María Pilar León Cebrián (; born 13 June 1995), known as Mapi León, 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 defender for

Liga F The Primera División de la Liga de Fútbol Femenino, currently known as the Liga F (finetwork Liga F for sponsorship reasons), is the highest level of Sports league, league competition for women's football in Spain. It is the women's equivalent ...

club

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and the Spain national team. León began her career with her hometown club of Prainsa Zaragoza before moving on to Espanyol and

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 ...

. At Atlético, she made the transition from a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

to a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

under the guidance of coach Ángel Villacampa. León won the first

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

and

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 ...

titles of her career at the club. In 2017, León was the first paid transfer in Spanish women's football history when she signed for

from Atlético Madrid, with a fee of 50,000

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

s. Domestically with Barcelona, she has won four Copas de la Reina, three

titles, and two Supercopa Femenina. On the continental stage, she has played in three Champions League finals with the club in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, winning the

version as part of the first continental treble in the club's history. León previously played internationally with the Spanish national team, making her debut in 2016, in qualifiers for the 2017 UEFA Women's Euro. Since then she has featured in three major international competitions for ''La Roja'' in

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 The 2017 UEFA European Women's Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2017, was the 12th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship organised by UEFA for the ...

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

, and

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 The 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2022 or simply Euro 2022, was the 13th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champio ...

. As of 2022 she refused to play for the Spanish National Team, citing unequal and unfair conditions.

Early life

María Pilar León Cebrián was born 13 June 1995, to parents Javier and Pilar. León was raised with an older brother in La Almozara, a district of

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

. León started playing

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

at age seven, and played many other sports as a child including

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. Later she started playing

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

for local team Gran Vía, where she played as a winger. Around this age, she was granted a scholarship to go to an art school, but turned down the award to focus on football. León was discovered by David Magaña, a former

Zaragoza CFF Zaragoza Club de Fútbol Femenino, formerly known as ''Club Deportivo Transportes Alcaine'' for sponsorship reasons, is a Spanish women's association football, football team from Zaragoza playing in Segunda Federación (women), Segunda Federació ...

sporting director, who noticed her and her brother Javi playing football while shopping in a

Carrefour Carrefour Group, S.A. (, ), is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, Essonne, Massy, France. It operates a chain of hypermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores. By 2024, the group had 14,000 ...

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. She began training with the club at age 11.

Club career

Prainsa Zaragoza (2011–2013)

After developing with their B team for two years, León debuted in the Primera División with Prainsa Zaragoza when she was 16. Her match debut with Zaragoza was against Barcelona. In 2013, Zaragoza made it to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the Copa de la Reina, where they faced León's future club

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. In her last ever match with the club, León started the final as Zaragoza lost 4–0 to Barcelona, who completed their first domestic

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

. Also in 2013, León was recognised for the first time as one of the most promising young footballers in Spain by being named to the "Golden 11" of Futbol Draft, a recognition she would earn two more times in her career.

Espanyol (2013–2014)

At 18, León joined

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

in 2013, where she remained for only one season. She won the first trophy of her career when Espanyol outlasted FC Barcelona to win the

Copa Catalunya The Copa Catalunya () is a knockout competition organised by the Catalan Football Federation for football clubs in the Catalonia autonomous community of Spain. History Between 1903 and 1940, it was known as the ''Catalan football championship ...

. Around this time, she began getting call-ups with the senior national team. In addition, she attracted the attention of

, who finished 3rd in the league in the 2012–13 league season.

Atlético Madrid (2014–2017)

In 2014, León joined

. In her first season at the club, Atlético finished in second place in the

behind Barcelona, prompting both Atlético and León's debut in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

. In 2015, León debuted in the UWCL against Russian side Zorky Krasnogorsk, where they were defeated 2–0 in the first leg. Atlético later came back 3–0 to win the tie, but were defeated in the Round of 16 by

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

on a 9–1 aggregate score. Within her time at

Atlético 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 ...

, León switched from playing as a

to playing as a

under the influence of former left-back and Atlético head coach Ángel Villacampa. León won the first league title of her career in the 2016–17 season, when Atlético defeated

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, ...

on the final matchday of the season. Her performances throughout the season earned her a place in the league's best XI of the season, as well as putting her on

's radar. During the summer transfer window of 2017, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid underwent a two-month-long

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...

saga in their negotiations for León. Prior to her transfer to Barcelona, she trained away from the group, and later fell ill during contract negotiations. In her episode of Barcelona's documentary series ''Dare to Play'', Leon recounts how Atlético interpreted this as her faking an illness in an attempt to force through a move to Barcelona.

