Christina Marie Burkenroad Sandoval (born 12 July 1993) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a forward for

Liga MX Femenil Liga MX Femenil, also known as Liga BBVA MX Femenil for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in Mexico. Supervised by the Mexican Football Federation, Federación Mexicana d ...

club

CF Monterrey Club de Fútbol Monterrey Rayados, A.C., simply known as Monterrey or by its nickname Rayados, is a Mexican professional association football, football club based in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León, that plays in Liga MX, the top d ...

. In January 2016, she was drafted by the

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Orlando, Florida, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Pride began play in the 2016 National Women's Soccer League season, 2016 ...

in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

. Born and raised in the United States to an American father and a Mexican mother, she plays for the Mexico women's national team.

Early life and college career

Burkenroad was born in

La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. The climate is mild, with an average daily temperature o ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, to William Burkenroad and Elizabeth Sandoval Noriega. She was four years old when her mother died from

ALS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

. Her father suffered from depression, her brothers moved away, and Burkenroad and her father moved frequently during her childhood. She lived homeless for a few weeks during her junior year at

Mission Bay High School Mission Bay High School (MBHS) is a public high school in San Diego, California, adjacent to Mission Bay (San Diego), Mission Bay in the community of Pacific Beach, San Diego, Pacific Beach. It is a magnet school with emphasis on academic stu ...

before moving in with the family of a teammate. Until Mission Bay High School, she had only played soccer with boys clubs and Nomads Soccer Club. She excelled in many sports, set a school record for girls' soccer with 93 career goals, and won a scholarship to

California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public research university in Fullerton, California, United States. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the California State ...

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( ; ) were the pre-Twelve Olympians, Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). The six male ...

Club career

She signed with the

on 18 May 2016, and appeared in 8 matches before being waived on 21 June 2017, to make room for returning forward

Alex Morgan Alexandra Morgan Carrasco (born Alexandra Patricia Morgan; July 2, 1989) is an American former professional association football, soccer player.She co-captained the United States women's national soccer team, United States national team with ...

. She signed with

IK Grand Bodø Idrettsklubben Grand Bodø is a Norwegian association football club from Bodø, Nordland. It was founded on 12 April 1917. Football Former Liverpool and England international full-back Chris Lawler was player-coach for the club in 1981. Its ...

in Norway's

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in ...

in June 2017. On 6 February 2018, Burkenroad joined

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

side

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

. She helped Sparta win their first

Czech Women's First League The Czech Women's First League (), known as the FORTUNA=LIGA for sponsorship reasons, is the top level women's football league of the Czech Republic. The league is dominated by teams of Prague. Slavia Prague won the last championships, Sparta Prag ...

title in five years and their ninth

Czech Women's Cup The Czech Women's Cup (Czech Language, Czech: ''Pohár Komise fotbalu žen'' or ''Pohár KFŽ'') is the national Women's association football, women's football cup competition in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 2007. The first final was held ...

. In the 2018–19 season Sparta won both competitions again. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

the 2019–20 Czech Women's First League was canceled and Burkenroad decided to not extend her contract. On 6 July 2020, Burkenroad joined

club

. Rayadas won the 2021 Apertura, with Burkenroad playing in the first leg of the final but suffering a concussion. In the

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Apertura, she scored 16 goals, second-most in the league behind Mia Fishel's 17.

Personal life

Burkenroad is dating fellow footballer

Verónica Pérez Verónica Raquel Pérez Murillo (born 18 May 1988) is a footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder. Born in the United States, she represented the Mexico women's national team. Between 2009 and 2016 she also played in professional leagues ...

Career statistics

International goals

References

External links

* * *
Christina Burkenroad
at

Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public research university in Fullerton, California, United States. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the California State ...

Christina Burkenroad – YouTube Channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkenroad, Christina 1993 births Living people Mexican women's footballers Mexico women's international footballers Women's association football forwards Toppserien players AC Sparta Prague (women) players Liga MX Femenil players C.F. Monterrey (women) players Mexican people of American descent Mexican expatriate women's footballers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate women's footballers in Norway Mexican expatriates in the Czech Republic Expatriate women's footballers in the Czech Republic Mexican lesbian sportswomen American women's soccer players Soccer players from San Diego Sportspeople from La Jolla, San Diego American sportspeople of Mexican descent Cal State Fullerton Titans women's soccer players Orlando Pride draft picks National Women's Soccer League players Orlando Pride players American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic American expatriate sportspeople in Norway American LGBTQ soccer players American lesbian sportswomen LGBTQ people from California LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people Czech Women's First League players 21st-century American LGBTQ people Competitors at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in football Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Mexico 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century Mexican sportswomen