Football Ferns skipper Ali Riley is relishing the opportunity to compete on football's biggest stage, having finalised a deal with English Women's Super League powerhouse Chelsea.
Having plied her trade in Sweden, with Rosengard, since 2012, Ferns defender Riley was announced as a Chelsea player earlier this week, joining the Blues who've just won the Women's Super League and Women's FA Cup titles.
Speaking to the Sunday Star Times, Riley, 30, spoke about the decision to take up the task of playing for one of the world's biggest clubs, saying that she'll give everything to her new challenge.
"There's no better time to just give everything I have and see what kind of player I can become," she said.
"I'm still developing but I am older so I think this is the time to take this chance.
"When a club like Chelsea is interested in me, I have to go for it."
Riley also spoke about the prospect of joining a club where football, and particularly the women's game, is at the forefront of sporting culture, rather than a perceived cash grab that a club like Chelsea would offer.
"Obviously it's a plus that they can offer higher salaries, because they are supported by the men, but I'm really ambitious and I want to win titles and I also want to be somewhere where women's football is really celebrated and be a part of pushing women's football forward, like we're doing in New Zealand."
Despite having played at a World Cup and the Olympics for the Football Ferns, Riley's move to Chelsea will likely see her regularly compete in the Champions League, a competition that she has briefly experienced with Rosengard - ironically eliminated by her new employers in last season's edition.
"That's the pinnacle. We have the Olympics and we have the World Cup but as a club player this is it, it's the most amazing event and that's the definitely my dream to win it.
"But even just to play in it would be so cool and that's where I hope the women's game progresses because you see men's players who play in a final become legends, it changes the history of the clubs because of the money they get and the celebrities the players become."
Riley has penned a two-year deal with Chelsea, where she'll move when the European transfer window opens later this month.
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