María Eugenia Rubio Ríos, also called ''La Peque'', is a retired

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 played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for the unofficial

Mexico women's national football team The Mexico women's national football team (Spanish: ''Selección Nacional de México Femenil'') represents Mexico in international Women's association football, women's football. The team is governed by the Mexican Football Federation and compe ...

at the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

and 1971 Women's World Cups. In 2018, she became the first Mexican woman inducted into the International Football Hall of Fame in

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

, Mexico. In 1999, she was named the eighth best woman player in

Concacaf The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

during the 20th century.

International career

1970 Coppa del Mondo

In the first match of the 1970 Women's World Cup, contested between Mexico and

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 ...

Bari, Italy Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and university city a ...

, Rubio scored the tournament's first goal in the first minute of the match. She scored again in the 31st minute of the match. Mexico finished the tournament in third place. Rubio was celebrated at the airport upon the team's return from Italy.

1971 Mundial

Rubio again scored the tournament's first goal, in the 21st minute against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and scored a second in the 49th minute in a 3–1 victory on 15 August 1971. She was among the players who requested to be paid before playing in the final match against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, which Mexico lost to finish second in the tournament.

Playing style

Rubio was among the shortest players on the Mexican team, earning her the nickname ''La Peque'' ("the short one"). Her dribbling ability was remarked upon by reports, including one story that suggested she ran through the legs of a taller Austrian defender.

Personal life

Rubio's brother Sergio played professionally for

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

and

C.D. Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara S.A de C.V. (;), nicknamed ''"Chivas"'' () and simply known as Guadalajara or internationally as Chivas de Guadalajara, is a Mexican professional football club based in the Guadalajara metropolitan area, Jalisco. It ...

, where he was nicknamed ''El Peque''.

Honors

* IFFHS CONCACAF World Team of the XXth Century * International Football Hall of Fame: 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubio, María Eugenia Living people Mexican women's footballers Women's association football forwards Mexico women's international footballers Year of birth missing (living people)