Verónica Boquete

Verónica "Vero" Boquete Giadans (born 9 April 1987) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a forward or midfielder for Italian Serie A club AC Milan. As well as in her native Spain, she has played professionally for clubs in the United States, Russia, Sweden, France, Germany, China, and Italy. She captained the Spain national team at their first World Cup appearance in 2015 and has also captained the Galicia national team for their entire history.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Boquete and the second or maternal family name is Giadans.
Verónica Boquete
Boquete with Spain in 2012
Personal information
Full name Verónica Boquete Giadans[1]
Date of birth (1987-04-09) 9 April 1987[1]
Place of birth Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Height 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Position(s) False 9, striker
Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Milan
Number TBA
Youth career
2004–2005 SD Xuventú Aguiño
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2008 Prainsa Zaragoza 83 (40)
2008–2010 RCD Espanyol 68 (39)
2010 Buffalo Flash 9 (9)
2010 Chicago Red Stars 3 (1)
2010–2011 RCD Espanyol 29 (41)
2011 Philadelphia Independence 13 (5)
2011 Energiya Voronezh 5 (1)
2012–2014 Tyresö FF 39 (13)
2014 Portland Thorns 15 (4)
2014–2015 1. FFC Frankfurt 21 (7)
2015–2016 Bayern Munich 9 (0)
2016–2018 Paris Saint-Germain 31 (8)
2018–2019 Beijing BG Phoenix
2019–2020 Utah Royals FC 14 (0)
2020– Milan 0 (0)
National team
2004–2006 Spain U-19 23 (10)
2005–2017 Spain 56 (38)
2007– Galicia 3 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of August 18, 2019

Club career

Boquete came to wider international attention after signing for Philadelphia Independence of the American Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) in 2011. She was a key player in Independence's 2011 season with four match-winning goals, and she was awarded the Player of the Year Award. In addition, she had been awarded the Player of the Week prize three times.

Boquete previously played for Xuventú Aguiño, Prainsa Zaragoza and RCD Espanyol in Spain, and Buffalo Flash (W-League) and Chicago Red Stars (WPS) in the summer of 2010. With Espanyol she won two national cups. She was the top scorer of the 2010–11 Superliga Femenina with 39 goals. Following the end of the 2011 WPS season she played for Russian side Energiya Voronezh in the Champions League.[2][3][4]

Playing for Tyresö FF in 2014

In January 2012 Boquete announced a transfer to Swedish Damallsvenskan club Tyresö FF on a two-year contract.[5] Tyresö won the Damallsvenskan title for the first time in the 2012 season and she collected a league winner's medal alongside teammates Marta and Caroline Seger, who had also played in WPS.[6]

On 7 April 2014, Portland Thorns FC acquired Boquete (along with midfielder Sarah Huffman) from the Western New York Flash in exchange for Courtney Wetzel, Kathryn Williamson, and Portland's first-round pick in the 2015 NWSL College Draft.[7] Western New York originally held her NWSL rights. She joined the Thorns following Tyresö's participation in the 2013-2014 UEFA Women's Champions League tournament,[8] making her first appearance for the Thorns on 7 June 2014 versus the Western New York Flash.[9] She scored her first goal for the Thorns on 15 June 2014 versus the Washington Spirit.[10] She would go on to score four goals along with six assists in her 15 total appearances for the Thorns, culminating with the team's semi-final loss against FC Kansas City on 23 August 2014. During her time in Portland, she would garner the league's Player of the Week award three times.[11]

On 25 August 2014, following the conclusion of the Portland Thorns season, Boquete signed with 1. FFC Frankfurt,[12] the 2014 runners-up in the Frauen-Bundesliga. She expressed her desire to return to Portland in the future, "I’m going to try to do my best in Germany and I hope that I can come back (to Portland) next year, too."[11]

On 27 May 2015, Boquete signed for the Bundesliga champions, Bayern Munich, on a two-year contract.[13] After a season truncated by injury, she was signed by big-spending French club Paris Saint-Germain, who hoped she could help them win the UEFA Women's Champions League.[14]

In February 2018 Boquete became dissatisfied with her reduced playing time and agreed a mutual termination on the final months of her Paris Saint-Germain contract, to accept a transfer offer from Beijing BG Phoenix. She signed a one-season deal with the Chinese club and was given her customary number 21 jersey.[15]

On 4 January 2019, Boquete announced her signing to the Utah Royals FC of the National Women's Soccer League.[16] She was named to the NWSL Team of the Month for May 2019.[17]

International career
Boquete with Spain in 2013

Boquete is a veteran of Spain's 2004 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship title win and their subsequent 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship campaign.

