Bára Votíková Says Watching Goal Against Arsenal Gives Her ...

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 16: Goalkeeper Barbora Votikova of Tottenham Hotspur during the Barclays ... [+] Women´s Super League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on December 16, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)

Last week, Czech goalkeeper Bára Votíková became only the second woman from her country to play in the Women's Super League, producing a Player of the Match performance as her team defeated Arsenal.

The 27-year-old Votíková had missed the best part of a year after rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament performing on the biggest stage for Paris Saint-Germain in April 2022 during the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg against Olympique Lyonnais. Back-pedaling, she twisted her knee in an innocuous incident which left her writhing in pain and out of the game for almost ten months.

When she returned earlier this year, she had been replaced in the PSG and Czech national side and her two-year contract in the French capital was coming to an end. Votíková was in need of a new challenge and that came from Tottenham Hotspur who offered her the chance to resurrect her career in the WSL, signing her on a two-year deal until 2025. Despite being given the number one shirt at Spurs, Votíková had to be patient for her chance. After a stand-out World Cup with Jamaica, Becky Spencer started the first nine league games in Spurs' goal.

"It's hard to go through such an injury," Votíková admits to me, "because you are out of football for at least eight months - I think I was out for ten months - and then I was ready to get back to the best goalkeeping version of myself but I didn't get the opportunity at PSG, then I didn't get much opportunity at Spurs, not even in the national team. This period was kind of crazy and hard to take for me, going through some personal battles and challenges, but I'm very positive. It makes you stronger."

After just a couple of appearances during routine home wins in the FA Continental Cup, Votíková was handed a third start in the competition away to the holders and Spurs' arch North London rivals, Arsenal. Going into the game, coach Robert Vilahamn also motivated her with an extra incentive.

"He told me that this is my opportunity and then we will see if I'm going to get the chance and the opportunity to play on Saturday in the league. The cup game went really well for me, I felt really good in the game after a very, very long time to be honest. It was my first proper, big game after maybe a year and a half. I'm so happy that it went so well for me. After the game, he told me I was going to be playing on Saturday which I was very excited about."

Votíková was retained in the team for the weekend's league match - also against Arsenal - but this time, a showpiece occasion, at home in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. She excelled, making several key saves and becoming the first Spurs goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in the women's North London Derby.

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 16: Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Barbora Votikova celebrates their first ... [+] goal during the Barclays Women's Super League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on December 16, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

She also become the second woman, after her former Slavia team-mate Kateřina Svitková, first at West Ham United and now at Chelsea, to play in the WSL. As Votíková told me, ‘"it's very nice to make a "Czech-mark" in this prestigious league in England but I haven't really thought about this."

More importantly, it was Votíková's courageous short pass under pressure on her own goalline, which instigated the flowing move which broke the Arsenal press and led to Martha Thomas scoring the game's only goal. "Robert brought this playing style," she told me, "like Tottenham-style - into the team. This is the football we want to be playing, we want to be brave in the build-up and be able to play out. This goal that happened - I don't remember how many passes it was - but it was so beautiful."

"Of course there is big pressure on you and there's a big risk that the forward is going to catch you there but sometimes the risk is worth it. I watched the video of the goal, the eight passes, I got goosebumps when I was watching it back."

Votíková is also renowned in her country outside of the game, having written a book, appeared in two films and gained almost half a million subscribers to her YouTube channel which she has run for over a decade. The self-styled "crazy YouTuber" continues to make fast-paced, irreverent video blogs which have attracted partnerships with Samsung, Adidas and Proctor & Gamble leading her to become one of the highest female earners in her country on the platform.

Despite playing outside Czechia since 2021, Votíková's content remains in her native language, potentially restricting her audience. It is a decision she will stick with for the time being. "I was of course thinking about making my videos in English," she told me, "but I don't think I'll be doing it because for me, it's more about the community that I'm in touch with via my blogs. I like the creative side of making videos and editing it. I really like the process but I also like to be in touch with my community."

"I started my YouTube channel when I was 16 and ever since then I was living and sharing this journey with my followers. Now I'm sticking to the Czech ones, who have been with me, some of them, since day one."

Four years ago, Votíková made the decision to come out on her YouTube channel, which led to her suffering online abuse. She said to me that "I got some criticism and some hate comments but I think it's the same everywhere. It doesn't matter what country it is, I think there's always going to someone who's having a problem with it but I think Czechia is a safe place when it comes to coming out."

Looking ahead to 2024, Votíková's Czech national team will go into the next edition of the UEFA Nations League among the 16 top-ranked teams in League A after securing promotion from League B last autumn. The next Nations League will also serve as the qualifiers for the following year's European Championship, a competition no Eastern European nation, with the exception of the currently suspended Russians, has reached since 2009.

Two weeks before her shattering ACL injury, Votíková suffered the agonizing heartbreak of losing a play-off for the UEFA Women's Euro in England on a penalty shoot-out to Switzerland. Now, ranked in the top group of European nations, she acknowledges that her country may never have a better chance of making a major tournament.

"It seems like it's our best chance now. We will see, we need to make some good results. Obviously we will be playing really good teams, high-quality teams. The chance from there is very big. It would be one of my dreams come true if we made it to the Euros."

For now, Votíková is back at home in Plzeň for the Christmas break. She told me that she will still be indulging in some festive drinks with her sister as she revealed in the Tottenham Hotspur match program for the game against Arsenal. "We are sticking to the plan and the family tradition to be having some shots and drinks during Christmas with my family and my sister and my cousins."