CHLOE NAOMI MUSTAKI (BORN 29 JULY 1995 in Lima, Ohio.)
IN AUGUST 2014, CHLOE MUSTAKI WAS DIAGNOSED WITH HODGKIN’S LYMPHOMA. THIS IS A TYPE OF BLOOD CANCER IN THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM. FIVE YEARS ON, MUSTAKI HAS EARNED HER FIRST SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CALL-UP TO THE IRISH WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM.
IRELAND TAKE ON UKRAINE IN THEIR SECOND EURO 2021 QUALIFIER AFTER BEATING MONTENEGRO 2-0 EARLIER THIS MONTH. IN WHAT IS SET TO BE A RECORD CROWD AT TALLAGHT STADIUM TOMORROW, 8 OCTOBER, IRELAND ARE AIMING TO REACH THEIR FIRST EVER MAJOR INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT.
CHLOE MUSTAKI: LET’S TALK ABOUT FOOTBALL AND RESILIENCE | HERSPORT.IE
RECEIVED HER FIRST SENIOR-CALL UP AFTER AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY. NEWLY APPOINTED MANAGER VERA PAUW AND ASSISTANT-MANAGER EILEEN GLEESON HAVE TAKEN NOTE OF MUSTAKI’S IMPRESSIVE FORM. MUSTAKI SIGNED WITH SHELBOURNE FC IN MARCH EARLIER THIS YEAR.
SHE WENT ON TO CAPTAIN IRELAND AT THE WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES
TEAM DURING THE SUMMER, WHERE DESPITE BEING THE LOWEST RANKED UNIVERSITY TEAM IN THE TOURNAMENT, MUSTAKI CAPTAINED THE SIDE TO
A FOURTH-PLACE FINISH.
The 24-year-old started her playing career at Park Celtic before making the move to
St. Joseph’s as a teenager. Attending St. Andrews College, the midfielder then made the switch to Peamount United winning the first ever Women’s National League in 2011.
A supremely talented footballer, Mustaki received International Player of The Year at
U17 level. However, in what was supposed to be one of the best times in her career.
2014 proved to be one of the hardest periods in her life.
Mustaki had captained the U19 international team to history as they became the first-
ever Irish side to qualify for the U19 European Championships, unbeaten through their
six qualifying games.
They were drawn into a heavyweight group with outsiders giving them no hope. Ireland were pitted against previous winners England and Sweden as well as the runners-up from the tournament two-years prior, Spain.
The results?
Republic of Ireland 1 – 0 Spain.
Republic of Ireland 2 -1 England.
Republic of Ireland 2 -1 Sweden.
The Netherlands eventually beat Ireland and ended the dream, as they went on to win the tournament. Ireland were history-makers and defied all odds. Yet something was not quite right with Mustaki. She felt she had let her team-mates down. Her performances at the European Championships were below the expectations and high standards she had set previously.
The lively midfielder is known for her box-to-box prowess and ability to control the game. Her energetic performances in midfield are also a key facet to her game. Yet in Norway something was off – her energy levels were shot.After returning back from the competition and at a loss to understand why she didn’t perform to her usual high standards, Mustaki went back to her daily routine.
Two weeks later she visited her GP to have a prescription renewed and blood test taken.
After being called back for a second set of tests, a chest X-ray showed a six centimetre tumour in her chest. Mustaki was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Like anyone, she was scared. Mustaki took time out of college and began chemotherapy sessions, which she described as torture.
These sessions began in September and carried on every two weeks through to February. After a long and grueling period, she received the news she was cancer free. Unconceivable relief, unimaginable reassurance. Astonishingly, Mustaki kept football in her life during her treatment. She felt if she let go of football, she would have lost everything.
Within five weeks of being given the good news, she was back playing for UCD Waves, under the management of now Republic of Ireland assistant-manager Eileen Gleeson. Since then, Mustaki has continued to make her barnstorming comeback. She was part
of the UCD Waves team who made it to the FAI Cup final in 2017.
