| Irene González | |
| Fullname: | Irene González Basanta |
| Birth Date: | 26 March 1909[1] |
| Birth Place: | A Coruña, Spain |
| Death Date: | 9 April 1928 (aged 19) |
| Death Place: | A Coruña, Spain |
| Position: | Goalkeeper |
| Youthclubs1: | Barcelona FC |
| Youthclubs2: | Racing Coruñés |
| Years1: | 1925–1927 |
| Clubs1: | Irene Fútbol Club |
| Club-Update: | 20 April 2023 |
Irene González Basanta (26 March 1909 – 8 April 1928) was a Spanish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Irene Fútbol Club, which she founded. She is credited as the first woman in Spain to play football professionally,[2] [3] and among the first anywhere.[4]
González was born near Campo de la Leña near the Monte Alto neighborhood of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, and raised in the Orillamar neighborhood.[5] As a child, she would join football matches played by boys in the streets[1] or the fields of A Estrada. Her father was a police officer who did not approve of her youthful inclination toward football,[5] and by some accounts would drag her screaming away from a match.[1] [4] By 1924, her parents, brother, and nephew had died, orphaning her to the care of her older sister, Delfina, and her brother-in-law, Delfina's husband.[2]
At the age of 15, González played as a centre-forward for local men's club Barcelona FC, unaffiliated with the Catalan club,[2] [4] as well as with local club Racing Coruñés.[2] She later switched to goalkeeper and competed for minutes with Rodrigo García Vizoso, who would later join professional clubs Deportivo de La Coruña and Real Madrid.[2] [4] Vizoso recalled in 2008 that González would also attend his matches and cheer for him from behind his goal.[1]
González faced regular misogynistic criticism, including slurs.[1]
González launched Irene Fútbol Club in January 1925, at the age of 16, and served as the team's captain and promoter.[2] The club's players were all male except for herself.[4] The club toured Galicia and charged money to play matches, including friendly matches against third-division teams from Vilaboa, A Laracha, Carballo, and Betanzos, and exhibitions played before Deportivo de La Coruña matches in the Parque de Riazor.[2]
The magazine Galicia covered the club in February 1925 with an anonymous commentary endorsing exercise among women, which was the subject of criticism and fears of the masculinization of women.[2] González was photographed in 1925 leaning against a goalpost dressed similarly to her goalkeeping inspiration, Ricardo Zamora, in a white turtleneck sweater and black knee-length shorts, a football under her foot. The photograph was posted in a shop on Calle Real in A Coruña, a report of which published in the newspaper El Orzán drew notoriety to González and her club.[2] [6]
González organized an 18-team tournament from June to September 1925.[4] [6]
By 1926, Irene FC matches — marketed as children's events — drew enough attention that Racing de Ferrol charged for tickets for a match on 24 May 1926 between Irene FC and the club's reserves at Campo de Futbol O Inferniño. Irene FC lost 7–1 but were celebrated by the crowd and Racing's board, and the match was covered by the periodical El Pueblo Gallego.[2] [6]
González's last played match on record was on 1 May 1927.[2]
Accounts of González's goalkeeping complimented her height, agility, and positioning, and noted her fearlessness in making diving saves and departures from the goal.[1] [4] She was reportedly vocal, even vulgar, in commanding her defensive line,[1] and kept a doll of a footballer in her net as a ward against goals as her idol Zamora had also done.[1] [5]
By the middle of 1927 González had fallen ill with tuberculosis, which had killed thousands in Galicia during an epidemic between 1924 and 1927.[2] Locals and Galician newspapers staged fundraisers and a charity friendly match to support her family.[2] [4] She sold clothes and belongings to pay for treatment, though some of the charity helped her recover them and improve her living conditions.[1] [4] Clubs in Racing, Ferrol, and Betanzos also held collections to assist her.[4] [6] She was first reported dead on 9 April 1928, and confirmed by the newspaper El Eco de Santiago on 11 April 1928.[2]
González inspired a chant among girls in A Coruña that survived several years after her death, in which the singer tells her mother that she wants to become wealthy playing fútbol like González:[1] [2] [4]
In 2022, the A Coruña city council approved a motion to rename a street in González's honor.[5]
In 2023, La Coruña hosted the inaugural Copa Internacional Irene González Basanta, an international girls' club football tournament named in her honor.[7] On 10 April 2023, the girls' academy of Real Madrid defeated their Sporting Braga counterparts 2–0 to win the first cup.[3]