María Pérez (Spanish footballer)

María Pérez Rabaza (born 24 December 2001) is a Spanish professional footballer from Catalonia who plays as a defensive midfielder for Liga F club Barcelona. A reserve player until 2023, she had already won the UEFA Women's Champions League and every title in Spain at least once with Barcelona, as well as the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup with Spain.

Early life
María Pérez Rabaza was born on 24 December 2001 and grew up in Sant Fost de Campsentelles, in the province of Barcelona. A fan of FC Barcelona since childhood, her football idol was central midfielder Andrés Iniesta until women's football became more accessible to watch and she began playing as a holding midfielder, at which point she became inspired by Patricia Guijarro and Keira Walsh. In the 2022–23 season she played in the same Barcelona team as both Guijarro and Walsh, with both helping her grow in the position.

Youth career
Pérez began playing with the local Sant Fost UE team, staying for six seasons before moving to the Espanyol-affiliated CF Penya Blanc i Blava La Roca for three. She then spent two years with the specialist youth team CF Damm; in the 2018–19 season she helped the team win the double of the preferente league and youth Copa Catalunya, denying Barcelona's youth section both titles. She was made one of Damm's captains for the 2019–20 season. Her coach at Damm, Juli García, first moved her to the 'number 6' role, needing someone to play in defensive midfield and having Pérez adapt.

Barcelona
She signed to the Barcelona femení B team in 2020, and first played in the Primera División with first team FC Barcelona Femení on 22 June 2021, just in time to see the team collect a continental treble. Barcelona coach Lluís Cortés saw in her what he called the rare qualities of a true defensive midfielder, wanting to bring her in and develop her in the pivot role for the club.

She scored a goal for Barcelona in the 2021–22 pre-season, getting call-ups throughout this season and playing in eight matches in all competitions for the first team. For the 2022–23 season, she captained the B team. She got her first start with the first team in November 2022, playing all 90 minutes. In January 2022 she started as a centre-back in their Copa de la Reina match against Osasuna, which Barcelona won 9–0 but was given as a technical win in favour of Osasuna.

Having appeared for both Barcelona and the B team in the 2022–23 league season, Pérez won both leagues (the Primera División and Primera Federación respectively) on the same day, 30 April 2023, both with matches to spare. She also won the Supercopa de España and UEFA Women's Champions League with the first team in 2022–23; she had spent most of the season training with the first team, and when her B team contract expired in June 2023 she renewed with a permanent first team contract.

With both Pérez and Barcelona wanting her to have more top-flight playing experience, she was sent on a closed one-year loan to Sevilla ahead of the 2023–24 season. The same loan move had previously been completed by Barcelona teammates Clàudia Pina and Cata Coll, with success.

International career
Pérez represented Spain at under-19 and under-23 before being called up to the senior team in November 2022 at the age of 20, leaving an ongoing under-23 training camp to join them, while still primarily registered with Barcelona B in the country's second league division and having only played 97 minutes of top-flight football during the season. Replacing an injured player, Pérez's call-up was considered surprising, given her relative inexperience, and seen as manager Jorge Vilda calling on younger players to avoid having to acknowledge the fifteen players who had withdrawn from selection. Pérez made her senior international debut as a substitute against Japan on 15 November 2022.

In April 2023, she was again taken from the under-23 training to join the senior squad when another player had to withdraw injured, before being outright named to the squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in June 2023. On selecting Pérez for the World Cup, Vilda said that she is the player most similar to Sergio Busquets that was available to him; he was impressed with her quality in training camps and she was given her first international start for the pre-tournament friendly against Panama.

At the World Cup, Pérez made one appearance, as the first substitute (replacing Teresa Abelleira) in Spain's 5–1 knock-out victory against Switzerland on 5 August 2023, the first time Spain had ever won a knock-out match in a tournament. After the game, Pérez swapped shirts with Barcelona teammate and Switzerland player Ana-Maria Crnogorčević; she then swapped shirts with Walsh after Spain defeated England 1–0 in the final to win the World Cup, having said after the Switzerland match that she wanted to face Walsh at the tournament.

Shortly after their World Cup victory, Pérez and the rest of Spain's World Cup-winning squad, along with dozens of other female players, signed a letter saying they would not accept call-ups for the national team until significant changes were made in the Royal Spanish Football Federation due to the Rubiales affair.

Style of play
Diario AS has highlighted Pérez's possession and close control of the ball as strong, with good movement and an ability to read the game.

International

 * Statistics accurate as of match played 5 August 2023

Honours
FC Barcelona Spain
 * Liga F: 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23
 * Copa de la Reina: 2021–22
 * UEFA Women's Champions League: 2022–23; runners-up 2021–22
 * FIFA Women's World Cup: 2023
 * UEFA Women's Nations League: 2023–24