Full name Nahikari García Pérez Number 7 Height 1.59 m | Playing position Current team Real Sociedad | |
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Date of birth (1997-03-10) 10 March 1997 (age 20) | ||
Entrevista nahikari garc a
Nahikari García Pérez (born 10 March 1997) is a Spanish football forward currently playing for Real Sociedad in the Spanish 1st Division. She is also the current captain of the Spain women's national under-19 football team.
Contents
- Entrevista nahikari garc a
- Nahikari garc a
- Early career
- Real Sociedad
- International career
- Spain national youth teams
- International
- Individual
- Sponsorships
- Personal life
- Superstition
- References
Nahikari garc a
Early career
García started playing football at the age of nine in San Sebastián when she joined a sports programme with local side Urnieta. The programme wasn't solely football based, however, which prompted to her to later leave to sign for Añorga KKE with whom she spent seven years plying her trade.
Real Sociedad
In the 2014–15 winter transfer market Real Sociedad completed the signing of García, who was only sixteen at the time, from Añorga. On 5 January, just days after signing for Sociedad, she was handed her Primera División debut by manager Unai Gazpio against Levante. She ended the campaign with 10 goals to her name for the season.
In the following season García recorded a record-breaking tally of 15 goals for the season, the most ever in a single season by a Real Sociedad player. Her seasonal haul included a notable goal against rivals Athletic and a hat-trick against Levante during December which propelled Txuri-urdin to a fifth-placed finish in the Primera División, the club's highest placing since formation in 2004. Real Sociedad also made the quarter-finals of the Copa de la Reina where they were eliminated 5–1 by eventual runners-up Barcelona, with García netting the only goal of the match for her club. García's form throughout the season saw her nominated for the Primera División forward of the Season award.
Early in September 2016, García appeared alongside Charlyn Corral, Alexia Putellas, Iraia Iturregi and Amanda Sampedro in a video promoting the buildup to the 2016–17 season. She scored her first hat-trick for the season on 9 December in a 4-0 league victory over Oiartzun.
International career
García has worn the number 7 jersey for both club and country during the course of her short career. She credits former Real Madrid and Spain men's captain Raúl for her decision to wear the number, citing his style of play and on-field mentality as motivation in her own game.
Spain national youth teams
García's first exposure to the Spanish youth teams came when she was just fifteen-years old when she was called up to replace a player who was unable to travel with the U17 team.
In 2013 García, while representing Spain's U17 side, was awarded the Golden Boot award at the 2013 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, ending the tournament as the top goalscorer and only player to have scored more than once. Spain were ultimately eliminated by Sweden in the semi-finals but ended the tournament in third after beating Belgium in the third place playoff. She was again part of the squad for the 2014 edition of the tournament where Spain went one step further, this time ending as runners-up to Germany. It was the second time in the same year that Spain had ended a major competition as runners-up, having lost to Japan in the final of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in April.
In July 2016 García, who was Real Sociedad's only representative in the squad, captained Spain to a silver medal at the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, losing 2–1 in the final to hosts France. She had two opportunities to draw Spain level but found herself the victim of a waterlogged pitch, missing a penalty in the opening half before skying a near-open goal opportunity in injury-time as a result of the on-field conditions. The match was suspended for over two hours after half-time due to the weather conditions and upon the players' return to the pitch certain sections of the field were entirely waterlogged. García was ridiculed by large sections of the media for the miss but received overwhelming support from her fan-base, prompting her to take to Instagram following the tournament to thank those who stood behind her and the team. The showpiece match was her third appearance in a continental final, having previously ended as runner-up in the tournament's previous edition and as well as in the UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship in 2014. The unenviable record is one which she shares with teammates Andrea Sánchez Falcón and Naria Garrote.
Later that year, García was selected as one of the captains for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup to be held in Papua New Guinea. She made her debut on 13 November in Spain's opening match of the tournament, a 5-0 victory over Canada. García scored her first and only goal for the tournament on 24 November in a 3-2 loss to South Korea that saw Spain eliminated in the quarter-finals.
International
Individual
Sponsorships
García is currently sponsored by Spanish sportswear manufacturer Joma.
Personal life
García's first name, Nahikari, derives from her Basque origin and represents the values of nobility, loyalty and intelligence. Aside from football, she is also currently studying towards a degree in medicine and completed her first course in 2016. In an interview with AS in the same year she explained that while it was "a little crazy" to combine her degree with football, she felt that football helped her with her studies and vice versa.
Superstition
García is fastidious when it comes to pre-match rituals. She plays with the same tape, wears two pairs of socks and always enters the field of play with her right foot first.