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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CHICAGO – After rising up the futsal ranks over the past few years, Auryn Tillette has a chance to represent her country on the international stage.

The former Spain Park star Tillette was called up for the U.S Women’s Futsal National Team by head coach Marcia Tafarael on Monday, Jan. 13.

Tillette will head to the team’s January training camp from Jan. 15-21 at the Dulles Sportsplex in Sterling, Va. While there are no games attached to the camp, it is the first of three national team camps ahead of the 2025 Concacaf Women’s Futsal Championship in April.

Tillette is the first player from Alabama to earn a selection to the U.S. Women’s Futsal National Team.

While she has made her name playing the five-on-five indoor sport of futsal, Tillette played 11-on-11 soccer for the Jags in high school.

She was an All-County Third Team and All-Metro Honorable Mention in 2024 after earning five goals and five assists in her senior season, during which Spain Park finished the regular season 21-0 and won the Class 7A, Area 6 championship.

Tillette was a member of the Jags’ 2022 team which won the Class 7A girls soccer state championship.

She also earned All-County Honorable Mentions in her freshman, sophomore and junior seasons, was an All-State Honorable Mention in 2023 and secured an All-Metro Honorable Mention in 2023.

Over on the futsal side, Tillette grew up playing for Birmingham Futsal, and in 2024, she was listed on the inaugural roster for Magic City SC, a short-lived professional futsal club that played at the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena.

Tillette currently plays professionally for Sporting CP, one of the biggest clubs in Portugal, while attending the University of Lisbon.

The U.S. Women’s Futsal National Team is still a young program, created as part of the U.S. Soccer Federation’s Extended National Teams program in 2022.

The program started with multiple identification camps, which Tillette participated in, ahead of its first full training camp in Georgia in July and August 2024. The first international matches will be during its next training camp from Feb. 21-March 2 in San Jose, Costa Rica.

The U.S. will aim to secure a berth in the inaugural FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup by performing well at the Concacaf Championship, which collects the best teams from North and Central America. The World Cup will be from Nov. 7-Dec. 21 in the Philippines.