Pipa is the ninth new signing for the women's football

Vanessa Filipa Santos Rodrigues, or simply Pipa, is the 9th signing for the women's football team of Benfica, a project that will start with great ambition for the 2018/19 season.

For the athlete, this step is fulfilling a dream, because she arrives at her favorite. The invitation makes her very happy. 

“I did not know what to do. I remember that I had gone to a match of Estoril-Praia and I received a phone call saying that Benfica was going to do a women's football team and that they really wanted me to be part of the project. I looked around and thought they were fooling me, that it was not true. We spoke and I did not tell anyone because I could, not even my parents. The invitation from Benfica was my dream, I wanted it so much that I could not believe it was about to come true”, revealed Pipa to BTV.

At the age of 24, the defender/midfielder arrives at Luz coming from Estoril-Praia, a club she represented for the last two seasons. Before, she represented Atlético Ouriense and Fundação Laura Santos. Playing for the canaries she racked up 42 matches and scored nine goals.

“I was not very lucky at the beginning because my parents were against me playing football. However, I was lucky that a gentleman saw me on the street playing and invited me to go and do a trail at the Fundação in the district of Guarda. So it was and I spent five years there. Then I receive the invite from Ouriense, a team that had been promoted to the 1st Division and had high ambitions. It was Champion, won the Portuguese Cup. In my first year, we went to the Champions League, we went through to the knock-out stage and still today we are the only team that managed to do it. After three years at Ouriense, I received the invitation from Estoril-Praia and I spent two years there”, she remembered.

At the time of presenting herself to the Benfica fans, Pipa shared his strengths and left a promise:“My strengths are the long pass, I have a good long pass; I am brave; I'm hardworking. I can promise that I will give everything I got for the jersey I'm going to represent.”

Pipa is also an international for Portugal, a national team she has already represented on 13 occasions. She has scored three goals.

In terms of titles, she won the National Championship and the Portuguese Cup for Atlético Ouriense in 2013/14.

“When Benfica enters a competition is to win it. I think our goal are to clinch the promotion, to go as far as possible in the Cup, to win the Portuguese Cup. To do a good season and to stay at Benfica for a long time”, she guaranteed.

NEW SIGNINGS SECURED

Text: Marco Rebelo

Pics: Tânia Paulo / SL Benfica