Julieta Micaela Cruz (born 4 June 1996) is an Argentine

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

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Primera División A Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

club CA Boca Juniors and the Argentina women's national team.

Early life

Cruz was born in General Alvear in

Mendoza Province Mendoza, officially Province of Mendoza, is a province of Argentina, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders San Juan to the north, La Pampa and Neuquén to the south, San Luis to the east, and the republic o ...

. She played youth football on boys' teams until the age of 14.

Club career

River Plate

In 2014, Cruz joined River Plate aged 17. After a game against Porto Nuervo, she was diagnosed with

paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) is a type of supraventricular tachycardia, named for its intermittent episodes of abrupt onset and termination. Often people have no symptoms. Otherwise symptoms may include palpitations, increased he ...

. River declined to fund treatment and she departed the club.

Boca Juniors

In 2016, Cruz joined

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

. In August 2019, Cruz signed her first professional contract with Boca.

International career

On 23 October 2021, Cruz made her debut for the Argentina national team in a 6–1 loss to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Estadio Gregorio "Tepa" Gómez The Stadium Gregorio "Tepa" Gómez is a multi-use stadium in Tepatitlán de Morelos, Jalisco, Mexico. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home stadium for C.D. Tepatitlán de Morelos, Tepatitlán FC. T ...

International goals

Honours

Boca Juniors *

: 2020, 2021 Clausura, 2022, 2023 *Súper Final: 2021

References

1996 births Living people Sportspeople from Mendoza Province Argentine women's footballers Women's association football defenders Club Atlético River Plate (women) players Boca Juniors (women) footballers Argentina women's international footballers 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2023 Pan American Games {{Argentina-women-footy-bio-stub