Damaris Egurrola
Damaris Berta Egurrola Wienke (born 26 August 1999) is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder. At club level, she made her debut with Athletic Bilbao in 2015 and departed in 2020.
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Damaris Berta Egurrola Wienke | ||
Date of birth | 26 August 1999 | ||
Place of birth | Orlando, Florida, United States | ||
Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)[1] | ||
Playing position(s) | Defensive midfielder[2] | ||
Youth career | |||
Betiko Neskak (eu) | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2014–2016 | Athletic Bilbao B | 25 | (9) |
2015–2020 | Athletic Bilbao | 104 | (4) |
National team‡ | |||
2016 | Spain U17 | 4 | (0) |
2017–2018 | Spain U19 | 13 | (6) |
2017– | Basque Country | 1 | (0) |
2018 | Spain U20 | 6 | (0) |
2019– | Spain | 1 | (0) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 01:51, 24 July 2020 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 01:51, 24 July 2019 (UTC) |
Born in the United States, she made her senior debut for the Spain national team in 2019.
Club career
Early life
Egurrola spent her early childhood in Orlando, Florida, the second of three children born to a Dutch mother and a Spanish-Basque father (Pablo Egurrola Osa,[3] a professional pelotari competing in American Jai Alai leagues);[4] when he retired in 2006, the family emigrated to his homeland in eastern Biscay in Spain's Basque Country.[2][4] Damaris became a polyglot, speaking Spanish, English, Basque and Dutch to a high standard.[4]
Athletic Bilbao
After playing youth football at clubs in the Gernika area,[2] Egurrola – who also showed a talent for tennis – signed for Athletic Bilbao in 2012, aged 12,[4] meeting the club's selective signing criteria due to her local upbringing. Following three years at affiliated lower-division clubs, including Betiko Neskak in Erandio and the Athletic B-team, she made her senior team debut in December 2015, making six appearances in the 2015–16 Primera División as Athletic finished as champions,[4] and became a regular from then on. Along with teammate and friend Maite Oroz,[5] she decided to leave the club when her contract expired in summer 2020.[6] In July 2020, a court case regarding the legality of 'compensation lists' for players in Spanish women's football confirmed that a new employer would not have to pay a fee to Athletic Bilbao.[7]
International career
Egurrola was involved with Spanish national age-group teams at several levels and with much success,[2][4] being a member of the under-17 squad that claimed the silver medal at the 2016 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship and bronze at the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup;[1] the under-19 squad which won the 2017 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship,[1] (using her height to score a header in the final victory over France)[2] – she also helped the 19s to qualify for the 2018 edition which they again won, but had moved to the higher age group by the time of the finals tournament – and the under-20 squad who were runners-up at the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.[1][8]
She made her Spain senior debut in May 2019, aged 19, appearing as a substitute for the closing minutes of a 4–0 friendly win over Cameroon in the build-up to the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, although she was not selected in the eventual finals squad.[9] In October 2019, she was called up to the inaugural squad for España Promesas (essentially Spain B), along with two clubmates.[10][11]
She has also played for the unofficial Basque Country team.[12]
References
- Damaris Egurrola, Soccerway
- Spain’s Egurrola talks tactics, FIFA, 18 August 2018
- Osa II, Zesta Puntaren Lagunak (in Spanish)
- La hija del pelotari [The pelotari's daughter], El País, 18 December 2019 (in Spanish)
- Damaris and Maite Oroz, an inseparable couple, Athletic Bilbao, 29 December 2019
- Athletic Club Bilbao will feel the losses of Maite Oroz and Damaris Egurrola, Vavel, 30 March 2020
- "El triunfo del 'padre coraje' de una futbolista, que luchó tres años en un piquete" [The triumph of the 'courageous father' of a footballer, who fought three years on a picket]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). 23 July 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- Japan cruise to maiden world title, FIFA, 24 August 2018
- Embaladas hacia el Mundial (4–0) [Packed for the World Cup (4-0)], Royal Spanish Football Federation, 17 May 2019 (in Spanish)
- Oroz, Azkona and Damaris, with the Spanish Promesas, Athletic Bilbao, 30 October 2019
- Oficial: La RFEF crea la Selección Absoluta Promesas, una nueva selección femenina de fútbol (Official: The RFEF creates the Absolute Promises Selection, a new women's team), SEfutbol (in Spanish), 29 October 2019
- Euskal Selekzioa 2–1 Chequia, Basque Football Federation, 25 November 2017 (in Basque)