrived roughly a year ago during a routine match. Misha was sitting on the bench with a teammate when the under-16 coach approached them with a proposition to join the squad heading overseas.

“I was like, oh my gosh, I cannot believe this is happening,” Misha recalls. “I did not actually think it would happen. I thought it was just one of those things that people say.”

The intervening months were a blur of intense training, academic pressure, and a massive fundraising effort. Securing the funds to send a young athlete to Europe is a daunting task, one that was spearheaded by Misha’s mother. She organised a BackaBuddy crowdfunding campaign and coordinated events to cover the travel, accommodation, and tournament fees.

“It was hard work,” her mother, Laylaa Abarder said. “Our last fundraiser was in the middle of June. After that, my body almost crashed. It was like, you do not have to do anything anymore. We have reached the target, and we are ready to go.”

Now, her mother is travelling with the team to Sweden to assist the coaching staff to chaperone the girls. It is a massive personal step for her as well.

“I myself was scared of my own shadow,” her mother admits. “I did not want to get on a plane, and I did not want to see the world. I was happy to just stay in South Africa and know that I am safe here. But recently, over the last few years, the travel bug has bitten me. So when they said Misha is going to Sweden, I was like, hell yeah, I am going.”

While her mother boards the flight, her father and long-time coach, Gasant Abarder, is staying at home. Gasant has been a constant presence on the sidelines since Misha first kicked a ball at age three. He has guided her through the ranks, from being the only girl on an all-boys team to becoming a formidable defender.

The decision for Gasant to step back was highly intentional. For a time, he coached Misha directly at the club level, a dynamic that eventually created tension.

“Initially, it was fine, but you could see the relationship was starting to take a knock,” Misha’s mother explains. “I actually said to Gasant that he needed to not coach her team. I told him to coach anybody else, but not her team, because it was going to damage his relationship with her. She is not able to separate the two, and I do not think he is either, because they both are emotional and passionate about the game. Once Gasant stopped coaching, things were a lot smoother.” Gasant agreed that the separation is a necessary step in his daughter’s development.

“It is actually a nice feeling to let her go off on her own and have her spend some quality time with her mom, because it is always her and me,” Gasant says.

“I think for Misha, this time away from me is going to be good. She is with a squad of very lovable girls. They are a real special unit.”

Misha embraces the independence. She acknowledges her father’s massive influence on her growth but is ready to test her skills without his immediate supervision.

“Obviously, I need him, but I can do it without him,” she says. “He has helped me grow so much that I can do it by myself.” Her mother believes Misha will actually play with more freedom in Sweden.

“I think it would be a little bit less pressure for her,” she says. “When her dad is at all the matches and watching, she does try to put her best foot forward because she knows he is there. I do not think it will take away from knowing that he was always there supporting, but it will be less pressure.”

That freedom will be crucial on the pitches of Gothenburg. Playing as a centre-back, Misha is the last line of defence before the goalkeeper. It is a position of immense responsibility that requires reading the game, communicating effectively, and absorbing physical contact. She expects to face much older, taller, and more physical players from established European clubs.

“If a really tall or muscular girl is running towards me, I try to get her out of my mind and just focus on the game,” Misha explains.

“Just because they are big does not mean that they are going to push me. In the first five minutes, you prove yourself, and you show them that you are not scared and that they cannot walk all over you.”

This fierce confidence is a recent development. For years, Misha struggled with self-doubt, frequently comparing herself to her academically gifted older sister, Kehara.

“Misha has always been a little bit less book smart,” her mother says. “But we always say to Misha, you have got other qualities that Kehara does not have. Kehara cannot play soccer. You have the sporty side, and that is okay. Over the last two years, Misha’s confidence has grown because she is with a community now that believes in her, and she is starting to believe it herself.

“She needed to do something, and she did not want to do ballet like the rest of the girls,” her mother remembers. “I told her, ‘Just try it.’ She would say that the boys were going to laugh at her. I told her that she could do whatever she wanted. If she wanted to be a soccer star, she could go ahead and be a soccer star.

“One day, she came home with this yellow T-shirt with a big purple star on it, and she was over the moon. And Misha, so young, excited, and talented, said to me, ‘Mom, I got my T-shirt. I am a soccer star’.”

According to Laylaa, Misha has been telling her family that she expects to draw the attention of international scouts, joking that she will eventually play for AC Milan. It is a far cry from the three-year-old girl who first joined a local programme called Soccer Starz.

Among her luggage for Sweden, packed alongside the team kits and travel essentials, is an unexpected item. Misha is bringing an old pair of blue football boots. She only wore them for a season and a half, but they were the boots she trained in during the gruelling preparation for this exact tournament.

“I made so many memories in them,” Misha says. “I had so much fun during that period, and I am bringing them with me for memories.”

While Misha is taking a piece of her past to Sweden, the Abarder family remains highly realistic about her long-term future. Both parents view education as the ultimate priority.

Misha excels in mathematics and hopes to pursue a degree in accounting or law at the University of the Western Cape, an institution renowned for its women’s football programme.

“I would like for Misha to go to university and have a qualification,” Gasant says. “Through the university route, I think you get the best of both worlds with high-level football and quality education.”

Ten years after she first touched a football, Misha Abarder is ready to show the world what she can do. When asked what advice she would give to the three-year-old version of herself who was just starting out, her answer is resolute.

“Keep playing, even when it gets tough,” Misha says. “There are going to be times where you want to quit, where you feel like it is not your thing anymore. But when that happens, do not give up. Keep fighting, keep playing, because it will get better. You will show people how good you are.”

For now, the focus is purely on the experience ahead. Fans back in Cape Town can follow the Camps Bay squad through the official Gothia Cup app, which provides live updates, squad lists, and streaming links for select matches.

IOL