Barcelona (2017–present)

On 24 August 2017, León's transfer to

was made official, the club's sixth signing ahead of the 2017–18 season. With a year remaining on her contract with

, León signed for a fee of €50,000, becoming the first paid

in the history of Spanish women's football. In her first season at the club, she won the 2018 Copa de la Reina, her first title with Barcelona. León kept a clean sheet for 120 minutes against her former club Atlético Madrid, as they won the match after a goal late in extra time. In October 2018, León scored her first ever Champions League goal in the Round of 16 against Glasgow City. In 2019, León played the first Champions League Final of her career against

, where Barcelona conceded four goals within the first 30 minutes of the match, and ultimately lost 1–4 against the European giants. Following the conclusion of the Champions League, León renewed her contract with Barcelona for three more years until 2022. In 2020, León was named as a candidate for UEFA Women's Team of the Year for the first time in her career. On 6 January 2021, León started the first competitive match at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

played by women's teams. She assisted Barcelona's fifth and final goal, when one of her shots was deflected off of

Ana-Maria Crnogorčević Ana-Maria Crnogorčević (born 3 October 1990) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a winger or right-back for Seattle Reign FC and the Switzerland national team. A fast player with good heading ability, she is considered one of ...

and into goal. Crnogorčević personally credits the goal to León. Later in the month she competed in the 2020–21 Supercopa Femenina, where Barcelona lost on penalties against their rivals Atlético Madrid. León criticised the

Royal Spanish Football Federation The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas de Madrid, Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. RFEF organizes the natio ...

for not implementing video-assistant referreeing (VAR) in the competition, which the men's version of the competition does have. In March 2021, she was suspended for four matches and fined €601 by the

RFEF The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. RFEF organizes the national cup competitio ...

for criticising the quality of refereeing in the Primera Iberdrola after receiving a controversial red card against

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 ...

. Barcelona appealed the decision to the Administrative Tribunal of Sport (TAD), and León was able to play against second-place opponent Levante in their upcoming league match. Spain's footballing union, the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE), issued a statement of support for León, calling the suspension an attempt to curtail her freedom of speech and expression. The following month, she made her 100th league appearance with Barcelona against UD Granadilla. León became a

champion with Barcelona for the second time on 9 May 2021. Barcelona made it to the 2021 UEFA Women's Champions League Final after defeating

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

on an aggregate score of 2–1. In the second leg of the semifinal, León's centre-back partner

Andrea Pereira Andrea Pereira Cejudo (born 19 September 1993) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Liga MX Femenil side Pachuca and the Spain women's national team. Club career Born in Barcelona, Pereira made her senior debut w ...

picked up a yellow card and was suspended for the final. As expected, León played the final in a centre-back pairing alongside defensive midfielder Patri Guijarro, who studied León's game to prepare herself for the match. Barcelona's defence recorded a shutout as they won 4–0, the first UEFA Women's Champions League title in club history. León was named to the 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League Squad of the Season, and was later listed as a nominee to the UEFA Women's Champions League Defender of the Season award. Following the conclusion of the Champions League, León played each minute of the remaining semifinal and final of the 2021 Copa de la Reina. Barcelona won the final 4–2, achieving the continental treble for the first time in their history. León won the league title with Barcelona for the third successive season while winning every match in the process. She also won the Copa de la Reina and Supercopa de España. She started in her team's 1–3 defeat against Lyon in the Champions League final. On 20 November 2022, she scored on her 200th appearance for Barcelona in her team's 8–0 thrashing of Alavés in a league game. On 3 June 2023, Mapi played the entire match as Barcelona won 3–2 against

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

in the final to win her second Women's Champions League title. She started the 2023–24 season at a high level before suffering a meniscus tear in December, a season-ending injury. On 16 April 2025, León was banned for two

games after an incident involving

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

n international and Espanyol defender Daniela Caracas during the February 2025 Catalan derby in which León was found to have "inappropriately touched" her opponent.

International career

León's debut with Spain's senior team came about on 15 September 2016, coming on as a substitute during Spain's UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying 13–0 win against

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

, the second to last match of European Qualifying. In 2017, León was called up to her first major tournament with Spain, the 2017 UEFA Women's Euro. Spain advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament where they were defeated by

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

on penalties. León captained Spain for the first time at the

2019 Algarve Cup The 2019 Algarve Cup was the 26th edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It took place from 27 February to 6 March. Norway defeated Poland 3–0 in the final to win their fifth title, an ...

. León started all of Spain's matches at the

as they made it to the Round of 16, where they faced the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In the 7th minute, she conceded a penalty after making contact with

Tobin Heath Tobin Powell Heath (born May 29, 1988) is an American professional soccer player and entrepreneur. Playing primarily as a forward and midfielder for the United States national team, she won gold at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, 2012 Lon ...

in the box, which

Megan Rapinoe Megan Anna Rapinoe (; born July 5, 1985) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player who played as a Midfielder#Winger, winger. She spent most of her career playing for Seattle Reign FC, OL Reign of the National Wom ...

scored to put the USA 1–0 up. The match ended 2–1 in favour of the United States as Spain exited the tournament. In 2021, Spain played in a 3–0 win against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying The UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying competition was a women's football competition that determined the 15 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts England in the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 final tournament. Apart from England, 47 of the rem ...

, where León scored for the first time in her career with the Spain national team. The same match, she wore her mother's

maiden name When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the family name of their spouse, in some countries and cultures that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" ...

