Arsenal’s first female scout, Suzana Garcia, has spoken to L’Equipe this week about her journey as a Black Muslim woman trying to make it in the men’s game and how that has helped other women find a place.
When Suzana Garcia became Arsenal’s first female scout in 2022, it marked a breakthrough in more ways than one. The 30-year-old from Lognes, east of Paris, had grown up in football, with a brother and mother who both played, but saw no pathway for herself as a Black Muslim girl.
With no local girls’ team to join, she set one up at 16, coaching and guiding 20 players while earning her badges.
The road to Arsenal has not been without pain for Garcia. A spell coaching at Nice ended after she said she was met with racism and hostility. “I quickly saw what racism was,” she said. “The persistent stares that land on you, I was scrutinised with contempt during the sets, I was spoken to rudely. I ended up going back to Paris.”
She threw herself into work at Noisy-le-Grand, unpaid and often overlooked, but determined to keep going. “When you’re part of the minority, there’s always a problem, a document that gets lost, an extra document that’s asked for at the last minute,” Garcia said.
The turning point came watching PSG against Manchester United in 2019. Seeing women on the visitors’ staff gave her the conviction she needed to take her chances in England.
Garcia learned English, moved to London, and joined the Arsenal Community Coach Development Programme. The club backed her through qualifications and, in 2022, offered her a role scouting for the men’s academy. “I came from the suburbs, I was a Black Muslim girl, it seemed impossible,” she said. “I was so proud… I cried. I’d come from so far.
“There are plenty of times when people don’t believe me [that I work for Arsenal],” she admitted. “Arsenal is a family. Right after I gave birth, my boss and colleagues came to my house to assemble some furniture. They also informed me that there were more women at the training centre, thanks to my fight, and that four more had been recruited.”
Her path has been long and often hostile, but she sums it up simply: “You can do it, I’m the proof.”
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