Maitane López Millán (born 13 March 1995) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Chicago Stars FC Chicago Stars Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the Chicago metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league as the Chica ...

of the American

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 ...

and the Spain national team.

Club career

In June 2015, Levante announced the signing of López from Collerense. She would spend five seasons at Levante, after which, she would sign for

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

. In July 2021, after one year at Real Sociedad, López transferred to

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, where she signed a two-year professional contract. Before her Atlético expired during the 2023 summer

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, López was linked with interest from

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

club

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. However, on 6 July 2023 she signed a two-year contract with an option for an additional year with American 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 ...

. On 5 December 2024,

announced that they had signed López through the 2026 season.

International career

As a youth international, López was part of the Spain under-17 team that won the 2011 UEFA Women's U-17 Championship, though she did not play much. She then came second with Spain under-19 in the 2014 UEFA Women's U-19 Championship, having consolidated a starting position in the squad after being an injury replacement call-up. Following immediately after that tournament in summer 2014, López played internationally for the Balearic Islands beach football team. After injuries to

Virginia Torrecilla Virginia Torrecilla Reyes (born 4 September 1994), simply known as Virginia, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a Midfielder. She has played for Atlético Madrid, FC Barcelona, French Division 1 Féminine team Montpellier ...

and

Amanda Sampedro Amanda Sampedro Bustos (born 26 June 1993) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a forward and the Spain national team. International career A skillful forward noted for her creativity and vision, she was part of the Spanish team which ...

, López was called up to the Spain national team to face the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

in October 2019. She did not play in the fixture. Two years later, she made her debut for Spain in a friendly match against

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Personal life

López is of

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

descent through her father. Two of López's uncles,

Aitor Aitor is a Basque masculine given name, created by Agosti Xaho for a Basque ancestral patriarch descending from the Biblical Tubal in his work "The Legend of Aitor" (published in French in the journal ''Ariel'', 1845). Koldo Mitxelena believes th ...

and Luis López Rekarte, were professional footballers. Encouraged by Aitor's performances for

, Maitane López signed up for her first football team at the age of five. At that same age, she had moved to

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

from

Águilas Águilas () is a municipality and seaport of southeastern Spain, in the province of Murcia. It is situated at the southern end of Murcia's Mediterranean coastline, otherwise known as the Costa Cálida, near the border with the Province of Almer ...

. Outside of football, she sings and plays guitar; she has posted videos on social media of various cover songs that she has performed.

References

External links

* 1995 births Living people Women's association football midfielders Spanish women's footballers People from Águilas UD Collerense (women) players Levante UD Femenino players Real Sociedad Femenino players Atlético Madrid Femenino players Liga F players Spanish people of Basque descent Spain women's international footballers Footballers from the Region of Murcia Spain women's youth international footballers 21st-century Spanish sportswomen Gotham FC players National Women's Soccer League players Spanish expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Chicago Stars FC players Chicago Red Stars players {{Spain-women-footy-bio-stub