Laura del Río

Laura del Río García (born 5 February 1982 in Madrid) is a Spanish retired footballer and a current head coach who last managed men's club Flat Earth FC.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Del Río and the second or maternal family name is García.
Laura del Río
Del Río playing for 1. FFC Frankfurt in 2009
Personal information
Full name Laura del Río García
Date of birth (1982-02-05) 5 February 1982
Place of birth Madrid, Spain
Height 162 cm (5 ft 4 in)
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2000 Torrejón
2000–2002 Levante
2002–2004 Sabadell
2004–2008 Levante
2008–2009 Indiana 32 (34)
2009–2010 Frankfurt 10 (6)
2010 Boston Breakers 21 (1)
2011 Philadelphia Independence 15 (2)
2012–2014 Bristol Academy[1] 47 (14)
2015–2016 Washington Spirit 11 (0)
2016–2017 Tacón
2017–2019 Madrid CFF 37 (4)
National team
Spain U-19 25? (45?)
Spain 39 (40)
Teams managed
2019 Flat Earth
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13 April 2019

She used to play for Bristol Academy in England's FA WSL.[2] 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.

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,[3] 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.

Del Río joined English FA WSL club Bristol Academy in 2012. Under coach Mark Sampson the club finished second in the 2013 FA WSL and were losing finalists in the 2012–13 FA Women's Cup. In January 2015 Bristol confirmed that del Rio had left the club after scoring 14 goals in 47 games.[1]

She returned to the United States, signing for National Women's Soccer League club Washington Spirit. She served two assists in 11 appearances in 2015, before her season was ended by injury. She also missed the entire 2016 season following surgery on her ankle.[4] She continued her career in Spain, with ambitious Segunda División club CD Tacón,[5] signing for Madrid CFF a year later.[6]

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.

Managerial career

After her retirement, in August 2019 Del Río signed as head coach of Flat Earth FC becoming the first woman at the helm of a team in the Spanish fourth division.[7] However, she was sacked in October, but she continued in the club's structure with the aim to develop a women's team.[8]

Honours

Club
FC Indiana
  • 2008 W-League Central Conference Championship
  • 2009 W-League top scorer
  • 2009 W-League All-League Team
  • 2009 All-Central Conference Team

References
  1. "Laura Del Rio: Bristol Academy confirm forward's exit". BBC Sport. 2 January 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  2. Laura del Río signs for England's Bristol Academy (in Spanish). Futfem.com
  3. "del Rio leaves Frankfurt for personal reasons" (in German). framba.de. 26 January 2010. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  4. "Forward Laura del Rio to Miss Remainder of 2016 Season Due to Ankle Surgery". Washington Spirit. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  5. Nieto, Antonio (8 December 2016). "El CD Tacón, un equipo de barrio y galáctico". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  6. Menayo, David (4 September 2017). "Laura del Río regresa a la élite del fútbol femenino español nueve años después" (in Spanish). Marca. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  7. "Laura del Río, pionera en entrenar en Tercera, ficha por el Flat Earth" (in Spanish). 19 August 2019.
  8. "El Flat Earth destituye a Laura del Río y vuelve a De Lucas" (in Spanish). Diario AS. 29 October 2019.
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