Candela Andújar Jiménez (; born 26 March 2000) is a Spanish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who last played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Costa Rican Women's Premier Division club Sporting San José. She represented Spain at several youth and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

levels.

Club career

Barcelona

Born in

Barberà del Vallès Barberà del Vallès is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Vallès Occidental Vallès Occidental () is a comarca (county) in Catalonia, Spain. Sabadell and Terrassa are the comarcal capitals. Along with Vallès Oriental it forms the gra ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Andújar began her career at the age of 7 as a goalkeeper in Barberá Andalucia, playing with boys. After 4 years she joined Sant Gabriel and spent a season there, this time in the midfielder position and only alongside young girls. She started her career at

at the start of 2012–13 season, after she was discovered by the club's scouts for her performances in Catalonia's u-12 national team. In Barça she was employed more as a winger and a forward player. She played her first official match for the senior team on 6 December 2017 against

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

at the age of 17, after her consistent form in Barça B, where she had scored 11 goals in 12 matches, throughout the mid season. In June 2020, Andújar signed a contract extension to continue with Barcelona until 2022.

Loan to Valencia

On 29 July 2021, Andújar joined

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

on a one-year loan deal. On 18 June 2022, she announced her retirement from football at the age of 22 via an

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post.

International career

Andújar was first invited to play for national u-16 team in February 2015, in a development tournament. She was a member of Spanish u-17 squads that achieved runner-up places of

UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, is a European championship football tournament, organized by UEFA, for national teams of women under age seventeen. The tournament was first played out i ...

in 2016 and 2017. Each time she earned a place on the team of the tournament. Andújar was also one of the key players of u-17 national team in the 2016 U-17 Women's World Cup. At the end of the tournament she was one of the 10 candidates for the Golden Ball, which she lost to

Fuka Nagano is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Women's Super League club Liverpool and the Japan women's national team. Nagano begun her senior career with Urawa Reds in 2014. She joined WK league club Hyundai Steel Red ...

Honours

;Barcelona B * Segunda División, Group III: 2016–17 ;FC Barcelona * Primera División: 2019–20 *

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

: Runner-up 2018–19 * Supercopa Femenina:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

;International *

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament for female players under the age of 17. It is organized by Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA). The tournament is held in even-numbered y ...

: Third place:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

: Runner-Up:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

References

External links

* * *
Profile
at Txapeldunak.com
Candela Andujar
2000 births Living people People from Vallès Occidental Footballers from the Province of Barcelona Sportswomen from Catalonia Spanish women's footballers Women's association football forwards FC Barcelona Femení B players FC Barcelona Femení players Liga F players Spain women's youth international footballers 21st-century Spanish women Spanish expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in Costa Rica Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Costa Rica Spain women's international footballers {{Spain-women-footy-bio-stub