Full name Laura del Rio Garcia Years Team Place of birth Madrid, Spain Name Laura Rio | Playing position Role Footballer Number 9 Height 1.62 m | |
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Date of birth (1982-02-05) 5 February 1982 (age 33) Current team Washington Spirit (#9 / Forward) | ||
Laura del r o 2014
Laura del Río García (born 5 February 1982 in Madrid) is a Spanish footballer currently playing for Washington Spirit in the USA's NWSL. She used to play for Bristol Academy in England's FA WSL. Prior to that, she played for AD Torrejón, CE Sabadell and Levante UD in the Spanish Superleague, FC Indiana in the W-League, 1.FFC Frankfurt in the German Bundesliga, and Boston Breakers and Philadelphia Independence in the WPS. Del Río scored 40 goals in 39 appearances for the senior Spain women's national football team, before a dispute with the coach caused her to quit the national team.
Contents
A day in the life of Laura Del Rio
Club career
Laura del Río began her career at AD Torrejón in 1999 before moving to Levante UD the following year. In her two seasons in Valencia she won two doubles as Levante cruised through the Superliga Femenina and the Copa de la Reina. Del Río subsequently spent two seasons at CE Sabadell and then returned to Levante, where she remained for the next four years, winning an additional League in 2008 and two more Cups.
In 2008 she left Levante to play abroad for the first time, playing in the W-League for FC Indiana. She scored 33 goals in her two years in the W-League, making it into the All-League team. In summer 2009 she signed for European powerhouse 1. FFC Frankfurt. Starting the season as a reserve, she made herself a place in the starting eleven for a few weeks after scoring in three consecutive games coming from the bench. Overall she scored six goals in just 10 matches in the Bundesliga, as she left Frankfurt in December to sign for Boston Breakers, marking her Women's Professional Soccer debut. For the 2011 season she transferred to Philadelphia Independence, with whom she reached the championship play-offs. In the final she missed the team's final penalty to finish runners-up. In January 2015 Bristol confirmed that del Rio had left the club.
International career
Laura del Río was the top scorer of the 2000 Under-18 Euro, where Spain made it to the final for the first time.
For many years Del Río was a key player of Spain's national team, scoring 40 goals in 39 games. Despite this she has not been called for the past few years following a clash with manager Ignacio Quereda.