Vanesa Gimbert Acosta (born 19 April 1980) is a Spanish retired

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 ...

who played as a defender or

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 ...

. She played for clubs including Levante,

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

and

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

in Spain's Primera División, retiring in 2022 aged 42.Vanesa Gimbert to retire at the end of the season
Athletic Bilbao, 22 April 2022

Career

Born in the Basque Country and raised partly in

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, she previously played for

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

CFF Estudiantes Club de Fútbol Femenino Estudiantes de Huelva was a Spanish women's football team from Huelva created in 1998 and disbanded in 2006. A founding member of the new Superliga Femenina in 2001, it was the city's leading women's club until its disapp ...

and

. She won four league titles with Levante and Rayo (coming close to another with Sevilla) and five Copas de la Reina between her spells at those two clubs and Espanyol. In 2016, 36-year-old Gimbert won the league title with Athletic, then agreed to remain with the club for another year. Five years later (now aged 41, the oldest active player in the country) she was still playing regularly, including scoring both goals in a victory over Santa Teresa and agreed a further one-year contract in the summer of 2021. She retired one year later after nine years in

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

alongside teammate

Erika Vázquez Erika Vázquez Morales (born 16 February 1983), known simply as Erika, is a former Spanish footballer who played as a forward, mainly for Athletic Bilbao where she set club records for most appearances and goals. Between 2003 and 2016, she pl ...

, who by coincidence was one of the opponents 22 years earlier when Gimbert won the first trophy of her career, the

2000 Copa de la Reina de Fútbol The 2000 Copa de la Reina de Fútbol was the 18th edition of the main Spanish women's football cup. It was played between 23 April and 25 June 2000 and Levante (women), Levante won its first title ever. Bracket References External links
...

when Levante defeated Lagunak. Her statistics with Athletic included being its oldest debutant (aged 33), longest run of consecutive matches (86, completing the 90 minutes every time) and oldest player (aged 42). Gimbert was a member of the

Spain women's national football team The Spain women's national football team ( es, Selección Española de Fútbol Femenina) has represented Spain in international Women's association football, women's football competition since 1980, and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Footb ...

from a young age, taking part at 17 in the 1997 European Championship. She was the team's captain in the 2009 European Championship qualifying.Pauw cautions as Netherlands defend lead

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

International goals

* 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup play-off ** 1 in Spain 4–1 Scotland (1998) * 2001 Euro qualification ** 1 in Netherlands 1–2 Spain (2000) ** 1 in Spain 1–6 Denmark (2000) *

2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process decided the 15 teams which played at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the host China initially qualified automatically as the host nation. The qualification process for the 2003 FIFA W ...

** 1 in Spain 6–1 Iceland (2001) *

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification Qualification for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup determined which 15 teams joined China, the hosts of the 2007 tournament, to play for the Women's World Cup. Europe had 5 qualifying berths, Asia 3.5 berths (including the hosts), North and Centr ...

** 1 in Spain 3–2 Belgium (2005) * 2009 Euro qualification ** 1 in Spain 4–1 Czech Republic (2008)

Honours

Club

; Levante * Primera División: 2000–01, 2001–02 *

Copa de la Reina Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Ass ...

: 2000, 2001, 2002 ; Rayo Vallecano * Primera División: 2008–09, 2009–10 * Copa de la Reina: 2008 ; Espanyol * Copa de la Reina:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

; Athletic Bilbao * Primera División: 2015–16 * Copa de la Reina: runner-up

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

References

External links

*
Profile
at aupaAthletic.com
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's ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gimbert, Vanesa 1980 births Living people Spanish women's footballers Spain women's international footballers Liga F players Levante UD Femenino players Athletic Club (women) players Rayo Vallecano Femenino players RCD Espanyol (women) players People from Bergara Athletic Bilbao non-playing staff Women's association football midfielders Footballers from Gipuzkoa 21st-century Spanish women