María Méndez Fernández (born 10 April 2001) is a Spanish 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 ...

who plays as a

centre 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 ...

for

Liga F 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 league competition for women's football in Spain. It is the women's equivalent of the men's La L ...

club Levante UD, where she serves as fourth captain, and the Spain women's national team.

Club career

Oviedo Moderno/Real Oviedo: (2014–2019)

Méndez began playing for Oviedo Moderno's youth teams at 13, and eventually moved up to their B team. At 15, she made her debut for Oviedo's senior team, and for the 2016–17 season, she made the jump to the first team, which was relegated to the Segunda División in the previous season. Around this time, Méndez began to play 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 ...

, which she would continue to do before leaving for

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. They currently play in the Primera División RFEF – ...

. In the 2017–18 season, Méndez won Group 1 of the Segunda División with Oviedo. They advanced to promotion playoffs for the Primera División, but were knocked out 1–2 on aggregate by

EdF Logroño EDF may refer to: Organisations * Eclaireurs de France, a French Scouting association * Education for Development Foundation, a Thai charity * Électricité de France, a French energy company ** EDF Energy, their British subsidiary ** EDF Luminus, ...

. After Méndez won the

2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the 6th edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its in ...

with Spain, she was honored at the

Estadio Carlos Tartiere Estadio Municipal Carlos Tartiere is a multi-use stadium in Oviedo, Spain. With a capacity of 30,500 seats, it is the 17th-largest stadium in Spain and the largest in Asturias. The new Carlos Tartiere replaced the former stadium of the same name ...

, and Oviedo released a statement hailing her as a "club legend." While at Oviedo, Méndez was given the nickname "Pecas," meaning "

freckle Freckles are clusters of concentrated melaninized cells which are most easily visible on people with a fair complexion. Freckles do not have an increased number of the melanin-producing cells, or melanocytes, but instead have melanocytes that ...

s" in Spanish. Later on in her time at Oviedo, Méndez became one of the club's captains.

Deportivo la Coruña: (2019–2020)

On 17 June, 2019, Méndez joined newly-promoted

with a one-year deal upon the expiration of her contract with Oviedo. In her first season playing in the Spanish top flight, she made 20 league appearances and scored 4 goals as the club finished in 6th place.

Levante UD: (2020– )

On 24 June, 2020, Méndez joined Levante UD on a three-year deal. In her first season at Levante, Méndez played all but two of Levante's league matches as they finished third in the Primera División, qualifying for the

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 ...

for the first time in 12 years. She also played in each match of Levante's runner-up 2020–21 Copa de la Reina campaign. In the quarterfinals of the tournament, Méndez scored both goals in a 2–1 win against UDG Tenerife to send Levante through to the semifinals. After beating Atlético Madrid in extra time, Méndez played the first Copa de la Reina final of her career as Levante lost 4–2 to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

. Ahead of the 2021–22 season, Méndez was given the role of Levante's fourth captain. She made her debut in the

with a win against Celtic in the first

qualifying round Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

, and Levante advanced to the final round after defeating Rosenborg BK. Levante faced Olympique Lyonnais in the final round of qualifying and lost 4–2 on aggregate, ending their Champions League season.

International career

Méndez was a regular starter in Spain's U17 team that won the

2018 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The 2018 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Women's Under-17 Euro 2018) was the 11th edition of the UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, the annual international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the women's un ...

, which qualified them for the

. On 2 November, 2018, Méndez was called up to play in the

. She started all of Spain's matches in the tournament, and on 1 December, 2018, Méndez started the final of the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

against

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 ...

, which ended in a 2–1 victory for Spain. Spain's U17s became the first Spanish team to win a Women's World Cup in any age category. In 2019, Méndez was given her first call-up to Spain's U-19 women's national team. Méndez made her senior debut on 11 November 2022, starting in a 7-0 friendly home win over

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 ...

Personal life

Méndez is the younger sister of Miguel Méndez, a former player of Real Oviedo's youth teams and the former coach of Real Oviedo Femenino.

Honors

Club

;Oviedo Moderno/Real Oviedo * Segunda Division, Group I: Winner, 2017-18

International

;Spain U17 *

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 ...

: Winner,

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 Unit ...

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament for female players under the age of 17. It is organized by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The tournament is held in even-numbered ye ...

: Winner,

References

External links

Profile
at

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Méndez, María 2001 births Living people Footballers from Oviedo Spanish women's footballers Women's association football defenders Real Oviedo (women) players Deportivo de La Coruña (women) players Levante UD Femenino players Primera División (women) players Spain women's youth international footballers Spain women's international footballers 21st-century Spanish women