From sex worker to professional soccer player: “A man shot me in the head… and the bullet didn’t come out”
Tiziana Lezcanoone of the three transgender footballers in the First Division of the AFA (Argentine Football Association)militates in Club Ferro Carril Oeste.
The 32-year-old soccer player explains in an interview with the newspaper ‘Ole’ that “deciding to make the change was difficult; I had to prepare myself psychologically because going out in women’s clothing without hormonal changes was hard. It was difficult for me to overcome what people will say, but over time I realized that society pays attention to herself and doesn’t care what they see. Now I feel complete and very good about myself.
Tiziana Lezcano told Hammer candle that “it was very difficult to find a job. They didn’t accept me anywhere. I had to open a kiosk and work in clothing stores. There was a time when my old man had an accident and he was the main income of the house, so I had to look for work in something I didn’t want: prostitution.
Why did soccer player Tiziana Lezcano have to survive as a sex worker?
From her time as a sex worker, she remembers that “it was very difficult, they were situations that I was not used to. It was very dangerous. I witnessed fights between trans girls where they stabbed each other and pulled out weapons. I saw how some were shot and left lying around. In fact “I never told anyone this. Once, a guy pointed a gun at my head and shot, but the bullet didn’t come out. They were very ugly moments on the street.”
The hardest thing about that entire stage was being with men I didn’t want to be with. That I didn’t like them. I felt like an object
“The hardest thing about that entire stage was being with men I didn’t want to be with. I didn’t like them. I felt like an object and I was very ugly, even though there was money. They can give you a lot of money, but being an object is like you feel dirty,” he recalled in ‘TN’ in 2023.
Tiziana Lezcano dedicated herself to football after the death of her mother, although she was rejected by two clubs: “It’s a matter of fighting, because if I had let their decision affect me, I wouldn’t be here today. My third chance was at Ferro, something that seemed unattainable for me. It was in 2018 and I asked a friend if she could try me. “Yes, fat lady, come on, it’s great,” she told me the number of a coordinator to ask her about my sexual condition and. “If I could play. They told me yes, there was no problem. There were a lot of girls in the test, about 40, and there were only 3 of us left. I ended up in something that seemed impossible, but I did.”
“Being a professional player in the First Division is very difficult. I achieved things that surprise me. Before I was missing something, a complement to my life. I did not fully adapt to society. Now I am happy and I feel like I am part of a community,” reflects Tiziana Lezcano, who has a dream: “I want to play for River Plate”.
