Naomi Girma (ናኦሚ ግርማ) and Lily Yohannes (ሊሊ ዮሃንስ) are two of the leading young players on the United States women’s national team, and both grew up in Habesha families. Naomi, 26, is the daughter of Ethiopian immigrants and plays center back for Chelsea in England. Lily, 19, was born to Eritrean parents, and her grandfather played for Ethiopia. She plays in midfield for OL Lyonnes in France. Both clubs are in this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League, and Lily spoke about their shared roots in an interview published by ESPN on Tuesday, November 10.
Two Habeshas in Europe’s Biggest Club Competition
“Obviously, with us playing together on the national team, I think we both know how much our culture means to us,” Lily told ESPN at a virtual press conference. She said two Habeshas playing in the Champions League “in two of the biggest clubs in Europe, in the world” was “very exciting to see.” She called Naomi “not only a great player, but also a great person and a good friend of mine.”
ESPN noted that Naomi had earlier spoken of her excitement at having “two Habeshas on the national team.” Habesha is a name used mostly for the highland peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea and for their communities abroad.
The two won the SheBelieves Cup together in March. Naomi captained the United States in the 1-0 win over Colombia in Harrison, New Jersey, on March 7, the result that clinched the trophy, Chelsea reported. Their clubs drew 0-0 in Lyon on September 30, but Naomi missed the game, ESPN said.
Naomi Girma, From Maleda to Chelsea
Naomi was born in San Jose, California, on June 14, 2000, according to U.S. Soccer. Her father, Girma Aweke, grew up in Adama, then called Nazareth, and came to San Francisco as a refugee in 1982, Stanford Athletics reported. Her mother is Seble Demissie.
Her father was one of a handful of immigrant parents who started Maleda (ማለዳ), a youth soccer club for Ethiopian families in San Jose, in 2004, KQED reported. The name is the Amharic word for early morning. Naomi first played organized soccer there at five, Stanford said. “My dad started this community league thing called Maleda and it was for Ethiopians in the Bay,” she told Chelsea’s website. “The community was really important to him.”
She helped Stanford win the 2019 NCAA title. San Diego Wave chose her first overall in the 2022 NWSL draft, and she was named the league’s Rookie of the Year and Defender of the Year that season. She won Defender of the Year again in 2023, when the Wave won the NWSL Shield, the club said. U.S. Soccer named her its 2023 Female Player of the Year, and she played every minute as the United States won Olympic gold in Paris in 2024.
Chelsea signed her on January 26, 2025, for about £900,000, then a world record fee for a women’s player, BBC Sport reported. Chelsea said she would be the first Ethiopian player in the Women’s Super League. In the half season after she arrived, the club won the league, the FA Cup and the League Cup without losing a domestic game. U.S. Soccer lists her with 54 caps and three goals.
This autumn she has been held back by a calf injury she picked up before the October international break, Chelsea coach Sonia Bompastor told the club’s website. She was left out of the squad for Tuesday’s Champions League match at Häcken in Gothenburg, Sweden, Chelsea News reported.
Lily Yohannes, a Grandfather’s Goal and a Record Start
Lily was born in Springfield, Virginia, on June 12, 2007, according to U.S. Soccer. She is the youngest of three children, and her father, Daniel, turned the basement into a small pitch, CNN reported.
Her grandfather, Bekuretsion Gebrehiwot, played for Ethiopia’s national team when Eritrea was part of the country. His goal from the halfway line against Ivory Coast at the 1968 Africa Cup of Nations is still told in the family, the Dutch broadcaster NOS reported. “A legend,” Lily said of him. NOS added that he later set up a foundation that still brings Eritreans in the United States together every year to play soccer. In June 2024, VOA Tigrinya interviewed her and her father.
The family moved to the Netherlands in 2017, when she was 10. She played with boys at the Amsterdam club WV-HEDW before joining the Ajax academy. Ajax says she made her first team debut on September 2, 2023, and that season became the youngest player ever to appear in the Champions League, starting a 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain. She won the Dutch Cup and the Johan Cruyff Talent of the Year award, and scored 13 goals in 55 games for the club.
She made her United States debut against South Korea in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 4, 2024, and scored about 10 minutes after coming on. At 16 years and 358 days, she became the third youngest scorer in the team’s history, The Athletic reported. She had also been invited to a Netherlands under 19 camp, but in November 2024 she chose the United States. “The US is my homeland, my birthplace, and where my extended family resides,” she wrote on Instagram, as quoted by CNN.
OL Lyonnes signed her on July 7, 2025, on a three year contract, for what Ajax called a record fee. In her first season in France, Lyon won the league cup, the French Cup and the league title, which it sealed with a 5-0 win over Paris FC on May 29, 2026, with Lily in the starting lineup. Six days earlier, Lyon lost the Champions League final 4-0 to Barcelona in Oslo, UEFA reported.
On October 28 she scored from about 40 meters out in a 6-0 Champions League win over Inter, lifting the ball over a goalkeeper who had come off her line, the Lyon site Olympique et Lyonnais reported. She also finished fourth in this year’s Kopa Trophy for the best young player, ESPN said. U.S. Soccer lists her with 22 caps.
What Comes Next
Lyon play away to Juventus in Italy on Wednesday, November 11, at 9 p.m. local time, 3 p.m. Eastern Time, according to Juventus, and then face Arsenal on November 19. “We have to come ready and we have to prepare well, like we always do,” Lily said.
Ethiopians at home and abroad follow Naomi’s career closely. “Naomi is a big achievement for us all in the Habesha community. She is our pride,” Loza Abera, the captain of Ethiopia’s women’s team, told the newsletter On The Whistle after Naomi’s move to Chelsea.
Naomi says those early games in San Jose still guide her. “I just remember why I started playing in San Jose with Maleda and my dad, and that is something that keeps me grounded,” she told Chelsea. “It helps me feel at peace going into big games.”
