Vanessa Gilles: The late bloomer with determination

It’s a crisp autum evening at the FC Bayern Campus, a home game against Freiburg, who have started the season strongly. A light wind blows through the stadium in northern Munich, the first leaves rustle in the background, and then: the 16th minute. A corner, taken sharply from the left, precise, travels through the clear Munich sky. In the penalty area, a tangle of arms and bodies piles up, elbows jostling, heads poking out, legs scrambling. And at that moment, Vanessa Gilles springs up if she were made for this very scene. She rises higher than everyone else, appearing unshakeable, almost detached. The ball hits her forehead, solidly, uncompromisingly. A strike like a machine: determined, powerful, unstoppable. Seconds later, it's nestling in the far corner of the net.

In the background

Her team-mates throw their arms up in the air and rush towards her. But while ecstasy erupts all around her, Gilles' celebration remains rather restrained. No rehearsed ritual, just a brief smile, a glance at the sky, a gesture that speaks more inwardly than outwardly. Captain Glódis Viggosdottir pats the Canadian on the head – a silent, almost tender sign of respect. As if to say: this woman here is our tower in the storm. Three goals in the first four Bundesliga matches, each one from her head, each one a small statement. And yet, a few seconds later, Gilles is already on her way back to the defence, back to her role, back to the order she loves so much.

Perhaps that’s exactly what makes her who she is. Gilles isn’t someone who seeks the limelight. She’s not a player who stages her victories, who needs the noise to be seen. She’s much more the foundation, a constant who works through precision, calmness and conviction. And she’s proof that great careers don’t need to begin early. Sometimes they begin precisely because they begin late.

⚽ Vanessa Gilles has already scored three goals in four Bundesliga games – all with her head: 

Between two worlds

That’s because nothing in her life has been a given. Born in Châteauguay in Canadian Quebec, she grow up between two worlds, the Canadian and the Chinese. Her father worked in the hotel industry in Shanghai, meaning she spent the first years of her life a long way from her actual home. “There was no organised, competitive sport for me in China,” she explains today, without a hint of melancholy. Tennis, basketball, judo – she should have discovered and tried out all these sports during her childhood. She had plenty of talent, but initially no direction. 

At a young age, she displayed many of the characteristics that define her today, which wasn’t without its challenges for her parents. “She wasn’t an easy child,” says mother Josie Castelli-Gilles with a laugh. “Very active, extremely fearless. She never stopped. As soon as she got up, she started running. Unstoppable.” Her father Denis adds with a grin: “Sometimes we just ‘lost’ her.” This energy shaped her early years while laying the foundation for her later discipline and ambition. While others were training in academies and development programmes, she tried out everything. Back in Canada, tennis became her first real passion. She soon played at national level, but she felt something: “It’s a very solitary sport. I didn’t like that, I wanted something that I could share with others.”

Late starter with determination

So she switched late – almost too late – to football. At the age of 15 of 16, when others had already built up a large trophy collection. She was put in goal to begin with. Not unusual for a late starter, but only an intermediate stop for Gilles. “I found it a bit boring,” she says with a laugh. “So I went into defence. And I’ve stayed there ever since.” She started to catch up, learning in years what others had practised in decades. “I had to work twice and three times as hard to get to where I am now. There’s no secret recipe. Obviously you can bring talent, but in the end hard work is more important and wins through.”

Perhaps it is this duality, the awareness that nothing was handed to her on a silver platter, that has made her such a thoughtful person. Gilles is not only an athlete, she is also an academic. During her time at the University of Cincinnati, she decided to study criminology after computer science failed to fit in with her training schedule. “Maybe I just watched too much CSI,” she says with a wink. And honestly, she adds with a smile, “I'm also a bit of a nerd."

It was a pragmatic compromise that offered her a balance despite the high demands of competitive sport, partly because she didn't know at the time whether she would make it as a professional footballer. “I'll probably never use this knowledge professionally,” she says, “but it was important to me to have something to fall back on.” This levelheaded, clever calculation reflects her personality: down-to-earth, forward-thinking and reflective. A mindset that is not a given in the hectic, fast-paced world of professional football.

Limassol, Bordeaux, Lyon, Munich

Her sporting career has been just as unconventional as her choice of studies. Her football career did not follow the classic path of youth academies and renowned clubs. It did not begin in Lyon or Paris, nor in Toronto or Vancouver. Her first stop was Apollon Limassol in Cyprus, a club that you might have to search for on a map at first. But Gilles found what she needed there: playing time, visibility, a springboard. From there she moved to Bordeaux, then on to Lyon, and finally to Munich. “Bayern is one of the most famous clubs in the world,” she says. “I knew immediately: if this door opens, I have to walk through it.” Working with coach José Barcala, who she already knew from her time in Bordeaux, remains one of the most important pieces of the puzzle in her career. “He is probably the coach who has had the biggest influence on my career.”

Arrived at FCB

And while others need time after a transfer to find their feet, it seems as if she has immediately taken roots in Munich. Now, just a few months after her move, she feels settled, both in sporting terms and personally. “The team are incredibly close to each other. I’ve never played in a team before where the players do so much together off the pitch too.” One place she’s found a haven in is the café owned by team-mate Jovana Damnjanović. “I really like it there. The place has heart, you feel the love that goes into it.”

This new chapter in her career fits into the overall picture, which is characterised by constants: closeness, community, reliability. Values that also shaped her greatest sporting success: the 2021 Olympic victory with Canada in Tokyo. But even this moment is put into perspective by Gilles. “Of course, it's an incredible feeling to win gold as a country and as a team. But just as valuable to me are the friendships I made there. Trophies are nice but these connections remain.” Words that say a lot about her: that success for her lies not only in the result, but in the relationships it creates.

It’s this attitude that also shapes her identity, a mosaic of cultures and experiences which she carries in herself confidently. “Being Canadian doesn’t mean possessing just one culture. Canada is a country of immigrants, a colourful mosaic.” She has the courage from her somewhat louder, ambitious mother; the structure from her analytical father. “I’ve got a bit from both, which makes me open and reflective.”

Substance rather than show

Today, Vanessa Gilles is not only a defender wearing the FC Bayern jersey on the pitch. She also represents a new generation of female footballers: internationally experienced, academically educated, a late starter and yet firmly established at the top. She embodies substance rather than show, reflection rather than pose, cooperation rather than ego. And perhaps this combination is the reason why she so rarely pushes herself into the limelight. Because she knows that in the end, it's not the pose that remains, but the impression. “In the end, it's not about where you start. It's about never stopping trying to improve.”

FC Bayern Women meet Borussia Dortmund in the first round of the DFB Cup on Monday evening: