Wood you believe it? The footballer who made Euro trophy cases on the Wirral | OneFootball

On the Wirral, to the west of Birkenhead and behind a hospital and a Toby Carvery, is Arrowe Park, a 250-acre country park. This is one of the many fields of play for Yana Daniëls, a footballer and a carpenter, and one of the more solitary and spacious.

There is something to be said for the similarities between the art of carpentry and Daniëls’s sport, of the precision born of graft and execution, although crafted by hand rather than foot. But perhaps more to be said about the balance of life, control and chance.

This year Daniëls, who has left Liverpool at the end of her contract and has 45 caps for Belgium, has spent time making her own contribution to Euro 2025. She did not make the Belgium squad for the tournament but instead she has handcrafted the boxes for every player-of-the-match trophy in a converted Wirral garage, with wood from Arrowe Park.

Each box is engraved with the matchday number, date and venue, above a proudly printed “Made by Yana Daniëls”. Alexia Putellas, Aitana Bonmatí and Chloe Kelly are among those who have been handed them in Switzerland.

“The front lid slides in and out through a groove and the entire box is made from sustainable wood, no hinges or screws,” says Daniëls, who set up her own business a year and a half ago. “It’s 100% sustainable, which is something I care deeply about.”

Perhaps more than most footballers, the former Belgium international has had to plan ahead. A decade on from a career-threatening injury, we speak after she has completed an intense training session followed by an hour-and-a-half commute home.

“I realised how quickly things can change, from playing to not having a football job. I think that helped me think about future plans,” says Daniëls, a self-professed “planning geek” who studied agro-biotechnology at university.

“When you get older you start to realise: ‘How long will I play on for? Will I need to find a normal job?’ Your body gets tired, the young players come up, and they are really good. You start doubting yourself. You know one day you have to retire. I think that scares a lot of people.”

Carpentry was an interest developed through DIY requests for the changing rooms at Liverpool as well as from many teammates. A table for a physio’s front room, wall decor for Laura Coombs, placemats for Gilly Flaherty and personalised racks for her teammates’ boots were all made, mainly from wood sourced from Arrowe Park. Some days the wood might be from other local parks, and on others Daniëls would get a message from a friend saying: “Tree chopped down, it’s here, come get it.”

Across her career Daniëls has played in nearly every position and was called “a manager’s dream” by the then Liverpool manager, Matt Beard. Off the pitch it seems as if the carpentry has helped her. “Sometimes we are locked in a football world, which can be quite brutal,” she says. “Football is a business. Sometimes, you’re just a little number and you can be replaced the next day if they want.”

The 33-year-old has had to be resourceful throughout her life. She remembers fondly the chalet she holidayed in as a child – handmade with local wood by her parents – as a core memory of creation and comfort. But it has not all been plain sailing. In 2015 she spent six months working as a zookeeper while recovering from a lateral cruciate ligament tear, an injury that sidelined her for two years. After the contract with Liverpool ran out this summer, she travelled across eight European countries in a hand-refurbished campervan with her partner and long-time teammate Jasmine Matthews, accompanied by their cockapoo, Alfie.

The financial reality of women’s football is changing but we are witnessing the first generation who can make any kind of living playing the game. Most leave it with little financial security. “It has changed in the last two or three years; the money is going up. Even an 18-year-old can have a full-time income,” she says. “We were never able to live that way, so we knew we had to have a backup plan.

“It’s a totally different mindset for young players now. They are fully invested in football and that’s the only thing they do. But I think it’s so important that you don’t just focus on football. I think you can get quite isolated.”

Daniëls’s company, The Woodcycle, has benefited from a development programme that aims to help female players with their careers after retirement. The programme, called The Second Half, has benefited from the collaboration and guidance of people in the game such as Karen Carney and Kim Little.

“It’s about having the right team around you,” Daniëls says. “It’s nice that ex-players can prove that you can do so much more than just football. They helped me massively, but I was surprised by the number of people who wanted to help.

“You’re quite independent as a footballer, and then you need to share your ideas outside of it. It is hard at the start, but once you open up, there are a lot of people willing to help.”

Header image: [Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian]