Melissa Deanna Bustos Pepe (born 12 May 1999) is a

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 an attacking midfielder for Universidad de Chile. Born in Canada, she plays for the Chile women's national team.

Club career

In his country of birth, Bustos played for two consecutive years for UBC Thunderbirds. In 2019, she suffered a serious knee injury. In 2020, she moved to Chile and joined Colo-Colo. After playing for Colo-Colo, she spent two years with

Fernández Vial Fernández () is a Spanish surname meaning "son of Fernando". The Germanic name that it derives from (Gothic: ''Frið-nanð'') means "brave traveler." The Portuguese version of this surname is Fernandes. The Arabized version is ''Ibn Faranda'' ...

. In May 2022, she was selected by the Brazilian international

Neymar Jr. Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992), known as Neymar, is a Brazilian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Sain ...

for the friendly tournament Red Bull Neymar Jr's Five in Qatar, after he watched a video on Instagram about her skills. In 2023, she signed with Santiago Morning. In 2024, she switched to Universidad de Chile.

International career

In 2019, she trained with the Chile national team and, later, she was called up to a training microcycle. In 2023, she was called up to a training microcycle of the national team at under-23 level. At senior level, she made his debut in a 1–0 win against Peru on 1 December 2023.

Personal life

Born in Canada, her father, Alex, is Chilean and her mother is Canadian of Italian descent. She holds three nationalities: Canadian by birth and both Chilean and Italian by descent. Her father used to organize soccer championships for academies when she was a child. As a child, she also played volleyball, basketball and did track and field. Her older brother,

Marco Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...

, is a Canada international footballer. They both organized a soccer camp, Marco & Melissa Bustos Soccer Camp, in their hometown, Winnipeg, and gave Fernández Vial shirts to the children.

References

External links

Melissa Bustos
at PlaymakerStats
Melissa Bustos
at GoThunderbirds.ca

at PartidosdeLaRoja.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Bustos, Melissa 1999 births Living people Soccer players from Winnipeg Canadian women's soccer players Canadian expatriate women's soccer players Canadian people of Chilean descent Sportspeople of Chilean descent Canadian people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent Canadian sportspeople of Italian descent Chilean people of Canadian descent Sportspeople of Canadian descent Chilean people of Italian descent Chilean women's footballers Chile women's international footballers UBC Thunderbirds women's soccer players Colo-Colo (women) footballers C.D. Arturo Fernández Vial footballers Santiago Morning (women) footballers Club Universidad de Chile (women) footballers Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Chile Expatriate women's footballers in Chile Women's association football midfielders Naturalized citizens of Chile Naturalised citizens of Italy