Shirley Cruz Traña (born 28 August 1985) is a retired Costa Rican 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 ...

. A creative

who often acts as a

deep-lying playmaker In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, Cruz is the second-ever female footballer behind Gabriela Trujillo from Costa Rica to play in Europe when she joined

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 ...

in 2005.

Early life

Cruz was born in San José, capital city of

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, and discovered and learned the sport of football from her seven brothers.

Club career

Cruz began her football career at CF Universidad in San Pedro, San José. Cruz made a name for herself following her performance at the 1999 edition of the ''Los Juegos Deportivos Nacionales de San Carlos'', translated as the National Sporting Games of San Carlos. She later played for local clubs AD Goicoechea, CS Desamparados, and UCEM Alajuela. With Alajuela, Cruz won three league titles and also earned the top scorer award once. Due to her performances locally, she signed with UCEM Alajuela and, in January 2006, moved abroad signing with

Division 1 Féminine Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 to ...

club

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

. Due to joining the club mid-season, Cruz appeared in only seven league matches scoring three goals. The 2006–07 season saw her playing time increase to 12 matches and also saw Lyon win their first league title under their new emblem. In the

Challenge de France Challenge may refer to: * Voter challenging or caging, a method of challenging the registration status of voters * Euphemism for disability * Peremptory challenge, a dismissal of potential jurors from jury duty Law *A procedure or action *T ...

, Cruz was instrumental in helping Lyon reaching the final, where they lost to

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

on penalties scoring four goals in five appearances. The next season saw Lyon win the double following their league title and 3–0 victory over

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 ...

in the Challenge de France. Cruz appeared in 32 total matches, which included appearances in the

UEFA Women's Cup 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. T ...

. Cruz appeared in all 22 league matches (starting 20) during the 2008–09 season, which saw Lyon win their third straight title. She also appeared in all seven UEFA Women's Cup matches, where Lyon suffered elimination in the semi-finals after losing 2–4 on aggregate to German club

FCR 2001 Duisburg FCR 2001 Duisburg (full name: ''Fußballclub Rumeln 2001 Duisburg'') was a German women's football club from Duisburg. The first team played in the Bundesliga (women), Bundesliga. They originate from a women's team formed in 1977 under the umbrel ...

. On 18 September 2009, Cruz, for the first time, signed with Lyon under professional terms (previously contracts were

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...

) after agreeing to a two-year contract, which will keep her at the club until 2011. Cruz got off to a quick start for the 2009–10 season scoring a

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mechan ...

in the opening league match against AS Montigny-le-Bretonneux, which ended in a 6–0 victory. Cruz signed with

Chinese Women's Super League The Chinese Football Association Women's Super League (CWSL) (), commonly known as the Chinese Women's Super League or the CWSL is the top level women's football league in China. It was called the Chinese Women's National Football League from 201 ...

team Jiangsu Suning in January 2018. In March 2020, Cruz signed with

OL Reign Seattle Reign FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since J ...

for the

2020 NWSL season The 2020 National Women's Soccer League season was the eighth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer ( ...

, which due to the pandemic, was reformatted and condensed to shorter post tournament style competitions, the Challenge Cup and Fall Series. In December 2020, Cruz re-signed with Reign for the 2021 NWSL season. In December 2021, OL Reign waived the rights to Cruz and she left the club. Cruz returned to Alajuelense in 2022 and captained the club to its third, fourth, and fifth championships in the 2022 Apertura and Clausura, and 2023 Apertura. After the last championship, Cruz suggested that it would be her last before retirement. She had previously stated her intent to retire from football after 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 ...

. In the 2023 Apertura championship match's second leg on 3 June 2023, the team rallied from a 1–4 first-leg deficit against Sporting F.C. to win the title 5–4 on aggregate. After the match, Cruz told reporters that when Natalia Mills scored the series-winning fourth goal of the second leg, Mills told her, "Así se tiene que retirar" ("This is how (you) have to retire"). On June 8, 2023, after unexpectedly not being selected to the national team roster for the

, Cruz announced her retirement from football on social media.

International career

Cruz has earned caps with the Costa Rican under-19 and under-20 women's teams. Her first appearance with the senior team occurred at the

2002 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup The 2002 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup was the sixth staging of the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup. It was held in Seattle, Washington, United States and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The winning team, the United States, and runners-up, Canada, qua ...

, which served as a qualifying tournament for the

2003 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial championship of women's association football, women's national soccer teams organized by FIFA. It was held in the United States from September ...

. Following a match in 2004 against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, in which she suffered a sprained right knee, Cruz did not feature with the national team for the next two years, due to commitments with her football club. In 2006, she made herself available for selection making her return to the team during qualification for the

2006 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup The 2006 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup was the seventh edition of the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup, and also acted as a qualifier tournament for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. The final tournament took place in the United States between November 19 a ...

qualified for its first ever

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

tournament and Cruz captained the team at the

2015 FIFA 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, playing all three of Costa Rica's matches.

Honors

San José FF *First Women's Division of Costa Rica: 2000 UCEM Alajuela *First Women's Division of Costa Rica: 2003, 2004 Lyon *

(6): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2011–12 *

Coupe de France Féminine The Coupe de France Féminine (, ''Women's French Cup'') is the top annual cup tournament for French women's football clubs. The competition is open to all professional and non-professional women's teams in France. Founded in 2001 as Challenge ...

(2): 2007–08, 2011–12 *

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. ...

(2):

, 2011–12 Jiangsu Suning *Chinese FA Cup: 2018 *Regional cup: 2018 Alajuelense FF *

Costa Rican Women's Premier Division The Costa Rican Women's Premier Division () is the main women's football competition in Costa Rica. It was established in 2001 and under the authority of the Women's Football Union (ADELIFE). Format The league is played in the Apertura and Clau ...

: 2019, Apertura 2022, Clausura 2022, Apertura 2023 *

UNCAF Women's Interclub Championship The UNCAF Women's Interclub Championship () is Central America's women's club association football, football championship organized by Central American Football Union, UNCAF. Results Performance by club Performance by country *Guest country ...

: 2022 Costa Rica *

Central American Games The Central American Games () are a multi-sport regional championships event, held quadrennial (every 4 years), typically in the first year after Summer Olympics. The Games are open for member federations of the Central American Sports Organ ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

* Pan American Games Bronze medal:

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 ...

CONCACAF Women's Championship The CONCACAF W Championship is a women's association football competition for national teams organized by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) that often serves as the qualifying competition ...

runner-up:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Individual * IFFHS CONCACAF Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020 * CONCACAF Best XI:

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 ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* CONCACAF Female Player of the Year second place:

* CONCACAF Female Player of the Year third place:

References

External links

* *
Profile
at Fedefutbol
Profile
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Profile
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Shirley 1985 births Living people Women's association football midfielders Costa Rican women's footballers 21st-century Costa Rican sportswomen Footballers from San José, Costa Rica Costa Rica women's international footballers 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Pan American Games bronze medalists for Costa Rica Pan American Games footballers for Costa Rica Pan American Games bronze medalists in football Footballers at the 2019 Pan American Games Footballers at the 2011 Pan American Games Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Central American Games gold medalists for Costa Rica Central American Games medalists in football Première Ligue players Olympique Lyonnais Féminin players Paris Saint-Germain FC (women) players Costa Rican expatriate women's footballers Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate women's footballers in France Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate women's footballers in China Seattle Reign FC players National Women's Soccer League players Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games FIFA Women's Century Club Alajuelense Fútbol Femenino footballers UEFA Women's Champions League–winning players