Maria Antònia Mínguez
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Maria Antònia Mínguez Martín | ||
| Date of birth | 5 March 1947 | ||
| Place of birth | Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1970–1974 | Barcelona | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Maria Antònia Mínguez Martín (born 5 March 1947) is a Spanish former footballer and women's football pioneer in Catalonia. She played in FC Barcelona Femení's first-ever match on 25 December 1970,[1][2][3] thus becoming the first goalkeeper in the club's history.[4][5][6]
Early life
[edit]Mínguez grew up with a strict father and brothers who played football.[7][6] She decided to start playing to deal with her grief, after her fiancé was killed in a traffic accident on her 23rd birthday,[7] responding to an advertisement recruiting girls to play in a charity football tournament.[4][6]
Although she had initially tried out as a field player, she became a goalkeeper on the recommendation of coach Antoni Ramallets, whom she had long admired.[6][7] She kept the fact that she had started training a secret from her father until the day before her first match.[6]
Career
[edit]
Together with Carme Nieto, Alicia Estivill, Lolita Ortíz, and Immaculada Cabecerán, the main promoter of the event, Mínguez contested the first match of the women's FC Barcelona team against Unió Esportiva Centelles on 25 December 1970, which was held at Camp Nou in front of 60,000 spectators.[1][2][3] She was the team's goalkeeper and her performance in the penalty shootout was decisive in achieving victory (4–3).[1] She later stated that "we won that first trophy because of the penalties that I saved. I was the heroine".[5] She was taught to "stop everything that was shot at me" by the second coach César, who eventually told the first coach Antoni Ramallets that "she was ready".[5] In Barça's inaugural season in 1971–72, she scored 0 goals.[8]
Mínguez stayed at the club for four and a half years, from 1970 to 1974, and during this period, she alternated with fellow goalkeeper Núria Llansà.[1][9][6]
Post-football career
[edit]Mínguez gave up football because of a boyfriend who was against her playing.[7] From her retirement from football until her actual retirement she worked as a nurse.[1]
On 21 December 2020, the FC Barcelona Players' Association organized a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of that first match, which was held in the Sala Roma, and the broadcast of the party's anniversary allowed two of those pioneers, María Antonia Mínguez and Consuelo Pérez, to get in touch with their former teammates with whom they had not had a relationship for decades, thus reuniting with their teammates thanks to the television and social media promotion of this event.[1] Both of them have become members of the Group of pioneers in the club's women's football section.[1]
In 2021, Mínguez appeared on a television programme on SER Catalunya, discussing the abuse she and other players endured for playing football in the 1970s.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g "Agradecimiento de las pioneras al Club y a la Agrupación" [Thanks from the pioneers to the Club and the Group]. www.fcbarcelona.com (in Spanish). 25 January 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- ^ a b "FC Barcelona Women's Golden Anniversary". www.fcbarcelona.com. 24 December 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- ^ a b "Se cumplen 50 años de la primera vez que el Camp Nou abrió las puertas a las mujeres" [50 years have passed since the first time Camp Nou opened its doors to women]. www.marca.com (in Spanish). 25 December 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- ^ a b "Les mans del Barça femení" [The hands of the women's Barça]. www.elperiodico.cat (in Catalan). 16 May 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- ^ a b c "Las Pioneras del Barça" [The Pioneers of Barça]. www.mundodeportivo.com (in Spanish). 6 January 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g Navarro, Eduardo (18 May 2021). "Los inicios del fútbol femenino: "Me llamaban guarra y me gritaban que me fuera a la cocina"". SER 100 (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-08-17.
- ^ a b c d Vicente, Sandra (1 May 2022). "Las pioneras del Barça femenino hace 50 años: "Mi novio no quería que jugara"". elDiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-08-17.
- ^ "TROFEO "PASTIS 51" A LA MAXIMA GOLEADORA" ["PASTIS 51" TROPHY TO THE TOP GOAL SCORER]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 10 March 1972. p. 10. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- ^ "La història comença amb setze heroïnes" [The story begins with sixteen heroines]. www.sport.es (in Catalan). 24 December 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2024.