Evelyn Ijeh interview: She’s in fashion – Is Milan forward Sweden’s flavour of the new school?

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Photo: AC Milan/Getty Images

AC Milan star Evelyn Ijeh was among the recent attendees at the city’s world-renowned Fashion Week; a spot probably deserved for the sleekness of her goal collection alone. Included since in her national team’s new era, the 24-year-old has designs on being Sweden’s style for all seasons.

So steadily impressive have the Swedes been in the past six years that at least one of the five major tournaments they contested in that span had to end in their possession…didn’t it? The Peter Gerhardsson and (assistant) Magnus Wikman years were paved with silver (Olympic) and twice as much bronze (World Cup), but their gold rush never did come to pass.

A new Blågult beginning kicked off in earnest with October’s UEFA Women’s Nations League games under incoming head coach Tony Gustavsson. The recent Australia boss and his compatriot assistant, the team’s one-time midfielder Johanna Almgren, now find themselves overseeing more emerging creativity than the Italian Fashion Council; only right, perhaps, that the up-and-coming talent selected should include the Swede continuing to turn heads in Milan.

Debuting as a senior international in 2024, Evelyn Ijeh was among those on the periphery who hoped for a place in the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 squad. The Under-23 regular had made a scoring cameo on their way to qualification, grabbing her first goal in the play-off victory in Luxembourg (a 4-0 in the first leg of the opening round).

A 12-goal season in Italy with Milan – having initially been deployed in midfield – had strengthened her case for a tournament place. Despite being recalled for their final pre-EURO squad, the absence of an appearance in the Nations League fixtures with Italy and Denmark indicated that her first major competition would need to wait.

“Of course, not being selected for the Euros was difficult, you always want to be part of a big tournament,” she recalls. “But at the same time, I understood the coach’s decision and I had already prepared myself for every possible outcome.”

“Instead of letting it bring me down, I chose to use it as motivation. I focused on my own development, on what I could control, and I came out of that experience hungrier than ever.

“It definitely gives me extra fire to prove myself. I want to show that I can be an important player in this new era for the national team, and I’m ready to keep working, keep improving, and take every opportunity that comes my way.”

Although intending for her summer to have a Swiss centre, the Malmö-born player travelled instead to her parents’ homeland, before further downtime back in Sweden.

“Over the summer, I made sure to balance rest and preparation; I spent some quality time away from football, recharging mentally and physically, while also keeping myself fit and ready. I spent most of my vacation in Sweden and Nigeria, where I enjoyed spending time with friends and family, and just doing things I don’t always get the chance to during the season.

“For example, exploring new places and eating good food.”

With the first break of the new campaign came an escape to southern Spain – to join the national team in Marbella.

The Nations League semi-final outcome – a 4-0 defeat to their Spanish opponents, before a 1-0 loss in the Gothenburg return leg – was enough to cool even Gustavsson’s famously-plentiful optimism. It was, nevertheless, a camp in which the presence of the next potential stars from the Swedes’ enviable craft factory was the heartening note.

The Damallsvenskan’s 30-goal top scorer, teenage sensation Felicia Schröder, was recalled, and joined by BK Häcken attacking counterpart Monica Jusu Bah. OL Lyonnes defender Elma Junttila Nelhage was promoted from the U23s for the first time, while further newcomers at the back, Alice Bergström (Häcken) and Bella Andersson (Real Madrid), plus Liverpool forward Beata Olsson, have now made the latest squad, to face France in the Nations League third-place match – as has Evelyn.

Her appearance off the bench in last month’s second Spain fixture offered solid reward for her commendable club form. Beyond impressive statistical output, joining Milan has also led to a welcomingly-novel backdrop for the slick finisher.

“Around me is a place called Navigli,” she says of the alluring, canal-side district. “You can go out to take ice cream, there’s a really nice water, with a really nice bridge where you can look at the sunset.”

