Damaris Egurrola

Damaris Berta Egurrola Wienke (born 26 August 1999) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for French Division 1 Féminine club Lyon and the Netherlands national team. At club level, she made her debut with Athletic Bilbao in 2015, moved to Everton in 2020 then signed for Lyon in January 2021.[3]

Damaris Egurrola
Personal information
Full name Damaris Berta Egurrola Wienke[1]
Date of birth (1999-08-26) 26 August 1999
Place of birth Orlando, Florida, United States
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Defensive midfielder[2]
Team information
Current team
 Lyon
Number 11
Youth career
0000–2012 Betiko Neskak (eu)
2012–2014 Athletic Bilbao
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2016 Athletic Bilbao B 25 (9)
2015–2020 Athletic Bilbao 104 (4)
2020–2021 Everton 6 (0)
2021– Lyon 32 (5)
International career‡
2016 Spain U17 4 (0)
2017–2018 Spain U19 13 (6)
2018 Spain U20 6 (0)
2017 Basque Country 1 (0)
2019 Spain 1 (0)
2022– Netherlands 23 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 May 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 26 September 2023

Born in the United States, she made her senior debut for the Spanish national team in 2019; in 2022, she filed a one-time switch to represent the Netherlands national team instead.[4]

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,[5] a professional pelotari competing in American Jai Alai leagues);[6] when he retired in 2006, the family relocated to his homeland in eastern Biscay in Spain's Basque Country.[2][6]

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,[6] 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,[6] and became a regular from then on. Along with teammate and friend Maite Oroz,[7] she decided to leave the club when her contract expired in the summer of 2020.[8] 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.[9]

Everton

After announcing leaving Athletic Bilbao at the end of her contract, Damaris Egurrola drew interest from major European clubs, including Everton, which ultimately signed the midfielder on a two-year deal in early September 2020.[10] Egurrola made her debut in the FA WSL on 3 October, in a 6–0 win over Aston Villa. Egurrola quickly settled as an instrumental player for the team, starting all subsequent games. Teammate Izzy Christiansen described Damaris as an "incredible talent", impressed by the Spaniard's debut with her new team.[11]

Lyon

Only four months after signing for Everton, rumors started to spread about a new potential move for Egurrola. European champions Lyon were reportedly interested in signing the midfielder in the winter transfer window to address their difficulties in the league. Damaris signed for OL on a three-year and a half deal on 20 January 2021,[12] and made her debut in a Coupe de France game against Stade de Reims. Soon after, Damaris made her debut in both Division 1 Féminine and the UEFA Women's Champions League, both ending in wins and clean sheets.

Egurrola established herself as a starter in the start of the 2021–22 season, proving to be an important member of the team.

International career

Through birth and descent, Egurrola was eligible to play for the United States, Spain and the Netherlands. She was involved with Spanish national age-group teams at several levels and with much success,[2][6] 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;[13] the under-19 squad which won the 2017 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship,[13] (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.[13][14]

Egurrola 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.[15] In October 2019, she was called up to the inaugural squad for España Promesas (essentially Spain B), along with two clubmates.[16][17] She has also played for the unofficial Basque Country team.[18]

Two years after her appearance for Spain, in November 2021 the Spain national team coach Jorge Vilda stated that he had tried to call up Egurrola twice over the past few months, and to talk to her over the phone on multiple occasions;[19] the player's agents refuted this, responding that these call-ups referred to the Promesas (under-23s) rather than the senior team, and that there had been no attempt to reach out to her personally over the past two years. It was also disclosed that Egurrola had elected to play for another national team, at that time not identified (but one of the two teams in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final).[19][20]

After filing a one-time switch, Egurrola committed to the Netherlands national team in March 2022.[4][21] She made her debut on 8 April 2022.[22] It was later revealed that she had a poor opinion of Jorge Vilda over his treatment of female footballers including herself, and this was a major factor in her decision to represent the Netherlands instead.[23]

On 31 May 2023, she was named as part of the Netherlands provisional squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.[24]

Career statistics

International
As of match played 26 September 2023[13]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Spain 201910
Netherlands 2022113
2023120
Total233
Career total243
Scores and results list Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Egurrola goal.
List of international goals scored by Damaris Egurrola
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
112 April 2022ADO Den Haag Stadium, The Hague, Netherlands South Africa4–15–1Friendly
25–1
313 July 2022Leigh Sports Village, Leigh, England Portugal1–03–2UEFA Women's Euro 2022

Honours

Athletic Bilbao

Lyon

References
  1. "FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ – SQUAD LIST – Netherlands (NED)" (PDF). FIFA. 8 August 2023. p. 18. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  2. Spain’s Egurrola talks tactics, FIFA, 18 August 2018
  3. Metz, Madeleine (25 November 2021). "Damaris Egurrola: A bright international future awaits Lyon star". Her Football Hub. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  4. "Lyon's Damaris swaps Spain for Netherlands". BBC Sport. 29 March 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  5. Osa II, Zesta Puntaren Lagunak (in Spanish)
  6. La hija del pelotari [The pelotari's daughter], El País, 18 December 2019 (in Spanish)
  7. Damaris and Maite Oroz, an inseparable couple, Athletic Bilbao, 29 December 2019
  8. Athletic Club Bilbao will feel the losses of Maite Oroz and Damaris Egurrola, Vavel, 30 March 2020
  9. "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.
  10. "Everton Women Sign Spain Midfielder". www.evertonfc.com. 1 September 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  11. "Christiansen Salutes Everton Midfield Colleague's 'Incredible Talent'". www.evertonfc.com. 7 January 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  12. "Damaris Egurrola rejoint l'Olympique Lyonnais" [Damaris Egurrola joins Olympique Lyonnais]. www.OL.fr (in French). 20 January 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  13. Damaris Egurrola, Soccerway
  14. Japan cruise to maiden world title, FIFA, 24 August 2018
  15. Embaladas hacia el Mundial (4–0) [Packed for the World Cup (4-0)], Royal Spanish Football Federation, 17 May 2019 (in Spanish)
  16. Oroz, Azkona and Damaris, with the Spanish Promesas, Athletic Bilbao, 30 October 2019
  17. 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
  18. Euskal Selekzioa 2–1 Chequia, Basque Football Federation, 25 November 2017 (in Basque)
  19. Sport (16 November 2021). "Vilda revela que Damaris ha pedido jugar con otra selección" [Vilda reveals that Damaris has asked to play with another team]. Sport (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  20. "La agencia de Damaris asegura que Vilda miente, nunca le llamó" [Damaris' agency assures that Vilda is lying, he never called her]. as.com (in Spanish). 17 November 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  21. "Spaans-Nederlands talent Egurrola kiest voor Oranje en zit bij selectie". nos.nl (in Dutch). 29 March 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  22. "Arsenal's Miedema scores six for the Netherlands". BBC Sport.
  23. Naidu, Unnati (1 September 2022). "Seven Years and Zero Titles Later, It's Time for Jorge Vilda to leave". Sporting Her. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  24. Mark White (5 June 2023). "Netherlands Women's World Cup 2023 squad: 30-player preliminary team named". fourfourtwo.com. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
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