Cebrián on her shirt. The following year in July, León participated in the 2022 UEFA Women's Euro, where Spain were eliminated in the quarterfinals by eventual 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 September, León joined 14 of her teammates in abstaining from national team call-ups, a decision that arose from a conflict between the 15 players and Spain's coach, Jorge Vilda. The group, dubbed '' Las 15'' by Spanish media, later posted a joint statement that explained their decision to leave, citing difficulties with their physical and mental health, and criticised the Spanish federation for their response to the situation. León continued to refuse call-ups to the national team into 2023 and even refused to make herself available for selection for the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

. Regarding the situation, she said in an interview "Mapi León has a way of life and values. I can't go back if the situation hasn't changed. There have to be changes. I'm not saying that no changes have happened, but I don't see them."

Style of play

León is a versatile left-footed Defender (association football), defender, possessing the ability to play as both a

and a

. She is mostly utilised as a ball-playing centre-back, with her main characteristics as a player being her quality technique and passing. FIFA profiles her as an aggressive player with good reactions and reading of the game. Former Atletico Madrid manager Ángel Villacampa, who aided her transition from left-back to centre-back, has described León as having the perfect connection to

’s style, with her ability to distribute the ball up the pitch and her preference for playing in a high block.

Personal life

In 2018, León came out publicly as a lesbian in an interview with the Spanish newspaper ''El Mundo (Spain), El Mundo'' after being out for many years in her personal life. In the same interview, she spoke in disapproval of the 2018 FIFA World Cup being hosted in Russia due to anti-gay purges in Chechnya. In 2019, León was a headline speaker for the commencement of Madrid Pride. ''El Mundo'' labelled her as one of Spain's top 50 most influential LGBT people in 2018 and 2019. In 2021, she was a part of Levi Strauss & Co., Levi's ''Beauty of Becoming'' campaign for Gay pride#LGBT Pride Month, LGBT Pride month. As of late 2021, she is in a relationship with Barcelona teammate and Norwegian international Ingrid Syrstad Engen. León has a passion for motorcycles, which she inherited from her father, a mechanic. She has an interest in drawing and painting, and has multiple tattoos. Her first tattoo was a small one on her foot, which she purposefully got in a discreet area to hide from her parents. One of her most prominent tattoos is that on her neck, which reads "Looks can be deceiving." She practices tattooing on her own hands and feet, and in 2021 was interning at a tattoo shop. She has stated that she would like to focus on her tattoos and tattoo design after retiring from football.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Espanyol *

: 2013 Atletico Madrid * Primera División: 2016–17 Primera División (women), 2016–17 *Copa de la Reina de Fútbol, Copa de la Reina: 2016 Copa de la Reina de Fútbol, 2016 Barcelona * Primera División: 2019–20 Primera División (women), 2019–20, 2020–21 Primera División (women), 2020–21, 2021–22 Primera División (women), 2021–22, 2022–23 Primera División (women), 2022–23, 2023–24 Liga F, 2023–24 *

: 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2020–21, 2022-23 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2022–23, 2023–24 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2023–24 *Copa de la Reina: 2018 Copa de la Reina de Fútbol, 2018, 2019–20 Copa de la Reina de Fútbol, 2019–20, 2020–21 Copa de la Reina de Fútbol, 2020–21, 2021–22 Copa de la Reina de Fútbol, 2021–22, 2023–24 Copa de la Reina de Fútbol, 2023–24 *Supercopa de España Femenina, Supercopa de España: 2019–20 Supercopa de España Femenina, 2019–20, 2021–22 Supercopa de España Femenina, 2021–22, 2022–23 Supercopa de España Femenina, 2022–23, 2024–25 Supercopa de España Femenina, 2024-25 *Copa Catalunya (women's football), Copa Catalunya: 2018, 2019 Spain * Algarve Cup: 2017 Algarve Cup, 2017 * SheBelieves Cup: runner-up 2020 SheBelieves Cup, 2020 * Arnold Clark Cup: runner-up 2022 Individual *:es:Fútbol Draft, Fútbol Draft: 2013, 2015, 2016 * Primera División Best XI of the Season: 2016–17 Primera División (women), 2016–17 *

Squad of the Season: 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2020–21, 2024–25 UEFA Women's Champions League, 2024–25 * FIFPro#FIFA FIFPRO Women's World 11, FIFA FIFPRO Women's World 11: The Best FIFA Football Awards 2022#FIFA FIFPRO Women's World 11, 2022 *IFFHS Women's UEFA Team: 2021,

Notes

References

External links

*
Mapi León
at FC Barcelona (women), FC Barcelona
Mapi León
at BDFutbol * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Mapi 1995 births Living people Spanish women's footballers Footballers from Zaragoza Liga F players Zaragoza CFF players RCD Espanyol (women) players Atlético Madrid Femenino players FC Barcelona Femení players Spain women's international footballers Spanish lesbian sportswomen Spanish LGBTQ footballers Women's association football defenders 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players 21st-century Spanish sportswomen UEFA Women's Champions League–winning players