“The city centre is really close, there are markets, you can go shopping and eat good food. Just going for a walk, that’s something I really do often, just looking at the sunset.

“It can be taking an ice cream and just listening to good music, it can be at the park, just chilling, eating some snacks.”

This, though, is not the first venture overseas on her quest for career lift-off; before Milan was Mexico, and Liga MX Femenil giants Tigres. Her February 2024 loan to Italy was the prelude to a full transfer last summer, and a happy union it has since become.

Signing off for the current international break with a left-footed finish in the 2-2 draw with Sassuolo, she sits joint second in Serie A with four so far in 2025/26. While continuing to prove that she possesses the goalscoring chops, have the multi-talents of Milan’s miglior marcatore (top scorer) been subject to official examination since her arrival?

In other words, did all eyes turn to her, after the haunting tap of a glass at a team meal?

“I didn’t really have an initiation here, but in my past Swedish clubs, I did,” she explains. “Most of all, you had to do embarrassing stuff, not really sing; create a performance and try to get as many points as possible.

“So, from dressing up in weird clothes, to eating weird stuff, and then sending weird text messages in the team group! A lot of stuff but it was fun; it was nothing too wild.”

While chic enough to slot seamlessly into the Fashion Week audience in late September, she typically favours laughter with teammates to mean mugging on the catwalk. Her successful integration has included coming up on the rails lately as a pre-match sound selector, although their Italy-capped right-back just about shades it at present.

“We have many people in our team capable of being a DJ, even me myself, but I will have to give it to Angelica Soffia. It goes from hip-hop to Italian, it can be French songs; pretty much everything.

“They’re really versatile, for Italians! It’s just a positive thing.”

With English so often the lingua franca in cosmopolitan teams, Evelyn has naturally had enough to lean on at Milan. Sharing how she understands more Italian than she can currently speak, music has offered a bonus gateway.

“Recently, I’ve been enjoying a mix of Afrobeats, hip-hop/rap, Spanish songs, and I’ve also discovered some Italian songs that I’ve really liked, especially this song by Cesare Cremonini – ‘Ore che non ho più te’ (‘Now that I don’t have you any more’).”

The October victory at Genoa also brought a personal note of accomplishment. Evelyn’s headed equaliser in the 84th minute not only teed up Emma Koivisto to complete a dramatic, comeback victory deep into stoppage time, it also made her Milan’s leading foreign goalscorer in their seven-year, Serie A Women history.

Prolific forward play is becoming a family tradition. The daughter of ex-Nigeria international Peter Ijeh, Evelyn was born during his first year at Malmö, ahead of a sensational 2002 season in which his 24 goals won him the Golden Boot in Sweden’s top-flight Allsvenskan.

If Evelyn’s own attacking prowess is a nod to her heritage, so too is the music she turns to most, with Nigerian artists dominating.

“My favourites at the moment are: ‘Gimme Dat’ – Ayra Starr and Wizkid, ‘Love’ – Burna Boy, ‘Happiness’ – Sarz, Asake, Gunna, ‘BAILE INoLVIDALE’ (‘Unforgettable Dance’) – Bad Bunny, ‘Love Me Not’ – Ravyn Lenae.

“So, it goes from Afrobeats to rap/hip-hop. It could also be some Spanish songs, just to make me more focused, and be in my own bubble for a bit before I have to come out of it on the pitch.

“Can also be some calming songs, Christian songs, but most of the time, hip-hop/rap songs.”

Emulating her dad on the field was not always the way, however. It was a Sweden goalscoring great – at the time, head coach of the women’s national team – who instigated Evelyn’s positional switch as a teenager.

“Yeah, I was a defender. I actually did like it, but after getting called for my first Under-17/16 national team, Pia Sundhage decided to put me as a striker, because I was a bit taller, and I had good, long crosses from the defensive line, and I scored two goals in that internal game.

“Then, the next camp, I got called as a striker, and I’ve not played defence since then!”

