Flavia Lorena Benítez (born 3 December 1998) is an Argentine 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 ...

and former futsal player 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 Brazilian Série A1 club

SE Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

, on loan from

Estudiantes de Buenos Aires Club Atlético Estudiantes, usually called Estudiantes de Caseros or Estudiantes de Buenos Aires, is an Argentine football club from Caseros, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its football team, which currently plays in the Primera ...

, and the Argentina women's national team.

International career

Benítez was eligible to play for

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

(birthplace) or

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

(parentage). Although her father wanted her to represent the latter, she was called up to the ''Albicelestes''. She was a part of the Argentine squad at the

2015 South American U-20 Women's Championship The 2015 South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship was the seventh edition of the South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the CONMEBOL for the women's ...

. She made her senior debut for Argentina on 3 March 2019 in a 0–2 friendly loss against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Personal life

Benítez is openly gay. On 6 May 2019, her partner, Verónica Rivero, gave birth to their twins. She is a supporter of

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

. Upon her arrival at Palmeiras in early February 2023, she was a victim of gender-related discriminatory comments by Brazilian fans.

Honours

;San Lorenzo *

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 ...

: 2015 ;Boca Juniors *

: 2020, 2021 Clausura *Súper Final: 2021

References

1998 births Living people Footballers from Buenos Aires Province Argentine women's footballers Argentine women's futsal players Argentine sportspeople of Paraguayan descent Women's association football midfielders Boca Juniors (women) footballers Argentina women's international footballers 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Argentine expatriate women's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate women's footballers in Brazil Argentine LGBT sportspeople Lesbian sportswomen Argentine lesbians LGBT association football players 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players {{argentina-footy-midfielder-1990s-stub