Irene Paredes Hernández (born 4 July 1991) is a Spanish 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 ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Liga F The Primera División de la Liga de Fútbol Femenino, currently known as Liga F (finetwork Liga F for sponsorship reasons), is the highest level of league competition for women's football in Spain. It is the women's equivalent of the men's La L ...

club

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

and the Spain national team.

Club career

Real Sociedad

Born in

Legazpi Legazpi or Legaspi may refer to: * Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish conquistador who founded the first Spanish fort in the Philippines Places * Legazpi (Madrid), a ward belonging to the district of Arganzuela * Legazpi, Gipuzkoa, a town in the Ba ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French de ...

in the Basque Country, Paredes joined local side

Zarautz Zarautz (, es, Zarauz) is a coastal town located in central Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, in Spain. It is bordered by Aia to the east and the south and Getaria to the west, located about west of San Sebastián. It has four enclaves limiting the a ...

in 2007. She then moved to

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septemb ...

a year later. On 5 October 2008, she made her senior debut against Málaga in a

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game.

Athletic Bilbao

After spending three seasons at Real Sociedad, Paredes signed for Basque rivals

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. They are known as ''Los Le ...

in 2011. She spent five seasons there, winning the Primera División in her final season with the club in 2015–16. She also won three Copa Euskal Herria against her former club Real Sociedad in 2011, 2013 and 2015. On 10 June 2012, she was sent off for the first time in her career in their 1–2 loss against

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league s ...

in the 2012 Copa de la Reina final.

Paris Saint-Germain

In 2016, Paredes signed for

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As F ...

. She played her first

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

season after joining PSG and reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

, where her team lost 6–7 on penalties to

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

. On 31 May 2018, she won her first trophy with the club as PSG defeated Lyon 1–0 in the final of the 2018

Coupe de France Féminine A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

. She was named as captain of PSG before the start of the 2018–19 season. In May 2019, Paredes extended her contract with PSG for two more years, keeping her at the club till 30 June 2021. On 21 September, Paredes played in her first final as captain as PSG were defeated 3–4 on penalties by Lyon in the inaugural

Trophée des Championnes The Trophée des Championnes is a French women's association football trophy contested as an annual match between the champions of Division 1 Féminine and the winners of the Coupe de France Féminine from previous season. It is the female equi ...

. On 4 June 2021, Paredes led PSG to their first ever

title, ending Lyon's run of 14 consecutive titles. She also led PSG to the semifinals of the Women's Champions League where her team lost to eventual champions

Barcelona

On 8 July 2021, Paredes signed a two-year deal with

after her contract with PSG expired. On 4 September, Paredes made her official Barcelona debut in a 5–0 routing of Granadilla Tenerife. On 17 October, Paredes scored her first goal for Barcelona in a 5–0 victory against Sporting Huelva. On 17 November, she scored her first Women's Champions League goal for Barcelona as she headed in the second goal in a 5–0 defeat of

1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg. Originally founded in 1899 ...

in the group stage. On 23 January 2022, Paredes won her first title with Barcelona after her side thrashed

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in ...

7–0 in the final to win their second

Supercopa de España Femenina The Supercopa de España Femenina or the ''Spanish Women's Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football, contested by the winners and runners up of the Copa de la Reina and the remaining highest ranked teams from the Primera Divisió ...

title. On 9 February, Paredes returned after recovering from Covid-19 and scored the fourth goal in the 9–1 thrashing of

. On 13 February, Paredes suffered a muscle tear in her left thigh during their 3–0 win against

and was ruled out for over four weeks. On 13 March, Paredes won her second Spanish league title, and her first with ''Barça'', after Barcelona won 5–0 against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. On 22 March, Paredes returned from her injury when she came on at the 65th minute in a 3–1 victory against Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarter final. On 30 March, she made her

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barc ...

debut in the return leg of ''Barça's'' 5–2 quarter final victory against Real Madrid. On 21 May, Paredes started against Lyon as Barcelona were defeated 1–3 in the Champions League final at the Allianz Stadium in

Turín Turín is a municipality in the Ahuachapán department of El Salvador. Geography The town is located 4 km west of Atiquizaya, 10 km east of Ahuachapán, the department capital; and 12 km west of Chalchuapa and the neighboring May ...