Recent Switzerland coach Sundhage was also at the Sweden helm when Evelyn tuned in for a tournament classic between her two nations.

“The one that still sticks in my mind until this day is when Sweden played against Nigeria in the (2015) World Cup and it was a 3-3 game. It was a really good game to watch, especially for me as a little girl, because it’s my roots against the country I’m born in.

“It was a really exciting game, and I thought, ‘That’s the level I want to reach someday.’”

An alternative route into international football seemed mapped out when she joined a senior training camp with Nigeria’s Super Falcons in Austria in 2021. Alongside her was younger sister Josephine, who, like Evelyn, was a BK Häcken player at the time.

With her father from Delta State and mother from Ogun State, Evelyn details how she was able to feel her West African heritage while growing up in Scandinavia.

“I would say it’s mostly my parents that really, really made sure that I knew where I came from; from the music, to how you dress, the lifestyle. Also, I think it’s a worldwide thing that everybody knows about, the music especially, Afrobeats, so I think that kind of follows me wherever I go, the kind of music I listen to.

“Of course, the food as well, it’s also become more worldwide.”

Did the musical handover lead to this child of the 2000s keeping the art of CD listening alive?

“Not really – mostly it was my parents that had those CDs! But I downloaded a couple of songs, when you had the mp3 player, which was like Black Eyed Peas, basically their whole album at that time.

“The songs, one of them was ‘Meet Me Halfway,’ and ‘Pump It,’ I think.”

Gothenburg is the city she refers to as home, having first moved there from Malmö as an infant, following her father’s bold transfer to MFF’s rivals IFK Göteborg. With time at two more storied Scandinavian clubs, F.C. København (Denmark) and Viking FK (Norway), Evelyn’s childhood moved along with it, before Dad’s return to Sweden with Syrianska and career swan song at GAIS in 2012.

“I do remember Denmark, Norway. We lived a bit also in Stockholm, but Norway’s the one that I mostly remember because I went to school there for three years, so I pretty much grew up there a bit before having to go back to Sweden.”

A teenage member of Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC‘s Damallsvenskan-winning squad in 2020, she was with the now-rebranded team who lifted the Svenska Cupen (Swedish Cup) as BK Häcken in 2021. It was as a regular starter at Växjö DFF in the following year, however, that she began to break out, firing them into the top division with 21 goals.

A new continent called in summer 2023, with the aforementioned switch to Tigres. She would become a Mexican champion when Las Amazonas won that year’s Apertura.

A crowd of 38,493 at their El Volcán home saw them clinch the crown in the second leg with Club América. Evelyn reflects on a spell in her career that may not have been the rip-roaring personal success she had dreamed of, but one that undoubtedly still held unique value.

“It was a good experience for me, especially when you’re young; that’s the time you can really go out and explore. And also, outside of football, the life is really nice; you can go to the city centre, you can experience so many things.

“I lived mostly in Monterrey, which was by the mountain side, so it’s really nice views, and I got really great recommendations of places I could go. On the football side, I really enjoyed the individual development plan that was there; I feel like that developed me as a player, also for when I then made a transfer to Milan.

“In terms of facilities, I would say the best one I’ve experienced was the one in Mexico, because they are really, really invested in women’s football. Some games would be sold out, which was amazing to see.

“My current club here in Milan, we are making progress, but there’s still a lot of work to be done, in Europe in general.”

The devoted fanbase – in numbers and intensity – established by Tigres since the women’s team’s formation nine years ago, stands among the strongest in the world. Their former star forward Mia Fishel (now of Seattle Reign) told this site in December 2022: “Every time I leave my house, I have to make sure that I kind of look decent for a photo or video, because it’s anywhere I go! As soon as I go out, people recognise me in the car, restaurants, I’m getting stopped by people on a regular basis.”

Evelyn describes her own experience of that tidal wave of interest.

