Swiss champion at 16, international debut at 17

After initially playing football with her siblings as a child and gaining her first club experience at FC Weesen, Egli moved to the FC Zurich academy at twelve. At the same time, she left home to complete a three-year training programme at the Swiss Football Association’s training centre in Biel.

Egli was promoted to FC Zurich’s first team in the 2022/23 season, while still just 15, having scored 13 goals in 12 second division matches matches for their U-21s. On 8 August 2022, Egli then made her debut in the UEFA Women’s Champions League against Icelandic side KÍ Klaksvík, making her the youngest player in the tournament’s history. In the 2–2 draw against FC Basel in March 2023, she not only scored her first goal in the Women’s Super League but also provided the assist for FCZ’s second goal. By the end of the season, Egli had made nine appearances, scored two goals and provided three assists, as well as winning the Swiss championship.

She was called up to the senior national team for the first time at the start of the following season, having already scored 17 times in 39 matches for various Swiss youth national teams. Egli finally established herself as a regular starter in Zurich, scoring five in ten matches by the winter break. In January 2024, she eventually moved the 150 kilometres to Freiburg.

Egli scored her first goal for her new club on her Bundesliga debut and followed it up with a second later in the second half of the season. In February 2024, she finally made her debut for the Swiss senior national team, for whom she has made four appearances to date. In total, the striker has played 48 times for SC Freiburg over the past two and a half years, scoring eight goals and providing three assists.

Three facts about Leela

• Egli played alongside her Swiss compatriot Lia Kamber in the U-16s national team and subsequently progressed through all the youth ranks with her, right up to the senior national team. She also knows Judith Steinert, Samantha Steuerwald and Eileen Campbell from her time in Freiburg

• She comes from a football-mad family: With an older sister and two older brothers, all of whom are football enthusiasts, Leela also discovered her passion for the sport at an early age.

• Egli scored four of her eight Bundesliga goals in stoppage time, all of them as a substitute.

The reactions to the transfer

“The move to Union is a significant step for me and feels really good,” said Egli on her move to Union. “During discussions with club officials, it quickly became clear that their conditions and ambitions are a perfect fit for me. I’m delighted that I already know some of my teammates and can now contribute my strengths to the team and the club.”

Union’s director of women’s professional football, Jennifer Zietz, meanwhile had this to say on the promising young striker. “Although Leela is only 19 years old, she has already completed four seasons in professional football. This underlines her great potential, which we want to develop further together. She will give us additional options in attack and increase the versatility of our attacking play.”