Mustaki cruelly missed out on the final the last time UCD Waves made it to the final,
in 2014, as she was undergoing chemotherapy. Now, Mustaki is set to finally realise
her dream of representing Ireland at senior level after a long and grueling journey.
Had illness not interrupted her career, there is no doubt Mustaki would have several
international caps already however she is still young.
Mustaki says she feels “great now” and has never been in a better place. “Obviously,
it was a tough time in my life back then but I got through it and am for the better now, health-wise everything’s perfect, thank God “I think it’s changed me for the good and the bad, to be honest. “It’s definitely made me stronger, it’s interesting seeing what life can bring in terms of good and bad.”
On her future: “I just moved to London a few weeks ago for work. “In terms of football
I’m looking to sign for a club in England soon so not sure where that’ll be but hopefully,
it’ll bring me forward and improve my quality of football.”
Inspirational Chloe Mustaki Overcame Injuries And Cancer
The Republic of Ireland bowed out of the Pinatar Cup over the weekend but Chloe Mustaki can hold her head high. The 26-year-old Shelbourne standout earned her first Irish cap in a much-changed side that lost 1-0 to Russia. She was named Player of the Match in the aftermath.
Mustaki was born in America but spent most of her childhood in Cabinteely in Dublin. She played for Park Celtic and St Joseph’s as a youngster. Having made her Women’s National League debut for Peamount at the age of 16, she couldn’t have thought it would take ten years to break onto the national stage.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Mustaki tried to put into words what it felt like to put on the green jersey. “Everyone came up to congratulate me after the game, and I think everyone knows how much it means to me.” “Not just the ACL, but the lymphoma when I was younger as well. Finishing my under-19 career and then two weeks later being diagnosed with cancer,” she said.
COYGIG Pod Ep.19 | Chloe Mustaki | Cancer vs ACL mental battle, Ireland call-up and state of the WNL
Mustaki was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma days after captaining
the Republic of Ireland under-19 side at the European Championships in 2014.
That Irish team made it to the semi-finals of the competition but ended up losing
4-0 to the Netherlands. But Mustaki knew something wasn’t right.
She went to her GP two weeks after the tournament to see what was wrong,
citing a lack of energy. She recalled her cancer diagnosis speaking to the Irish Times in 2016: (My GP) rang me the next day and told me that something was up. He said he’d like to take another set (of blood tests). At worst I thought I might be anemic or something.
I went in for a consultation with my mom. He explained what he thought was going on.
I remember getting quite upset because I could sense something was serious.
Then he sent me for a chest X-ray.
There was a six-centimetre tumour in my chest. Mustaki endured a tough couple of months of chemotherapy, losing her hair and suffering from the ill effects of Hodgkin’s. Eight months later, she was back out on the pitch. She still trained with UCD Waves during the 2014-2015 season and watched her teammates win the FAI Women’s Cup
final as Áine O’Gorman paraded her shirt number at the Aviva Stadium.
She spent the next few seasons between the Women’s National League, the Division 1 Féminine in France and the FA Women’s Championship. However, her career in England at Charlton barely got going, as she suffered a serious ACL injury training with the Republic of Ireland squad in early 2020. That sidelined her for the best part of a year until Shelbourne came calling for her once again. Mustaki was a feature of the Women’s National League winning side last year.
Mustaki’s Long Road
Her performances for Shelbourne caught the eye of Vera Pauw, and she earned her way back into the Republic of Ireland squad for their La Manga adventure in the Pinatar Cup. Ten years after her league debut and nearly eight years since her cancer diagnosis, she wore a senior jersey for the girls in green for the first time.
“Emotionally everyone knew how much it meant to me,” she told RTÉ. It was a strange feeling on the bus on the way back to the hotel, reading messages on my phone from family, friends and everyone around me.” “Knowing how much it meant to me and congratulating me for sticking to it. I’ll probably think back to that night forever. It was a night and day to remember.” The Republic of Ireland will get to feature in a third-place playoff against Wales this week. It’s given them an opportunity for a runout before the World Cup qualifiers return in April.
While Chloe Mustaki is proud of her crowning night after all she’s had to endure,
she’s looking forward to being involved more in the Irish set up in the coming months.
