Leila Ouahabi

Leila Ouahabi El Ouahabi (born 22 March 1993) is a Spanish footballer, currently playing for FC Barcelona and the Spain women's national football team as a leftback.

Leila Ouahabi
Ouahabi with Barcelona in 2019
Personal information
Full name Leila Ouahabi El Ouahabi
Date of birth (1993-03-22) 22 March 1993
Place of birth Mataró, Catalonia, Spain
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Left fullback
Club information
Current team
 FC Barcelona
Number 15
Youth career
Vilassar de Mar
2007–2011 Barcelona B
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2013 Barcelona
2013–2016 Valencia 85 (3)
2016– Barcelona 46 (1)
National team‡
2010–2012 Spain under-19 11 (1)
2016– Spain 36 (1)
2014– Catalonia 3 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11 April 2019
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 28 November 2020

Early life

Ouahabi was born in Mataró, Catalonia. Growing up, she would play futsal with her brothers and at one point joined a futsal team of eleven other boys.[1] The first club she joined was a girl's youth team of the club UE Vilassar de Mar.[2]

Club career

Ouahabi was thirteen when she joined FC Barcelona's youth teams in 2007.[3] After five years of elevating through the ranks of La Masia, she became a first-team player for the 2011–2012 season. This season saw FC Barcelona Femení achieve their first ever league title win. Ouahabi was frustrated with a lack of playing time after playing a second year in the Spanish Primera División with FC Barcelona.

She joined Valencia in 2013,[4] where she remained until 2016.

In the summer of 2016, Ouahabi re-signed to FC Barcelona from Valencia.[5]

International career

Ouahabi has played for Spain's U19 national team.[6]

Ouahabi earned her first senior national team callup in February 2016 under newly appointed Spain coach Jorge Vilda.[7] A month later, Ouahabi made her senior international debut for Spain on 4 March 2016, starting a 0–0 friendly draw with Romania in Mogoșoaia.[8]

In February 2017, Ouahabi was called up to the Spain squad for the 2017 Algarve Cup, her first call-up for a senior national team tournament.[9] Her first international goal turned out to be the winning goal in the 2017 Algarve Cup final against Canada.

At the 2019 Women's World Cup Ouahabi started one group stage match, a 0–0 draw against China. The draw was enough to get them past the group stages for the first time in Spain's history where they would then face the United States in the Round of 16. Ouahabi started that Round of 16 match, where Spain had a convincing performance but lost 1–2 against the eventual tournament winners. She ended the tournament having played 180 minutes.[10]

International goals
Leila Ouahabi – goals for  Spain
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.8 March 2017Estádio Algarve, Algarve Canada1–01-02017 Algarve Cup

Honours

Club
FC Barcelona

International
Spain

References
  1. Soria, Miki. "Leila Ouahabi Una de les nostres". esportiumaresme.cat. Esportiu Maresme. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  2. Paniagua, Raúl (21 March 2019). "Leila Ouahabi: "Estamos abriendo los ojos a mucha gente"". elperiodico.com. El Periodico. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  3. Irigoyen, Juan I. (29 March 2017). "Leila: "En Marruecos igual no jugaría al fútbol"". elpais.com. El País. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  4. Profile at Valencia Féminas website.
  5. "Who has joined and left FC Barcelona this summer". fcbarcelona.com. FC Barcelona. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  6. Fernandez-Delgado, Ignacio (27 November 2013). "Un equipo para sentirse orgulloso/a". diariodemestalla.com. Diario de Mestalla. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  7. Menayo, David (22 February 2016). "Jorge Vilda continúa la revolución". marca.com. MARCA. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  8. "4 newcomers to the Spanish squad". Royal Spanish Football Federation. 5 March 2016. Archived from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  9. Menayo, David (20 February 2017). "Jorge Vilda ya tiene a sus 23 elegidas para disputar la Copa Algarve". marca.com. MARCA. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  10. "FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019™ - Players - Leila OUAHABI - Leila Ouahabi - FIFA.com". fifa.com. FIFA. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
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