Christiane Endler - The Magician
SOCCER - GOALKEEPER - CHILEAN NATIONAL TEAM - PARIS SAINT GERMAIN
ARCHETYPE: THE MAGICIAN
Day 27/135
Athletic Accomplishments
As a kid, Christiane Endler played everything. She tried tennis, swimming, hockey, basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics before focusing exclusively on soccer. But that dynamic multisport background gave her the understanding of positioning, physicality, and her own athleticism, which allowed her to switch from playing forward to goalkeeper at age 15.
Not 3 years later, she began playing professionally, with her career including stops at Everton, Colo-Colo (Chile), Chelsea, and Valencia, before landing at Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, where she has solidified her position as one of the best keepers in the world.
In 2019, Endler was voted best keeper of the French league led both PSG and the Chilean women’s national team reach heights they’d never reached before. For Chile, that meant qualifying for their first ever Women’s World Cup. Though they did just missed the cut to make it out of the group stage, Endler played spectacularly and gained an international following.
For PSG, her shutout performance in the Coupe de France Féminine final led to PSG winning their first ever major trophy, breaking Lyon’s 6 season streak. It also meant competing in the 2019 Champion’s League.
Character Archetype: The Magician
The Magician
Chilean goalkeeper Christiane Endler is nothing short of spectacular. You may remember all six-foot-two of her denying shot after shot from the U.S. Women’s National Team in the Group Stage of the 2019 World Cup. For 90 minutes, Endler was seemingly the only defender on the Chilean team, single handedly holding off a relentless offensive assault.
Though the U.S. won 3-0, Endler won Player of the Match for her six huge saves in what would have been a bloodbath for nearly any other keeper in the world.
According to soccer writer Grant Wahl, U.S. forward Christen Press will “see Endler in her nightmares.”
Endler is fast, powerful, decisive, and agile. She is quick to the ground and can punch a ball into oblivion. She bends the world and defies physics, making impossible things look easy. She’s part-Wonder Woman, part-jaguar, all magic.