“I absolutely want to be in every single camp over the next year and a half as we prepare for the World Cup, but I have to be proud of how far I’ve come.” Chloe added, “Seven months ago, I was struggling to get through training sessions, pain-free, with Shels. I’ll do my best to be involved but there are so many talented players involved at the moment.”
Being open and honest about it, my salary was halved’ – Mustaki’s football focus.
CHLOE MUSTAKI’S STORY is well-documented at this stage.
Republic of Ireland international Chloe Mustaki on her move to Bristol City, football and identity, and chasing the World Cup dream. The Republic of Ireland international has beat cancer and serious injury to represent her country on the biggest stages, now finding herself on the cusp of realising the World Cup dream and enjoying Championship football with Bristol City.
Mustaki, who can operate in defence or midfield, made the move across the water from Shelbourne this summer; her first goal for her new club last weekend putting the wind in her sails ahead of Tuesday’s historic World Cup play-off against Scotland at Hampden Park [KO 8pm, live on RTÉ 2]. It’s fair to say it’s been a whirlwind few weeks, but the 27-year-old Dubliner is enjoying the journey, back to her brilliant best after a devastating ACL injury in 2020.
“It was a bit of a leap of faith to go full-time for me because, I don’t know, it was just never something I really thought I would do at a younger age,” she explains. “It was a big change for me but I’m actually loving it so it was a great decision in the end. “When I tore my ACL, things changed for me a bit. I had to work really, really hard to come back from that.
I think just the time and effort that I put into that made me think.
‘Why not go and try full-time football for a couple of years?’
“I just thought, ‘Flipping hell, why not?’ I’ll be working until whatever age
I’ll be working to, so why not take a few years out and give football everything?
Obviously if I hadn’t had my Hodgkin’s Lymphoma diagnosis, maybe I would have taken that leap of faith a bit earlier, but life happened the way it happened, and I just found that this was the right time to give it a go.
“Obviously women’s football is growing at an alarming rate now.
So it’s maybe something I might be able to do for longer than a year or two, depending on how the form goes. “I have my undergraduate, my Masters, everything I need under my belt to feel comfortable. I have everything I need to fall back on if it doesn’t work.” They were the big factors. A smaller one was her feeling that full-time football was “necessary” for the progression of her international career, the standard having “sky-rocketed” of late.
“We’re really far off at the moment in Ireland,” she frowns at one point.
But back to leaving the day job. Mustaki was working full-time in recruitment before her move to Bristol, having previously studied Commerce and French and International Management.
This is a free shot, of sorts.
“It definitely made me feel a lot calmer about walking away from a full-time job,” she nods. “Being open and honest about it, my salary was halved walking away and that’s a massive thing to do. But you’re only young once and I won’t get this opportunity again.
I’m coming into my late 20s now, so it was now or never. “What harm in enjoying myself for a few years? If I can save some money, fair enough. And if I can’t, then I’ll put in the work once I’m done with football to make up for lost time.”
TOM MAHER / INPHO Mustaki on the ball against Finland.
She’s doing so at the minute on the flipside. Perhaps ironically, injury absentees may offer an opportunity to add to her four senior Ireland caps next week, while she has played in each of Bristol’s four Championship games so far this season, helping them to the top of the table. The mental adjustment has been tricky though, Mustaki admits. You’d imagine she had more time before, but she weirdly had less than she had imagined while settling in.
“But now I have got used to my surroundings and I have most of my things set up, I’ll be able to have more time mentally to go out in the evenings and enjoy my time away from football,” she smiles, planning art classes and cookery classes, with her new car as a help. “That’s the main thing. It’s always a worry. Because my time was always split between academics and football.
The idea of playing football full-time and having everything riding on how you perform, how you train, whether you win or lose on Sunday – that was a massive deal for me and kind of the reason why I didn’t push it early on. “I need to be careful and to make sure that I have outlets outside of football that can keep me happy if a result doesn’t go our way or if I don’t perform the way I hope to perform.”
So she’s never wanted football to be the whole of her identity?
