AMBITIONS are starting to come true for a footballer whose girls’ team are dominating a league in which the players are mainly boys.

Phoebe Langley, from Horsell, won a place in the Reading FC Women Under 12s side this year, as she aims for a place in the country’s top competition for female footballers.

Her achievement follows an interest in the sport sparked at the age of five when her brother played for a junior Chobham FC team and she was inspired to train with the boys.

Phoebe, now 11, was then a pupil at St Lawrence Primary School in Chobham. She went on to join the Chobham club’s under-sevens – playing a year ahead of her age group.

“She quickly earned the nickname of Phoebeast for her great defending and goalkeeping skills,” said her mum, Dawn.

Phoebe moved to Horsell Primary School and was invited to train with the Woking District girls’ team when she was in Year 3. She has since played 77 times for the district.

She played for Goldsworth Park Rangers and then Knaphill FC before getting a place at Chelsea FC’s foundation soccer school, training at the Premiership club’s base in Cobham.

In January this year, she was invited to a trial with Reading FC’s regional talent club and trained weekly with its players until the lockdown disrupted football at all levels. Before matches started again in September, Phoebe was signed up for the club’s Under 12s.

The team won their first match of the season in the East Berks Football Alliance 8-3. They recently came out on top 9-1 in the 11-team division and have held the lead position from the start.

“We are the only all-girls’ team in the division,” said Phoebe, who can play at both left and right back and has also gained a reputation as an effective goalkeeper. “There are one or two girls in the other teams but they are mostly all boys.

Her footballing ambition is to play for Chelsea FC Women in the FA Women’s Super League. “If that doesn’t happen, I also enjoy acting so I could try to become an actor,” she said.