Damaris Berta Egurrola Wienke (born 26 August 1999) is a 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 plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for French

Division 1 Féminine The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twelv ...

club

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

and the Netherlands national team. At club level, she made her debut with Athletic Club in 2015, moved to Everton in 2020, then signed for Lyon in January 2021. Born in the United States, she made her senior debut for the Spanish national team in 2019; in 2022, she filed a one-time switch to represent the Netherlands national team instead.

Club career

Early life

Egurrola spent her early childhood in

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, the second of three children born to a Dutch mother and a Spanish-

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

father (Pablo Egurrola Osa, a professional '' pelotari'' competing in American

Jai Alai Jai alai (: ) is a sport involving bouncing a ball off a walled-in space by accelerating it to high speeds with a hand-held wicker ''cesta''. It is a variation of Basque pelota. The term ''jai alai'', coined by Serafin Baroja in 1875, is also oft ...

leagues);La hija del pelotari
he pelotari's daughter El País, 18 December 2019 (in Spanish) when he retired in 2006, the family relocated to his homeland in eastern

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

in Spain's Basque Country.

Athletic Bilbao

After playing youth football at clubs in the

Gernika Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the mu ...

area, Egurrola – who also showed a talent for

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

– signed for Athletic Club in 2012, aged 12, meeting the club's selective signing criteria due to her local upbringing. Following three years at affiliated lower-division clubs, including Betiko Neskak in

Erandio Erandio is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. The name comes from euskera ARANDIO that means plum plantation or field. In 1415, during the War of the Bands, t ...

and the Athletic B-team, she made her senior team debut in December 2015, making six appearances in the 2015–16 Primera División as Athletic finished as champions, and became a regular from then on. Along with teammate and friend

Maite Oroz Maite Oroz Areta (born 25 March 1998) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Liga F club Real Madrid Femenino, Real Madrid CF and the Spain women's national football team, Spain women's national team. She made her se ...

, she decided to leave the club when her contract expired in the summer of 2020. In July 2020, a court case regarding the legality of 'compensation lists' for players in Spanish women's football confirmed that a new employer would not have to pay a fee to Athletic Club.

Everton

After announcing leaving Athletic Bilbao at the end of her contract, Damaris Egurrola drew interest from major European clubs, including Everton, which ultimately signed the midfielder on a two-year deal in early September 2020. Egurrola made her debut in the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

on 3 October, in a 6–0 win over

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. Egurrola quickly settled as an instrumental player for the team, starting all subsequent games. Teammate

Izzy Christiansen Isobel Mary "Izzy" Christiansen (born 20 September 1991) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder or forward for Everton in the FA WSL and the England national team. Club career Christiansen captained the women's football club at the ...

described Damaris as an "incredible talent", impressed by the Spaniard's debut with her new team.

Lyon

Only four months after signing for Everton, rumors started to spread about a new potential move for Egurrola. European champions

were reportedly interested in signing the midfielder in the winter transfer window to address their difficulties in the league. Damaris signed for ''OL'' on a three-year and a half deal on 20 January 2021, and made her debut in a

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

game against

Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional association football, football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2017–18 Ligue 2, 2018. ...

. Soon after, Damaris made her debut in both

and the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, both ending in wins and clean sheets. Egurrola established herself as a starter in the start of the 2021–22 season, proving to be an important member of the team.

International career

Through birth and descent, Egurrola was eligible to play for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. She was involved with Spanish national age-group teams at several levels and with much success, being a member of the under-17 squad that claimed the silver medal at the 2016 UEFA U-17 Championship and bronze at the 2016 FIFA U-17 World Cup;Damaris Egurrola
Soccerway the under-19 squad which won the 2017 UEFA U-19 Championship, (using her height to score a header in the final victory over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

) – she also helped the U19s to qualify for the 2018 edition which they again won, but had moved to the higher age group by the time of the finals tournament – and the under-20 squad who were runners-up at the 2018 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Egurrola made her Spain senior debut in May 2019, aged 19, appearing as a substitute for the closing minutes of a 4–0 friendly win over

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

in the build-up to the 2019 FIFA World Cup, although she was not selected in the eventual finals squad. In October 2019, she was called up to the inaugural squad for ''España Promesas'' (essentially Spain B), along with two clubmates. She has also played for the unofficial Basque Country team. Two years after her appearance for Spain, in November 2021 the Spain national team coach

Jorge Vilda Jorge Vilda Rodríguez (born 7 July 1981) is a Spanish Association football, football coach and UEFA Pro Licence holder, who is the current head coach of the Spain women's national football team - a position he has held since 2015. Vilda is also ...

stated that he had tried to call up Egurrola twice over the past few months, and to talk to her over the phone on multiple occasions; the player's agents refuted this, responding that these call-ups referred to the Promesas (under-23s) rather than the senior team, and that there had been no attempt to reach out to her personally over the past two years. It was also disclosed that Egurrola had elected to play for another national team, at that time not identified (but one of the two teams in the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final was a Women's association football, football match which determined the winner of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. It was the eighth final of the FIFA Women's World Cup, a quadrennial tournament contested by ...

). After filing a one-time switch, Egurrola committed to the Netherlands national team in March 2022. She made her debut on 8 April 2022. It was later revealed that she had a poor opinion of Jorge Vilda over his treatment of female footballers including herself, and this was a major factor in her decision to represent the Netherlands instead. On 31 May 2023, she was named as part of the Netherlands provisional squad for the 2023 FIFA World Cup. She played in all five games for the Netherlands. In the 2023–24 UEFA Nations League on 5 December 2023, the Netherlands were winning 2–0 against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in the 90th minute, but needed to score once more to beat

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on goal difference in Group A1 and advance to the

finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

(and possible qualification for the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 2024), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la XXXIIIe Olympiade, links=no) and also known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international multi-sport event that is s ...

). Egurrola scored in the first minute of

injury time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. However, England subsequently scored in their concurrent fixture against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, putting them back at the top of the group. In the final seconds of the match against Belgium, Egurrola scored again, securing her team's progression to the finals.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Egurrola goal.''

Honours

Athletic Bilbao * Primera División: 2015–16 Lyon *

: 2021–22 *

: 2021–22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Egurrola, Damaris 1999 births Living people Citizens of Spain through descent People from Busturialdea Footballers from Biscay Spanish women's footballers Women's association football midfielders Athletic Club (women) players Everton F.C. (women) players Olympique Lyonnais Féminin players Liga F players Women's Super League players Spain women's international footballers Spanish people of Dutch descent Spanish expatriate women's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate women's footballers in France Soccer players from Orlando, Florida American women's soccer players American people of Basque descent American people of Dutch descent American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in England American expatriate sportspeople in France Athletic Club (women) B players 21st-century American women Netherlands women's international footballers Dutch expatriate women's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in France Dutch people of Basque descent Dual internationalists (women's football) UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players Spain women's youth international footballers 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players