Verónica Raquel Pérez Murillo (born 18 May 1988) is an American-born Mexican footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Liga MX Femenil club Atlas F.C. (women). She was a member of the Mexico women's national team. Between 2009 and 2016 she also played in professional leagues in the United States, Europe, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Perez retired from international football in 2017 after the newly created Liga MX Femenil restricted eligibility to compete to only Mexico-born players. Two years later, when the Mexican Football Federation allowed to the foreign-born Mexican players, she joined Club Tijuana.

Early life

Her parents are Bernardo Pérez and Irene Murillo. She holds dual citizenship in the United States and Mexico. Perez attended

Crystal Springs Uplands School Crystal Springs Uplands School is an independent, coeducational, college prep day school in Hillsborough, California, United States. Founded in 1952, the school includes grades 6–12, with approximately 220 students in the middle school and 320 ...

where she played one year of soccer, earning first team, All-League honors. During her Freshman, Sophomore and Junior years she played for PSV Union FC and in her junior and senior years, she played for the club team, Pleasonton Rage, and represented the Far West region Olympic Development (ODP) team at the 2005 U.S. Youth Soccer Adidas Cup.

University of Washington

Pérez played for the

University of Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac ...

and was twice named to the All-Pac-10 second team. Pérez left the University of Washington ranked in the all-time top-10 in several categories, including third in shots (194) and games played (83), fourth in game-winning goals (8), tied for sixth in goals (21) and eighth in points (53).

Club career

Perez was selected as the 37th pick overall in the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) draft by the

Saint Louis Athletica Saint Louis Athletica was an American professional soccer club that was based in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. Athletica started the 2009 season playing its home games at Ralph Korte St ...

in 2010. After the WPS folded, Perez began training again with the Mexico women's national football team. Perez played for the Seattle Sounders Women during the 2009 and 2012 seasons and was a leading scorer. During the summer of 2012, Pérez and her Sounders teammate and fellow University of Washington alum, Kate Deines, played for Stjarnan in Iceland's top division. The team won the

Icelandic Women's Cup The Icelandic Women's Football Cup ( is, Bikarkeppni kvenna í knattspyrnu) is the national women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football (hannah jones ). Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gri ...

after a 1–0 win over Valur. On 11 January 2013, Perez joined the Western New York Flash as part of the NWSL Player Allocation for the inaugural season of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

. 3 March 2014, Western New York Flash traded Perez and a 2015 fourth-round draft pick to the Washington Spirit in exchange for a 2014 and 2015 international roster spot. After she did not receive allocation status for the 2016 seasons, her NWSL rights were acquired by Seattle Reign FC in March 2016. Pérez joined

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

top division club KIF Örebro DFF in January 2016. In 2018, Perez played for

OSA FC OSA Seattle FC, formerly FC Tacoma 253, is an American association football (soccer) club based in the Seattle metro area. The team plays within the Northwest Conference of the National Premier Soccer League, a national league generally consider ...

in the Women's Premier Soccer League. She moved to PacNW Women the next year.

International career

Perez played for both the Mexico women's national football team and the United States women's national under-23 soccer team during the Summer of 2009. On 5 November 2010, she scored the winning goal for Mexico in the CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying game against the United States. In mid-2011, Pérez represented Mexico in the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, which won the right to host the even ...

in Germany. In October of that year, she led the Mexico to a third-place finish in the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

. Perez retired from international duty after the Liga MX Femenil restricted play to only Mexico-born players.

Coaching career

Perez is an assistant coach for her former club, PSV Union FC.

References

External links

* *
Profile
at Mexican Football Federation *
Saint Louis Athletica player profile

Washington player profile

Western New York Flash player profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Veronica 1988 births Living people Citizens of Mexico through descent Mexican women's footballers Women's association football midfielders

Verónica Pérez Verónica Raquel Pérez Murillo (born 18 May 1988) is an American-born Mexican Association football, footballer who plays as an Midfielder, attacking midfielder for Liga MX Femenil club Atlas F.C. (women). She was a member of the Mexico women's ...

Canberra United FC players KIF Örebro DFF players Club Tijuana (women) footballers Club América (women) footballers

A-League Women players Damallsvenskan players Liga MX Femenil players Mexico women's international footballers 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for Mexico Pan American Games medalists in football Mexican expatriate women's footballers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Iceland Expatriate women's footballers in Iceland Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden LGBT association football players Mexican LGBT sportspeople American women's soccer players Soccer players from California Sportspeople from Hayward, California American sportspeople of Mexican descent Washington Huskies women's soccer players USL W-League (1995–2015) players Seattle Sounders Women players Women's Professional Soccer players Saint Louis Athletica players National Women's Soccer League players Western New York Flash players Washington Spirit players Women's Premier Soccer League players American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Iceland American expatriate sportspeople in Australia American expatriate sportspeople in Sweden LGBT people from California American LGBT sportspeople