Laura del Río García (born 5 February 1982) is a Spanish football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former player who played as a forward. She last managed men's club Flat Earth FC. She used to play for Bristol Academy in England's FA WSL. Prior to that, she played for

AD Torrejón Agrupación Deportiva Torrejón was a football club based in Torrejón de Ardoz, Community of Madrid. The club came to play 6 seasons in Segunda División B. AD Torrejón disappears in 2002 when merges with Torrejón CF to form the current AD Tor ...

, CE Sabadell and Levante UD in the Spanish Superleague,

FC Indiana F.C. Indiana, also known as F.C. Indiana Lionesses, is an American women's soccer team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 2003, the team is currently a member of the United Women's Soccer league. They play their home games at Newton Park ...

in the W-League,

1. FFC Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt is a German women's association football club based in Frankfurt. Its first team currently plays in the German top flight, Frauen-Bundesliga. From 1998 to 2020, the club was known as 1. FFC Frankfurt. Eintracht have won sev ...

in the

German Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

, and

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defunct Women's ...

and

Philadelphia Independence The Philadelphia Independence was an American professional soccer club that was based in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pennsylvania. The team joined Women's Professional Soccer as an expansion team in 2010 and played its home games at West ...

in the WPS. Del Río scored 14 for the senior

Spain women's national football team The Spain women's national football team ( es, Selección Española de Fútbol Femenina) has represented Spain in international women's football competition since 1980, and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing ...

, before a dispute with the coach caused her to quit the national team.

Club career

Del Río began her career at

in 1999 before moving to Levante UD the following year. In her two seasons in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

she won two doubles as Levante cruised through the

Superliga Femenina The Primera División de la Liga de Fútbol Femenino, currently known as Liga F (finetwork Liga F for sponsorship reasons), is the highest level of sports league, league competition for women's football in Spain. It is the women's equivalent of t ...

and the

Copa de la Reina Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Ass ...

. Del Río subsequently spent two seasons at CE Sabadell and then returned to Levante, where she remained for the next four years, winning an additional League in 2008 and two more Cups. In 2008, she left Levante to play abroad for the first time, playing in the W-League for

. She scored 33 goals in her two years in the W-League, making it into the All-League team. In summer 2009 she signed for European powerhouse

. Starting the season as a reserve, she made herself a place in the starting eleven for a few weeks after scoring in three consecutive games coming from the bench. Overall, she scored six goals in just ten matches in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

, as she left Frankfurt in December to sign for

, marking her

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

debut. For the 2011 season she transferred to

, with whom she reached the championship play-offs. In the final she missed the team's final penalty to finish runners-up. Del Río joined English FA WSL club Bristol Academy in 2012. Under coach

Mark Sampson Mark Geraint Sampson (born 18 October 1982) is a Welsh football coach who was most recently a first team coach at Stevenage. He has also been a manager of the England women's team. Playing career Born and raised in Creigiau, a suburb of Car ...

the club finished second in the

2013 FA WSL The 2013 FA WSL was the third season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's Association football, football league of England. The season began on 14 April and ended on 29 September. Arsenal were the defending champions, having won their ninth co ...

and were losing finalists in the

2012–13 FA Women's Cup The 2012–13 FA Women's Cup was the 42nd season of the FA Women's Cup, the main domestic knockout Cup competition in English women's football. It lacked a sponsor for the second consecutive season. 283 clubs were accepted into the competition. Th ...

. In January 2015 Bristol confirmed that del Rio had left the club after scoring 14 goals in 47 games. She returned to the United States, signing for National Women's Soccer League club

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit is an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that participates in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the W-League and cont ...

. She served two assists in 11 appearances in 2015, before her season was ended by injury. She also missed the entire 2016 season following surgery on her ankle. She continued her career in Spain, with ambitious Segunda División club

CD Tacón Real Madrid Femenino is a Spanish Women's association football, women's football club in Madrid. Founded as the independent Club Deportivo TACÓN in 2014, the club later underwent a merger and acquisition process with Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid ...

, signing for

Madrid CFF Madrid Club de Fútbol Femenino (; ''Madrid Women's Football Club'') is a Spanish women's football club based in San Sebastián de los Reyes, Community of Madrid, that currently plays in Liga F. History Madrid CFF was founded in 2010 by Alfred ...

a year later.

International career

Del Río was the top scorer of the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

Under-18 Euro, where

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 ...

made it to the final for the first time. For many years Del Río was a key player of Spain's national team, scoring 14 goals. Despite this she has not been called for the past few years following a clash with manager

Ignacio Quereda Ignacio Quereda Laviña (born 24 July 1950) is a Spanish football coach who managed the Spain women's national football team between 1988 and 2015. Playing career Born in Madrid, Quereda was raised in Badajoz where his family moved when he was ...

International goals

Managerial career

After her retirement, in August 2019 Del Río signed as head coach of Flat Earth FC becoming the first woman at the helm of a team in the Spanish fourth division. However, she was sacked in October, but she continued in the club's structure with the aim to develop a women's team.

Honours

FC Indiana * 2008 W-League Central Conference Championship * 2009 W-League top scorer * 2009 W-League All-League Team * 2009 All-Central Conference Team

References

External links

*
Boston Breakers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Del Rio, Laura 1982 births Living people Spanish women's footballers Spain women's international footballers Spanish expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in England Expatriate women's footballers in Germany Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States 1. FFC Frankfurt players Boston Breakers players Philadelphia Independence players Bristol Academy W.F.C. players Lesbian sportswomen LGBT association football players Spanish LGBT sportspeople Footballers from Madrid Women's Super League players Primera División (women) players Levante UD Femenino players Washington Spirit players National Women's Soccer League players Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Madrid CFF players Women's association football forwards F.C. Indiana players Real Madrid Femenino players Spanish football managers Female association football managers AD Torrejón CF Femenino players Women's Professional Soccer players