Natalia Gaitán Laguado (born 3 April 1991) is a Colombian former 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 played 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 ...

. With her country Gaitán played at the

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 ...

and

2016 Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

and also made a powerful appearance at the

2015 Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the f ...

in Canada.

Club career

Gaitán signed for

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

in September 2015. She had previously played in Spain for CD Transportes Alcaine in the 2013–14 season. She played the 2014 WPSL season with

Houston Aces The Houston Aces are an American women's soccer team that was founded in 2012. The Aces participate in the WPSL, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada, underneath the NWSL. The Aces play at Albion Campbell Road. Th ...

and spent the first half of 2015 in a national team training camp.

Studies

Gaitán received a Bachelor's of Business Administration from the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a Public university, public research university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, ...

and an MBA in International Sports Management from

in Spain.

Personal life

Gaitán was diagnosed with

acute lymphoblastic leukemia Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer of the Lymphocyte, lymphoid line of blood cells characterized by the development of large numbers of lymphoblast, immature lymphocytes. Symptoms may include feeling tired, pale skin color, fever, ...

aged four and underwent chemotherapy treatment from 1994 to 1998.

References

External links

*
FIFA Player Natalia Gaitán
* 1991 births Living people Footballers from Bogotá Colombian women's footballers 21st-century Colombian sportswomen Women's association football midfielders Toledo Rockets women's soccer players Zaragoza CFF players Valencia CF Femenino players Sevilla FC (women) players Tigres UANL (women) footballers Liga F players Colombia women's international footballers 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Olympic footballers for Colombia Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists in football Footballers at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for Colombia Colombian expatriate women's footballers Colombian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate women's footballers in Mexico Liga MX Femenil players {{Colombia-women-footy-bio-stub