Ewa Pajor's journey from farm to fifth Women's Champions League final

The cinematic story of a girl from a tiny village may receive a Hollywood ending in the final of the Women's Champions League, but Ewa Pajor's entire 2024/25 season deserves the highest praise - the Pole broke her club records for effectiveness in front of goal after signing, earning her worldwide recognition.

Like most Polish female footballers at the start of the century, Ewa Pajor started playing against the odds; her parents saw her place on the farm, by the cows.

First the gym teacher, then the coaches quickly believed in her talent and from her first call-ups to youth teams she shone.

More than a decade ago, as a teenager, she was asked on national television whether she preferred the comparison to Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. It fell to the Portuguese, but it was the further part of her answer that was crucial: "I prefer them to see me as Ewa Pajor, not Messi in a skirt".

In 2025, the goal must be considered fulfilled - girls want to be like Pajor, and the scale of the footballer's recognisability could soar today.

The Pole arrived in Lisbon for her fifth career Champions League final. The previous four - in the colours of VfL Wolfsburg - ended in defeats. 

In 2016, Pajor did not come off the bench, in the 2018 final she played the full 90 minutes, in the 2020 match she scored an assist, and in 2023 she scored a goal (against her current employer, by the way).

But the trophy has not yet been lifted.

That may change, as Barcelona Femeni has grown into a powerhouse in women's football, and the Polish player's position is very different.

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A season that has already surpassed all expectations

Six goals and two assists - these are not the stats of the season, but of just four games for the Pajor since the beginning of May.

She finishes the 2024/25 season with hard-to-believe numbers - not only with a Pichichi, but as the top scorer of the season in the entire history of women's Barcelona.

Yes, Femeni has existed for a shorter time than the men's section, but it's still more than half a century, and no one has achieved a similar achievement: 25 goals and nine assists in the league, 11 goals in domestic cups, six goals and two assists in the Champions League.

A total of 42 hits (and 43 including the Catalan Cup) and 11 assists, beating Jennifer Hermoso's historic tally (41 goals in 2016/17).

It is also her personal career record (previously 30 goals in 2018/19). She started F League play with a double in her first game and finished with a double and an assist in her last, serving up five more hat-tricks along the way.

Ewa Pajor's last seasons in numbersFlashscore

And all this with aplomb, following a move from Germany.

The transfer from Wolfsburg alone brought an exponential increase in recognition for the player, who, with her typical modesty, refused to guess before the season how many goals she would score after joining the biggest stars in women's football.

So far, Ewa Pajor has maintained an incredible average: a goal involving her falls every 61 minutes (53 in 3227 minutes)!

This is why terms such as "máquina goleadora" (goal machine) or "reina del gol" (goal queen) in the leading Spanish media come as no surprise, while the word "killer" probably does not need to be explained: the day before the final, La Vanguardia chose her as a key figure in its 'heroes of the day' column in the rather exotic company of, among others, Luka Modricia (after announcing his retirement) and .... dictator Kim Jong Un (after the failed launch of a missile).

Why the instant results?

Pajor's long-term stay at Wolfsburg gave her a lot, but even two Frauen-Bundesliga goalscoring queen titles were no guarantee of a quick adaptation in Catalonia.

Described today as Barcelona's best transfer in the summer window, Pajor proved to be the missing piece of the Blaugrana puzzle.

On the map of Spanish women's football, Barcelona had been the hegemon for several years, only that the team lacked a typical number nine - a striker with a killer instinct, a fox of the penalty area ready to move for every ball, and without it committed to pressing and organising space for her colleagues.

Pere Romeu found her place in the team in no time, and with catch-up players like Alexia Putellas, Claudia Pina and Caroline Graham Hansen, success seemed inevitable. Goals, statistically, seemed inevitable. After all, Barcelona take complete control of the ball distribution in matches, and with every team playing for more hits until the end.

The team has achieved a cosmic goal balance of 128:16 in league play (an average of 4.3 goals and just over 0.5 lost per game) despite the other clubs' rapid progress.

Pajor regularly said in interviews over the course of the season that her locker room colleagues also influenced her great start.

She was joining the great Alexia Putellas or Aitana Bonmati, and they welcomed her with open arms from the first moments, making it easier to adapt and learn the Catalan style of playing the ball, where watching the game is crucial and the short game is more important than at Wolfsburg.

The 28-year-old has stressed in recent interviews that she is learning a lot and will certainly continue to develop. But.

Pajor's success and the Polish case

This is an issue that is particularly relevant in the context of the recognition of women's football on the Vistula. Ewa Pajor has proved to be a catalyst for interest, but Poland is still a long way away from most Western countries.

It wasn't until 2024 that a female footballer was snapped up by one of the sport's giants.

While successive goals at the club are grabbing media headlines and catching the eye of fans, the question of translating individual success into that of the national team remains.

Time will tell if the choice of the grand stadium in Gdansk to house the Red and White was the right one, as the road to filling the stands remains a long one.

A big image-building step was taken on the pitches of Gdańsk and Vienna at the end of 2024.

At that time, Ewa Pajor's goal and assist against Austria were among the key elements of the success in the Euro 2025 play-offs.

The historic promotion to the main tournament has raised hopes, meanwhile, the Polish women face a very difficult debut in the competition, against Germany, Sweden and Denmark.

Every point will be worth its weight in gold, as will experience on Europe's biggest stage.

After the team's stumble against Bosnia and Herzegovina in April, matches against Northern Ireland and Romania in the Nations League, as well as a final friendly against Ukraine at the end of June, will determine the mood before the Euros themselves.