Esther González Rodríguez (born 8 December 1992) 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 lea ...

who plays as a striker for

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

club

Gotham FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sk ...

and the Spain national team. She previously played for

Atlético Málaga Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

Sporting de Huelva Sporting Club de Huelva is a Spanish women's association football, football club from Huelva, Andalusia. It was founded in Huelva in 2004 as a restructuring of an homonymous junior (men's) football club, which had been founded in 1979 and dissol ...

Atlético de Madrid Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

, and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

Club career

Real Madrid

González left

as its all-time top scorer with 39 goals in 77 games.

Gotham FC

On 23 August 2023,

club

NJ/NY Gotham FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sk ...

signed Esther to a three-year contract with an option to extend for an additional year. She made her club debut on 2 September, coming on for Sinead Farrelly in a 3–3 draw away to the

North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acqui ...

. On her first start, she scored her first and second NWSL goals in a 2–0 home win over the

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the USL W-League (1995� ...

. On 11 November, she headed in Midge Purce's

corner Corner may refer to: People *Corner (surname) *House of Cornaro, a noble Venetian family (''Corner'' in Venetian dialect) Places * Corner, Alabama, a community in the United States *Corner Inlet, Victoria, Australia * Corner River, a tributary o ...

to score the second goal for Gotham in the NWSL Championship Game. It stood as the game winner in a 2–1 victory over

OL Reign Seattle Reign FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since J ...

, giving Gotham its first league championship. On 24 March 2024, Esther scored in Gotham's first game of the season, a 1–0 victory over the

Portland Thorns Portland Thorns FC is an American professional soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL, which received supp ...

. On 5 October, she assisted Rose Lavelle and scored two goals of her own against

Bay FC Bay Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the San Francisco Bay Area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The team began play in the NWSL as an expansion team in the 2024 Nat ...

within 4 minutes and 20 seconds, marking the fastest three-goal contribution in NWSL history. She finished the regular season with a team-high 9 goals, tied for fourth-most in the league, as Gotham placed third in the standings. In the NWSL semifinals, Esther scored the opening goal in a 1–1 draw against the

; Gotham lost as Esther was one of three players whose penalty attempts were saved by Aubrey Kingsbury. After starting the season with seven goals in nine games, Esther signed a new contract with Gotham through 2027. On May 25, 2025, she scored in the 82nd minute of the

2025 CONCACAF W Champions Cup final The 2025 CONCACAF W Champions Cup final was the final match of the 2024–25 CONCACAF W Champions Cup, the 1st season of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean's premier club association football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It wa ...

against Tigres, burying the rebound after Itzel González stopped her penalty kick. Gotham won 1–0 to become the inaugural winners of the competition.

International career

Esther González played for the Spain U17 team at the 2009 U-17 European Championship, where Spain was the runner-up to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Esther made her senior international debut in March 2016, as a substitute in a 0–0 friendly draw with

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Mogoșoaia Mogoșoaia is a commune in the west of Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, composed of a single village, Mogoșoaia. In late 17th century, Constantin Brâncoveanu bought land here, and, between 1698 and 1702, he built the Mogoșoaia Palace. The ...

. She scored five goals in Spain's 13–0 win over

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

qualifying Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the Euro 2022. She and her team reached the quarter-finals, where Spain lost 2–1 to eventual European champions

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in overtime. In Spain's opening match of the 2023 FIFA World Cup, she scored Spain's third goal in a 3–0 win over

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. This was the third goal in six minutes for the Spanish and was just their second group stage win at the World Cup.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each González goal.''

Honours

Atlético Madrid * Primera División: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

Copa de la Reina Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Association * Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association * Parlia ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Gotham FC *

NWSL Championship The NWSL Championship is the annual championship game of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-flight women's soccer league in the United States. It is the culmination of the NWSL playoffs, which is contested by the teams with the ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

CONCACAF W Champions Cup The CONCACAF W Champions Cup is an annual continental women's football club competition organized by CONCACAF that determines the club champion for the region encompassing North America, Central America and the Caribbean. It is comparable to ...

: 2024–25 Spain * U17 European Championship runner-up:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

Individual *

: 2024–25 Golden Ball

References

External links

* *
Esther González
at BDFutbol
Esther González
at

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Esther 1992 births Living people Spanish women's footballers Liga F players Levante UD Femenino players Footballers from the Province of Granada Spain women's international footballers Atlético Madrid Femenino players Málaga CF Femenino players Sporting de Huelva players Women's association football forwards UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players 21st-century Spanish sportswomen 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players Spanish lesbian sportswomen Spanish LGBTQ footballers 20th-century Spanish women 20th-century Spanish LGBTQ people 21st-century Spanish LGBTQ people FIFA Women's World Cup–winning players National Women's Soccer League players Gotham FC players Real Madrid Femenino players Spanish expatriate women's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States