“Pretty much,” she nods. “The way I was brought up, my parents were very academically focused and were making sure I got that degree under my belt. “If you think about it, I’m 27 and when I was finishing up school at 18, women’s football just wasn’t where it is now. That’s only eight or nine years ago. The idea of taking that leap of faith and not getting that degree under my belt was just not possible. The idea that I could make good money in football at the age of 18, it just wasn’t realistic.
You were talking 0.5% of women who were able to make a life-long career and were able to save enough money. So for me, it just wasn’t even an option in my head. “But the past five years, so much has happened in women’s football. It’s sad for me because I feel like I’m probably on the later stages of that and I probably won’t get the full rewards of it. But it’s fantastic for someone like Jess Ziu, at 20/21, and in four or five years’ time, there will hopefully be major money in the women’s game.
So it is really exciting for girls who are finishing school now. But eight or nine years ago, realistically I felt I had to get a degree or two under my belt before I could even think about going full-time.” Time and time again during the interview, she comes back to the fact that women’s football is “exploding” at the minute and that World Cup qualification would be a watershed moment for the game in Ireland.
ANDERS HOVEN / INPHO Mustaki (6) captained the U19s at the 2014 Euros.
It would mean a first-ever major tournament for the senior women’s team,
Mustaki having skippered the U19s on their historic run to the semi-finals of the 2014 European Championships. “My memories from that tournament are very mixed. On one end, I captained the girls to a European semi-final so it was definitely a defining moment of my career, something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.
“But then on the back of that, I got a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I’ve very mixed emotions when I think back to that tournament but it was a hugely proud moment for me and having the likes of Katie [McCabe] in that squad, and Clare Shine, and other girls as well. An unbelievable experience, I’ll never forget it all round but mixed emotions.”
Here’s to more positive ones.
And Mustaki and co. will embrace it.
With that comes pressure, but pressure is a privilege.
“We can’t shy away from the fact that it’s going to be the biggest game of all of our lives,” she concludes. “We dream of being in this position. This is exactly where we wanted to be when we started the campaign. “We were so close to the Euros a couple of years ago. So much investment, time and effort has been put in that we’ll give it our best shot next Tuesday. I don’t think we feel too much pressure, we feel ready for it, we’re doing everything we can to prepare in advance of that.
“Look, it’s a game that we’ll cherish. Hopefully it will be a good result.”
She’s played in every age group for Ireland and was made to wait for two years for her senior bow because of these issues. The 26-year-old, who was born in America in Lima, Ohio and raised in south Dublin spoke about how much it meant to her this weekend. “Everyone came up to congratulate me after the game, and I think everyone knows how much it means to me,”
“Not just the ACL, but the lymphoma when I was younger as well. Finishing my under-19 career and then two weeks later being diagnosed with cancer. Coming back from that and then being so close to my first senior cap and then tearing my ACL. “Emotionally everyone knew how much it meant to me. It was a strange feeling on the bus on the way back to the hotel, reading messages on my phone from family, friends and everyone around me.
“Knowing how much it meant to me and congratulating me for sticking to it.
I’ll probably think back to last night for a long time. “It was a night and day to remember,” she added. Under Vera Pauw Ireland’s women’s team are on the verge of a play-offs for a major tournament, this hasn’t happened since 2008.
I’ll probably think back to last night for a long time,” she said. “I am really proud of myself, and I don’t really pat myself on the back too much. I need to focus on being happy where I’m at. “As competitive individuals we always strive for the next step.
On this Cancer Survivors Day, I am excited to announce,
“I am now a Breakthrough Cancer Research ambassador!”
Welcome to the Breakthrough family @CMustaki
Fantastic to have you on our team
Amazing Chloe
Fantastic well done
@BreakthroCancer#BreakthroughCancerResearch #MakeMoreSurvivors
@BreakthroCancer
is an Irish medical research charity focused on poor prognosis cancers.
They aim to make more survivors, like me, and continuously drive for new,
better, kinder, smarter ways to diagnose and treat cancer.
Find out more about the charity on their website.
What is Immunotherapy? | Cancer Research Institute
#BreakthroughCancerResearch #MakeMoreSurvivors