00:00Sixteen years ago, Colombia met Yoreli Rincón, its first number 10.
00:05In a land of magicians and dribblers, a girl appeared, raised among balls and neighborhood courts.
00:11Colombian women had never played in a World Cup when Yoreli's generation appeared to change history.
00:19Over the years, that little girl became one of the most iconic female soccer players Colombia has ever had.
00:26But his story with the national team ended too soon.
00:30Her absence was overshadowed by an alleged veto that had been discussed for years.
00:37which she herself reported and which was never officially acknowledged.
00:42And while Colombia grew like never before in women's football, even reaching the quarterfinals of a World Cup
00:49when they are older,
00:50An unanswerable question remained hanging in the air.
00:53What would that team have been like with Yoreli still on the field?
00:58She was one of those who paved the way.
01:01He was 16 years old when Colombia arrived in Germany to compete in the 2010 Under-20 World Cup.
01:07It was the country's first participation and that girl from Santander was playing without asking permission.
01:13He scored a great goal in the quarter-final against Sweden and helped lead Colombia to an unexpected semi-final.
01:20That was the day history changed.
01:24The team finished fourth.
01:26That year, while the world was focused on the World Cup in South Africa, in Germany,
01:31The beginning of a golden age for Colombia was quietly germinating.
01:36Among others, Yoreli, Daniela Montoya and Natalia Gaitán led that generation
01:41which showed that Colombian women could also face the world head-on.
01:46Sixteen years later, other girls took that story even further.
01:51Colombia beat Italy on penalties and won the bronze medal at the 2026 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland.
01:57a few days.
01:58For the first time, a women's Under-20 team from the country reached the podium and broke the barrier
02:03who had belonged to Yoreli Rincón's generation for so long.
02:08However, before they made history, Yoreli had already written hers.
02:14In 2010, after that Under-20 tournament, when there wasn't even any professional activity in our country,
02:20one of the faces of the generation that led Colombia to its first Women's World Cup
02:25It was Yoreli Rincón, in Germany 2011.
02:27He was at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
02:30She was chosen as the best player of the 2014 Copa América and returned to a World Cup in Canada in 2015.
02:36There were cases in Brazil, Sweden, Norway, the United States, and Italy.
02:40Back when, for a Colombian female footballer, making a name for herself abroad still meant venturing out practically alone.
02:48Life also took a heavy toll on him.
02:50A fractured fibula and ankle, suffered a few weeks before Rio 2016, kept her out of the Games.
02:56Olympics.
02:57She returned, continued playing, and in 2018, with the Women's League already underway, she was part of the Atlético Huila team that won
03:05the Women's Copa Libertadores.
03:07A true milestone.
03:09Those were beautiful and historic times, but he also disappeared from the national team.
03:14His last stint with Colombia came in 2018.
03:17While Colombia grew to reach, five years later, the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand,
03:24One of the female footballers who had helped build that path watched the matches from afar.
03:31A word always hovered around his absence.
03:35Beto.
03:35Rincón linked the beginning of his break with the national team to the complaints about the prize money he received.
03:42Atlético Huila,
03:43after winning that Libertadores Cup in 2018.
03:46Shortly afterwards, she was also among the female footballers who denounced problems within Colombian women's football.
03:53Lack of travel allowances, medical deficiencies, and inequalities in working conditions.
03:59Since then, she has maintained that she was no longer considered for reasons that went beyond the field.
04:06There was never any official recognition of that supposed Beto.
04:09Nelson Abadía, then the national team coach, always maintained that his decisions were strictly sporting.
04:18That's where the story took a turn.
04:19Now Colombia has new stars, others who wear the number 10 and another group that won a medal from Poland
04:27historic bronze.
04:28However, before the podium there was a fourth place, before this generation there was another that opened the door.
04:35And before Colombia got used to seeing women making history in a yellow jersey,
04:40There was a girl from the neighborhood who took the ball, raised her head, and showed the country how it could be played
04:48her first 10.
04:58Thank you.
04:58Thank you.
04:59Thank you.
