Mylena Gomes Pedroso 

Before becoming known on the football pitch, Mylena built her game in futsal and even won youth titles including the South American Futsal Championship and Brazilian Futsal Championship.

Away from football, she has described herself as someone who enjoys watching series, reading books, and spending time with friends and family.

Balancing football with Civil Engineering was part of her routine at Internacional, and she viewed education as important for both professional and personal growth.

Clube Juvenil was not just a childhood club for Mylena — she trained there from age five to 13, and her father later called it the “launchpad” of her career.

She left home at just 13 or 14 years old, which meant learning how to cook, wash clothes, clean the house, change schools, and build a new routine away from her family.

Some boys would laugh, talk behind her back, or avoid passing her the ball when she first started playing futsal — but that early resistance became part of her foundation.

Mylena almost wrote a fairytale university-football chapter in China, finishing as the University World Cup’s top scorer after admitting she never imagined that would happen.

After sharing a video of her knee surgery and recovery, Mylena looked back on 2023 as a year that felt impossible at times, but ultimately made her stronger, more resilient, and deeply grateful.