Verónica Raquel Pérez Murillo (born 18 May 1988) is a

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 an

attacking midfielder 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. ...

. Born in the United States, she represented the Mexico women's national team. Between 2009 and 2016 she also played in professional leagues in 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 ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Perez retired from international football in 2017 after the newly created

Liga MX Femenil Liga MX Femenil, also known as Liga BBVA MX Femenil for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in Mexico. Supervised by the Mexican Football Federation, Federación Mexicana d ...

restricted eligibility to compete to only Mexico-born players. Two years later, when the Mexican Football Federation allowed foreign-born Mexican players, she joined

Club Tijuana Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente, simply known as Tijuana or Xolos, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Tijuana, Baja California, that competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. The club ...

Early life

Her parents are Bernardo Pérez and Irene Murillo. She holds dual citizenship in the United States and Mexico. Perez attended Crystal Springs Uplands School where she played one year of soccer, earning first team, All-League honors. During her Freshman, Sophomore and Junior years she played for PSV Union FC and in her junior and senior years, she played for the club team, Pleasonton Rage, and represented the Far West region Olympic Development (ODP) team at the 2005 U.S. Youth Soccer Adidas Cup.

University of Washington

Pérez played for the University of Washington Huskies and was twice named to the All-Pac-10 second team. Pérez left the University of Washington ranked in the all-time top-10 in several categories, including third in shots (194) and games played (83), fourth in game-winning goals (8), tied for sixth in goals (21) and eighth in points (53).

Club career

Perez was selected as the 37th pick overall in the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) draft by the Saint Louis Athletica in 2010. After the WPS folded, Perez began training again with the

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 ...

. Perez played for the

Seattle Sounders Women Sound Football Club is an American women's soccer team in the Women's Premier Soccer League. Sound FC play its home games at Starfire Sports Stadium in Tukwila, Washington, six miles south of downtown Seattle. The team was founded in 2000 as ...

during the 2009 and 2012 seasons and was a leading scorer. During the summer of 2012, Pérez and her Sounders teammate and fellow University of Washington alum, Kate Deines, played for

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan (, ), commonly known as Stjarnan (), is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær. Basketball Men's basketball As of the 2017–2 ...

in Iceland's top division. The team won the Icelandic Women's Cup after a 1–0 win over Valur. On 11 January 2013, Perez joined the

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American women's soccer club based in Elma, New York, that most recently competed in the United Women's Soccer league in 2018. They won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-Leag ...

as part of the

NWSL Player Allocation The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) federation players were players whose salaries for playing in the National Women's Soccer League were paid for by their respective national federations from 2013 to 2021. American federation players were co ...

for the inaugural season of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

. 3 March 2014, Western New York Flash traded Perez and a 2015 fourth-round draft pick to the Washington Spirit in exchange for a 2014 and 2015 international roster spot. After she did not receive allocation status for the 2016 seasons, her NWSL rights were acquired by

Seattle Reign FC Seattle Reign FC is an American professional 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 June 2024, the Reign ar ...

in March 2016. Pérez joined Swedish top division club KIF Örebro DFF in January 2016. In 2018, Perez played for OSA FC in the

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States. History The WPSL is the longest-running active women's soccer league as it enters its 25th season in 2023. The WPSL is also the largest women ...

. She moved to PacNW Women the next year. After playing for short tenures at

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

, América and

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

, she joined Saudi club Al Qadsiah FC in October 2023.

International career

Perez played for both the

and the United States women's national under-23 soccer team during the Summer of 2009. On 5 November 2010, she scored the winning goal for Mexico in the CONCACAF Women's World Cup Qualifying game against the United States. In mid-2011, Pérez represented Mexico in the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, football teams. It was held from 26 June to ...

in Germany. In October of that year, she led Mexico to a third-place finish in the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Guadalajara 2011, were an international multi-sport event held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby c ...

. Perez retired from international duty after the

restricted play to only Mexico-born players.

Career statistics

International goals

Coaching career

Perez is an assistant coach for her former club, PSV Union FC.

Honors

Western New York Flash *

NWSL Shield The NWSL Shield is an annual award given to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) team with the best regular season record as determined by the NWSL points system. The NWSL Shield has been awarded annually since 2013 and is recognized as a ...

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 ...

References

External links

* *
Profile
at

Mexican Football Federation The Mexican Football Federation (), abbreviated as FMF is the official governing body of football in Mexico. It administers the men's and women's national teams with all its youth teams, the national teams of futsal and beach soccer, Liga MX wit ...