Léa Rubio (born 6 May 1991 in

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

) is a French

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who currently plays for French club

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

. Rubio 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 ...

and has been active with the

France women's national football team The France women's national football team (french: Équipe de France féminine de football, sometimes shortened as Féminin A) represents France in international women's football. The team is directed by the French Football Federation (FFF). F ...

on the youth circuit.

Career

Rubio began her career at her hometown club in ''Football Club Féminin Monteux'' in the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Monteux Monteux (; oc, Monteus) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Monteux is near Carpentras, in middle of Comtat Venaissin, and around 20 km from Avignon, in the ...

. In 2006, at the age of 15, she made her league debut with the club, who were playing in the second division of French women's football. For the 2006–07 season, Rubio started 13 matches scoring no goals. The following season, her matches played increased to 15. She also scored three goals, including one in cup play and even captained the team on several occasions. For the 2008–09 season, Rubio was selected to train at

CNFE Clairefontaine The Pole France feminin de Football (English: French Women's Football Pole), formally the Centre national de formation et d'entraînement de Clairefontaine (English: National Education and Training Center Clairefontaine) is a French training cent ...

, the women's section of the prestigious Clairefontaine academy. However, she eventually signed with

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

.Rubio a signé
With Montpellier, Rubio was designated the first team number 8 and made 11 league appearances in her first season with the team. She appeared in three cup matches scoring one goal helping Montpellier win the 2008–09 edition of the

Challenge de France Challenge may refer to: * Voter challenging or caging, a method of challenging the registration status of voters * Euphemism for disability * Peremptory challenge, a dismissal of potential jurors from jury duty Places Geography *Challenge, C ...

. Rubio got off to a fast start for the 2009–10 season scoring three goals in her first six league matches. She has also starred for the club in the newly created

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

appearing in four matches helping the club reach the main round.

International career

Rubio has been active with the women's section of the national team. She has earned caps with the women's under-17, under-18, and under-19 teams. With the under-17 team, she participated in both the 2008

UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, is a European championship football tournament, organized by UEFA, for national teams of women under age seventeen. The tournament was first played out i ...

and the inaugural

2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is the first women's football U-17 World Cup in FIFA history. It was held in New Zealand from 28 October to 16 November 2008. It is the officially recognized world championship for women's under-17 national ...

, where France were eliminated in the group stage. Rubio scored her lone goal in the tournament against 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 ...

in the final group stage match. With the under-19s, Rubio played in the

La Manga Cup La Manga Cup is a winter football tournament played in La Manga Club, La Manga del Mar Menor (Murcia, Spain). Usual participants are clubs from countries with a summer football season: Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Russia, Ukraine Uk ...

international tournament and the

2009 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship 2009 Final Tournament was held in Belarus from 13 to 25 July 2009. Players born on or after 1 January 1990 were eligible to participate in this competition. The tournament served as a qualifier for the 2010 FI ...

reached the semi-finals before bowing out to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

International goals

References

External links

* * 1991 births Living people French people of Spanish descent French women's footballers France women's international footballers Sportspeople from Avignon CNFE Clairefontaine players Montpellier HSC (women) players Paris Saint-Germain Féminine players Olympique de Marseille (women) players Division 1 Féminine players Women's association football midfielders Footballers from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur {{France-women-footy-bio-stub