Daniela María Cruz Mejía (born 8 March 1991) is a Costa Rican

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 defender for

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Career

Cruz made her professional debut with ''Sportek de Heredia'' where she won the second division championship and the promotion to the Costa Rica Women's Football Championship. Later in 2010, she went to study to the United States, where she had the opportunity to play with

West Florida Argonauts The West Florida Argonauts (or UWF Argonauts) are the athletic teams that represent the University of West Florida, located in Pensacola, Florida, in intercollegiate sports at the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

in NCAA Division II. She won the Division II championship with the same team in 2012. After graduating from college in 2014, she came back to Costa Rica to play with Deportivo Saprissa FF, with

Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. Their colours are burgundy and white. It ...

she also won the championship in 2014. Cruz won the ''Apertura 2015'' with Saprissa and made a huge step in her career by signing with

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

in the

Serbian First League The Serbian First League (), referred to as the Mozzart Bet First League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier in professional Serbia's football league. The league was formed in 2005, following a reshuffle of the second tier Serbo-Montenegr ...

with the option of extending her 1-year contract. Unfortunately in 2016 her grandfather got sick so she returned to Costa Rica for three months, in her last match in Serbia she caught an injury which she had planned to treat in her home country, but the injury was so serious she had to pay for an operation with the help of her parents. Because of her injury,

didn't renew her contract, so Cruz went back to Costa Rica to play for Deportivo Saprissa FF. Last year she won the ''Clausura 2018'' as the team captain. She was also the trainer of the U-13 female team of Saprissa. Before leaving to Spain, Cruz also won the ''Apertura 2019'' with Deportivo Saprissa FF, scoring an Olympic goal in the final against AD Moravia, where they tied 1-1 and then Saprissa won by penalties. On June 5 of 2019,

RCD Espanyol Femenino RCD Espanyol Femení (Real Club Deportivo Español) is the women's association football, women's football section of RCD Espanyol and was founded in 1970. History RCD Espanyol was one of the pioneering teams in women's association football, wom ...

announced on their social media that Cruz signed with them for one season, she'll play alongside her Costa Rica teammate Katherine Alvarado.

International career

At the young age of 13, Cruz was already called to the U-17 Costa Rica National Team squad, which eventually qualified to the

2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the first women's football edition of the U-17 World Cup. It was held in New Zealand from 28 October to 16 November 2008. North Korea won the first edition, extending their grip of women's youth footbal ...

in New Zealand. In 2010, she had the opportunity to play in the

2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 5th edition of the tournament. It was held in Germany, who also hosted the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup a year later, from 13 July to 1 August 2010. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all si ...

that was held in Germany, having achieved her second world cup as a very young and promising player for Costa Rica. Finally in 2014 with Cruz already playing for the senior team, Costa Rica Women's National Football Team achieved their first ever qualification to the

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

in a match against Trinidad & Tobago, which Cruz was part of. Their generation was now ready to demonstrate all their experience, and so they did. Even though Costa Rica finished 3rd in their group of the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the f ...

, they played an amazing tournament and showed what they are capable of. Ups and downs were to come for Cruz and her teammates in 2018, after she was part of the Costa Rica National Team that made history by winning a silver medal in the

2018 Central American and Caribbean Games The 23rd Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Barranquilla, Colombia. Asamblea ODECABE, Islas Caimán' (translation: "CASCO Assembly, Cayman Islands"). Published by CACSO on 2012-10-27; retrieved 2012-11-13. Bidding process Quet ...

which were held in Barranquilla, Colombia. But later that same year she was part of the squad that failed to reach the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

after winning 8–0 against Cuba, but losing 1–0 and 1–3 against Jamaica and Canada. With three World Cups in her log book, Cruz is one of Costa Rica's most valuable and important players.

Clubs

* Sportek de Heredia *

* Deportivo Saprissa Fútbol Femenino *

References

External links

* * *
Profile
at Fedefutbol {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Daniela 1991 births Living people Women's association football defenders Costa Rican women's footballers 21st-century Costa Rican sportswomen People from Tibás Footballers from San José Province Costa Rica women's international footballers 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Pan American Games bronze medalists for Costa Rica Pan American Games footballers for Costa Rica Pan American Games bronze medalists in football Footballers at the 2019 Pan American Games Footballers at the 2011 Pan American Games Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Costa Rica Competitors at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Costa Rica Competitors at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American Games gold medalists for Costa Rica Central American Games medalists in football West Florida Argonauts women's soccer players Deportivo Saprissa players Liga F players RCD Espanyol (women) players Costa Rican expatriate women's footballers Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate women's footballers in Serbia Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in football ŽFK Crvena zvezda players Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Liga MX Femenil players FIFA Women's Century Club