“A lot of fans would come up to me (in public), 100%, so it’s important to be pretty much in disguise at times in the shopping malls!” she laughs. “But I think it’s a nice thing to see sometimes, fans coming up to you and just wanting a photo or autograph; it’s amazing.”

Her leisure time there also included a firsthand viewing of a Latin superstar (and not just Jacquie Ovalle). Finding more openings during the footballing calendar to attend concerts has been on her to-do list.

“I’ve been to Mr Eazi, I’ve been to Burna Boy. I’ve been to Romeo Santos when I was in Mexico.

“I want to go to more but it’s just timing.”

What if she could do that with the added luxury of time travel thrown in at no extra cost? The possibility of seeing a performance from any artist – living or dead – now lies before her (well, for the sake of this question anyway).

“I would say Michael Jackson is one of them, and Céline Dion is one I’ve always wanted to see, especially in her prime. For the rest, Afrobeats artists, because they always come out with more songs, like Burna Boy, Ayra Starr as well, Rema.

“Maybe some Spanish artist as well; Romeo Santos was really good, so that’s something I want to experience again.”

It could be said that experiencing the locker-room party at Tigres was a golden ticket all of its own.

“Oh, yes, 100%. It was a lot of Mexican, Spanish songs, a lot of dancing, which there is also here in Milan.

“Sometimes in the Swedish national team, everyone has their way of preparing for things, but especially on club level, I would say people are a bit more themselves. In Tigres, it was a lot of dancing, and they taught me some steps also!

“It was nice, it was funny, but I also take good memories from there.”

Continuing to ignite individual connections with Milan teammates away from football, she feels, will directly fuel their on-field chemistry. Evelyn’s understanding with one of those players in particular surely merits double-act status by now.

The number 99 to her 19, the duo was in full effect in this month’s 2-1 win against champions Juventus, with a goal apiece. As Evelyn is asked which current or former teammate(s) she would choose to record a song cover with, she turns to the obvious choice for a slice of Surinamese style.

“I would say Chanté-Mary Dompig – she has good bars! I think it would go towards Afrobeats but in hip-hop/rap style.”

More substance for the style, meanwhile, has been the ongoing objective for Milan. It is a club name carrying even greater prestige than the city’s Quadrilatero della moda (fashion square), but the women’s team has been playing catch-up since its inception, in a league that has been working to bridge the considerable gap to its competitors.

The Rossonere‘s best finish to date was as runners-up in 2021, which saw them contest the Champions League qualifying stage. Ending in 5th last season (ten points off a European place), they currently sit one position lower after the opening seven games, among the clutch of sides hoping to disrupt Juve and Roma’s dominance in the coming months.

Last year brought a managerial change, as Davide Corti (head coach during Evelyn’s loan spell) made way for Dutch boss Suzanne Bakker in the summer. As she looks to maintain and then mirror the upward curve of her club career with the national team, Evelyn hopes for continued clarity from the coaches she plays for.

“I think transparency’s a really important thing in communication, in terms of just letting me know what it is that I can always improve on, because I want to improve every day. Being transparent, telling me what I can work on, and how I can work on those things is also important; not just saying but also doing.

“If it’s looking at clips, looking at some movements, patterns, if it’s tactically, I think those are really things that could boost me in my improvement.”

That she has been taking to the skies again this week to join the Swedish squad is proof of that progress. At the time of writing, she is training in southern Portugal’s Algarve, with Reims and Solna to follow for the away and home legs of their aforementioned Nations League play-off with France.

There may only be third place on the line, but for a player who has made it her mission to be impossible to ignore, it’s all up for grabs.

“My mindset going into this new season is really focused and motivated. I want to keep building on last year, push myself to new levels, and contribute as much as I can to the team’s success.

“I see every new season as a fresh opportunity to grow, both as a player and as a person, so I’m going into it with a lot of hunger.”

To catch each of these interviews, you can follow: @chris_brookes (or on Bluesky here)

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Published by Christian Brookes