Gloriana de Jesús Villalobos Vega (born 20 August 1999) is a Costa Rican

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

Deportivo Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. The team's signature colours are purple ...

and the

Costa Rica women's national football team The Costa Rica women's national football team ( es, Selección femenina de fútbol de Costa Rica) represents Costa Rica in women's international football. The national team is controlled by the governing body Costa Rican Football Federation. The ...

. In 2014, she made her senior international debut at the age of 14.

College career

In 2017, Villalobos was named to the All-ACC Third Team, as well as being chosen to the 11-member All-Freshman Team. Villalobos played in all 21 matches for

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

where she scored 1 goal and made 2 assists. Gloriana left FSU in September 2019 to play with Saprissa.

Professional career

Villalobos debuted for local club

Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. The team's signature colours are purple ...

in 2012 at the age of 12. Gloriana played with Saprissa on 2019 and lost the final match against Alajuela. After the season ended she signed with Club Sport Herediano and is playing with them since 2020.

International play

In January 2014, Villaobos—yet to turn 15—led

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

to qualification for the

2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was an international association football tournament and the world championship for women's national teams under the age of 20, presented by Grant Connell, organized by the sport's world governing body FIFA. ...

, appearing in all five games at the

2014 CONCACAF Under-20 Women's Championship The 2014 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship was the seventh edition of the CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship. The United States went into the tournament as defending champions and successfully retained their title. The tournament was hosted by th ...

in the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

. She then shot to national prominence in March 2014, when

hosted the

2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the fourth edition of the youth association football tournament for women under the age of 17. The final tournament was hosted in Costa Rica. The competition was played from 15 March to 4 April 2014. Jap ...

. She appeared in all three games as the country hosted its first

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

event. In May 2014, Villalobos received her first call to the senior national team in the

Central American Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Ce ...

region of

2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship qualification The 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship Qualification was a series of women's association football tournaments that determined the participants for the 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship. Twenty-eight national teams entered the qualification for 6 ...

, the first step toward the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

. Villalobos scored in the final group game to help Costa Rica advance. In the playoff to determine which team advanced to the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

, Villalobos played again in a 3–0 Costa Rica win. At the U-20 Women's World Cup in Canada in August 2014, Villalobos played all 270 minutes but Costa Rica was eliminated in the group stage again. In 2017, Villalobos joined the

Florida State Seminoles women's soccer The Florida State Seminoles women's soccer team represents Florida State University (variously Florida State or FSU) in the sport of college soccer. The Seminoles compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and ...

team.

International goals

Honours

Florida State Seminoles *

NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship The NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship, sometimes known as the Women's College Cup, is an American college soccer tournament conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and determines the Division I women's national ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

*
Profile
at Fedefutbol * 1999 births Living people Women's association football midfielders Costa Rican women's footballers Footballers from San José, Costa Rica Costa Rica women's international footballers 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Pan American Games bronze medalists for Costa Rica Pan American Games medalists in football Footballers at the 2019 Pan American Games Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Central American Games gold medalists for Costa Rica Central American Games medalists in football Florida State Seminoles women's soccer players Costa Rican expatriate women's footballers Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players {{CostaRica-women-footy-bio-stub