Hilda Carlin is back in the Women’s League with Petio
31-year-old Hilda Karlin made a strong return to the football field.
When Petio beat Kalmar 1-0 in the women’s league, the former national team goalkeeper was in the team.
– I’m not going to take part in any training or anything like that, she says.
Four years ago belong Hilda Carlin Linköping is Sweden’s second goalkeeper behind Hedvig Lindahl, with an Olympic silver in 2016 as his best advantage.
But in May 2018, it was reported that Skåne was pregnant.
Then Karelin gave up football and since then has not played at all – until today.
When Petio second guard Nicole Pearson opted to leave the federation this summer, Norrbottings decided to call Carlin.
The 31-year-old played for the club between 2013-2017 and became a fan favorite.
– They called me at the end of August and asked if they could register me as an amateur in the team because they didn’t have a third goalkeeper. If there’s any club that I want to help out and give back, it’s Petio after four years I’ve been there. So of course I said yes to standing up if anything happened to their two guards, she says.
Second goalkeeper injury
When young second guard Deborah Itocaleo was injured a few weeks ago, the demand became acute.
He faced Petio Kalmar away on Sunday and then Carlin, now a mother of two, brought the family from Ystad to serve as second goalkeeper behind Amanda McGlynn.
I probably shocked most people after I got back, but that’s the case anyway. I actually went up yesterday with the family and we did a family trip and slept in a hotel etc. So it was fun.
How long have you played football since you left?
– If I’m going to be completely honest, at most I’ve been involved in training my almost three-year-old. So not much. However, I have started playing handball quite a bit, so I keep playing. I’m in the gym and I’m outside. But she says there was no football.
– It would probably go well if I needed to jump, but I hope I don’t have to, of course. But things will probably go well.
Missed the team picture
Piteå defeated Kalmar 1-0 after Hlin Eiriksdottir scored the only goal of the match. When the team then celebrated the win with a familiar victory photo, Hilda Karelin was not in the picture.
– No, but I did not really understand how I missed it … I ran to my children, they were sitting in the stands. So I miss taking pictures and stuff these days. They didn’t do that in my time. It was a bit of a shame, but I’ll make sure to come to the next session if there’s more, haha! I was too fast. They didn’t call me, so I’ve already reached out to my kids and husband, she says.
Piteå is one of the hottest teams in the series and will face Hammarby at home next week. Is the 31-year-old there too?
I’m going to be on the bench for the games now called for this fall, but I won’t be in any training sessions or anything like that. I did not receive any clear messages. This week we’ll see how it goes with Deborah.