Boquete's senior Spain women's national football team debut came in February 2005, in a 0–0 friendly draw with the Netherlands.[18]

In October 2012 Boquete scored the winning extra time goal in the 122nd minute of Spain's 3–2 win over Scotland in the second leg of the UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying play-off. The Spanish looked to be heading out when she had missed a penalty three minutes earlier.[19]

In June 2013, national team coach Ignacio Quereda confirmed Boquete as a member of his 23-player squad for the UEFA Women's Euro 2013 finals in Sweden.[20] She became captain ahead of Spain's first-ever appearance at the Women's World Cup in 2015 in Canada. In the final group game against South Korea at Lansdowne Stadium in Ottawa, both teams were playing for a place in the last 16; she opened the scoring although Spain was unable to hold the lead and lost 2–1.[21]

Boquete had a prominent role in the player revolt which led to the departure of long-serving coach Quereda following the poor performance at the World Cup. Two years later she was surprisingly and controversially omitted from Spain's squad for UEFA Women's Euro 2017 by replacement coach Jorge Vilda.[22]

International goals

Personal life

In June 2013 Boquete became the first Spanish female footballer to release an autobiography. Entitled Vero Boquete, la princesa del deporte rey (Vero Boquete, the princess of the king sport), it was ghostwritten by Marca writer David Menayo.[23]

Successful FIFA video game women's petition

In 2013, Boquete started a petition on Change.org, which called upon video game producer Electronic Arts to introduce female players in its FIFA series and attracted 20,000 signatures in 24 hours.[24][25] The petition was eventually successful, as EA Sports revealed in May 2015 that she and the rest of Spain would join 11 other female international teams (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Sweden and the United States) in FIFA 16, which was released in September 2015 (on the 22nd in North America and the 24th in Europe) for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and also on Windows PC.[26]

Estadio Vero Boquete

On 8 November 2018, the city hall of Santiago de Compostela agreed to rename their main stadium to Estadio Vero Boquete de San Lázaro, in homage to Boquete.[27]

Honours
With the UEFA Women's Champions League trophy in 2015

Club
RCD Espanyol
Tyresö FF
FFC Frankfurt
Bayern München

International
Spain

Individual

References
  1. "List of Players - 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  2. "Boquete:"Me voy para jugar la Champions que deseo" – rcd espanyol | fútbol femenino". AS.com. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  3. "Verónica and Conti join Energiya Voronezh". uefa.com. 12 September 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  4. "Verónica Boquete –". Uefa.com. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  5. Menayo, David (10 January 2012). "Verónica Boquete ficha por el Tyresö". Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  6. Cleris, Johannes (3 November 2012). "Tyresö vann SM-guld efter dramatik" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  7. "Thorns FC acquire Spanish international Verónica Boquete, midfielder Sarah Huffman from Western New York Flash in exchange for midfielder Courtney Wetzel, defender Kathryn Williamson, 2015 NWSL College Draft First Round Draft Pick | Portland Timbers". timbers.com. 7 April 2014.
  8. "Thorns FC announce 2014 season-opening roster | Portland Timbers". timbers.com. 7 April 2014.
  9. "NWSL MATCH RECAP | Portland Thorns FC 0, Western New York Flash 5 | Portland Timbers". timbers.com. 7 June 2014.
  10. "NWSL MATCH RECAP | Portland Thorns FC 2, Washington Spirit 0 | Portland Timbers". timbers.com. 15 June 2014.
  11. "News | Portland Timbers".
  12. "Der 1. FFC Frankfurt verpflichtet die spanische Nationalspielerin Véronica Boquete". Archived from the original on 26 August 2014.
  13. "Vero Boquete ficha por el Bayern Münich" [Vero Boquete signs for Bayern Munich] (in Spanish). Marca. 27 May 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  14. Roldán, Isabel (8 July 2016). "PSG sign Vero Boquete to boost big European dream". Diario AS. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  15. "Vero Boquete: "Me he ido del PSG porque no estaba teniendo minutos"" (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 7 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  16. "NWSL News, Features & More". www.nwslsoccer.com.
  17. "May Team of the Month". 31 May 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  18. Duret, Sébastien (3 September 2005). "International Matches (Women) 2005". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  19. Lamont, Alasdair (24 October 2013). "Scotland suffer late loss to Spain in Euro 2013 play-off". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  20. "Spain stick with tried and trusted". Uefa.com. UEFA. 29 June 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  21. "South Korea rallies to beat Spain, advances in Women's World Cup". USA TODAY.
  22. Nieto, Antonio (20 June 2017). "Vero Boquete se queda fuera de la lista para la Eurocopa: "Me hubiese gustado tener otro final"" (in Spanish). El País. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  23. de la Casa, Javier (14 June 2013). "Vero Boquete, primera futbolista española que publica su biografía". Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  24. Gómez, Pablo; Antelo, Iván (22 February 2013). "Vero busca el gol de videojuego" [Vero searches the video game goal]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  25. O’Callaghan, Eoin (9 June 2015). "For Veronica Boquete, the road to the FIFA Women's World Cup has been a bumpy ride". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  26. "Twelve women's national teams to feature in EA Sports' FIFA 16". FIFA. 28 May 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  27. "El estadio de San Lázaro llevará el nombre de Vero Boquete". La Voz de Galicia. 8 November 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  28. "The FIFA FIFPRO Women's World 11 of 2019-2020 - FIFPRO World Players' Union". FIFPRO. 17 December 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
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