María de la Paz Vilas Dono (born 1 February 1988) is a Spanish

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 for

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

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 ...

, Espanyol,

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

, and Levante Las Planas in the Primera División. She has also represented

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and Galicia. She has a

Bachelor of Physiotherapy Physical therapy education varies greatly from country to country. Worldwide, physical therapy training ranges from basic work site education in hospitals and outpatient clinics to professional doctoral degree and masters programs. Africa No ...

Club career

Vilas started her senior career in 2002 with local team Atlético Arousana for whom she scored 186 goals until 2006, when she signed for Primera División club

. In July 2008, following

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

proceedings at Levante UD, Vilas left the club and signed with

, claiming it was the best offer she got and was supported by the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

manager. In 2011, Vilas joined Espanyol. In June 2012, she scored the winning goal to help the club win their sixth

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 ...

, beating

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

2–1 in the final of the 2012 edition. Looking back, Vilas says that her time at Espanyol relaunched her career, reaching her peak there. In 2013, Vilas moved to

, ahead of the 2013–14 Primera División season. In June 2018, Vilas signed a two-year contract extension, bringing her time at the club up to seven seasons, a club record. She was also the club's all-time top scorer with over 100 goals. In July 2020, Vilas signed a two-year contract with

, as their first signing for the 2020–21 Primera División season. Her performance at Real Betis was worse than at Valencia, scoring only 14 goals in 54 appearances, while also being hampered by injuries. In July 2022, Vilas joined Levante Las Planas. Two months later, she was announced as one of the

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

for the

2022–23 Liga F The 2022–23 Primera División Femenina de Fútbol season, renamed Liga F (finetwork Liga F for sponsorship reasons), was the 35th edition of the Primera División Femenina de España de fútbol, and the first edition with professional status i ...

season, together with Yasmin Mrabet, Júlia Mora, and Alba Mellado. In May 2023, Vilas joined the

seven-a-side football Seven-a-side football is one of the minifootball variations of football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, ...

club Porcinas FC playing in the new Queens League as the first active professional footballer in the league. She scored 4 goals in 26 matches and decided to leave Levante Las Planas.

International career

Vilas was a member of the Spanish national team during the 2009 European Championship qualifying, scoring a goal in her first match against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Previously she scored the first of Spain's two goals in the 2007 Under-19 Euro. Vilas set a new

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years and one year after the men's UEFA European Championship first held in 1984, is the main competition in women's association football between nationa ...

record in April 2012 when she scored seven goals in her team's 13–0 win over

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

marking her return to the national team.

International goals

In popular culture

Vilas' hometown

Vilagarcía de Arousa Vilagarcía de Arousa (, ) is a municipality in the province of Province of Pontevedra, Pontevedra, in Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. As of 2014 it has a population of 37,712, being ninth largest town in Galicia. History The present site of ...

decided to rename their stadium in honour of her in February 2016.

Honours

Club

;Levante UD * Primera División: Winner 2007–08 *

Copa de la Reina de Fútbol The Copa de la Reina (Queen's Cup) is an annual cup competition for Spanish women's association football teams organized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. Its full name is ''Campeonato de España - Copa de Su Majestad la Reina'' (''Champ ...

: Winner

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

;FC Barcelona *

: Winner

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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 ...

: Winner 2009, 2010 ;RCD Espanyol *

: Winner

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

:Valencia CF *

: Runner-up

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

International

;Spain *

Cyprus Cup The Cyprus Women's Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's football. It has been held annually in Cyprus since 2008. Although the competition takes place in Cyprus, the hosts have yet to take part in the competitio ...

: Winner,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vilas, Maria Paz 1988 births Living people Footballers from Vilagarcía de Arousa Spanish women's footballers Women's association football forwards Levante UD Femenino players FC Barcelona Femení players RCD Espanyol (women) players Valencia CF Femenino players Real Betis Féminas players Liga F players Spain women's youth international footballers Spain women's international footballers UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players Queens League players FC Levante Las Planas players 21st-century Spanish sportswomen