. On 29 May, she won her third trophy with Barcelona as her team thrashed Sporting Huelva 6–1 in the Copa de la Reina final. On 18 August, Paredes was announced as the fifth

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of Barcelona before the start of the new season. On 19 January 2023, Paredes was sent-off during Barcelona's 3–1 victory over Real Madrid in the semi-final of the

2022-23 Supercopa de España Femenina The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as s ...

and was subsequently suspended for the final. Three days later, her side defeated Real Sociedad 3–0 to win the trophy. On 27 January, Paredes extended her contract with Barcelona until June 2025.

International career

She played her first minutes for the Spain national team in November 2011 against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

. In June 2013, national team

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Ignacio Quereda Ignacio Quereda Laviña (born 24 July 1950) is a Spanish football coach who managed the Spain women's national football team between 1988 and 2015. Playing career Born in Madrid, Quereda was raised in Badajoz where his family moved when he wa ...

confirmed Paredes as a member of his 23-player squad for the

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held in Sweden from 10 to 28 July 2013, became the most ...

finals in Sweden. At the tournament, she scored an unfortunate

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

in Spain's 3–1 quarter-final defeat to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. On 27 October 2013, she scored her first goal for Spain, in a 6–0 home win against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

at a

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification The qualification for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup determined which 23 teams joined Canada, the hosts of the 2015 tournament, to play for the Women's World Cup. The field was expanded from 16 teams in the 2011 edition to 24 in the 2015 edit ...

match. She was also called up to be part of Spain's squad at 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 ...

in Canada and at 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 championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

in France. On 5 March 2018, she marked her 50th appearance for Spain by opening the scoring with a header in a 2–0 victory against

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

in the last group match of the

Cyprus Cup The Cyprus Women's Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football. It has been held annually in Cyprus since 2008. Although the competition takes place in Cyprus, the hosts have yet to take part in t ...

. As of October 2021, Paredes is the captain of the Spanish national team, together with former Barcelona teammate

Jennifer Hermoso Jennifer Hermoso Fuentes (born 9 May 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Liga MX Femenil club CF Pachuca and for the Spain women's national team. She is the all-time top scorer for both Barcelona and Spain. Hermoso devel ...

, who is the vice-captain and Barcelona captain

Alexia Putellas Alexia Putellas Segura (Catalan: Alèxia Putellas i Segura, ; born 4 February 1994) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Barcelona, which she captains, and the Spain national team. She previously played for Esp ...

, who is the third captain. On 14 February 2022, Paredes was ruled out of the inaugural edition of the

Arnold Clark Cup The Arnold Clark Cup is an invitational women's association football tournament hosted by The Football Association, starting in 2022. It is named after car retailer Arnold Clark, who signed a multi-year sponsorship deal. ITV acts as the competit ...

after suffering a muscle tear in her left thigh and was replaced by Sheila García.

Personal life

Paredes is in a relationship with former Spain hockey player Lucía Ybarra. During her stint at PSG, the couple lived together in

Saint-Germain-en-Laye Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint- ...

. In April 2021, Paredes and Ybarra announced that they were expecting their first child together. On 13 September, Paredes announced the arrival of their son Mateo, who was born the day before, in an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

post. Paredes had already asked coach

Jorge Vilda Jorge Vilda Rodríguez (born 7 July 1981) is a Spanish football coach and UEFA Pro Licence holder, who is the current head coach of the Spain women's national football team - a position he has held since 2015. Vilda is also sporting director o ...

not to summon her to the national squad for

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process determines 30 of the 32 teams which will play in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the co-hosts Australia and New Zealand qualifying automatically. It is the ninth FIFA Women's World Cup, t ...

due to the forthcoming birth.

Style of play

Paredes has been described to be a multifaceted defender, who is a commanding presence in the air. She is also a very skillful and technically gifted ball-playing defender as she contributes to her team's build-up while dribbling the ball up the field and connecting with the attackers. She is an attacking threat inside the opponent's penalty area from free-kicks and corners as she has demonstrated with her prowess in goalscoring through headers.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Paredes goal.''

Honours

Athletic Bilbao * Primera División: 2015–16 Paris Saint-Germain *

Division 1 Féminine The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twelv ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

: 2017–18 Barcelona * Primera División: 2021–22 *

Copa de la Reina Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

: 2021–22 *

: 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Spain *

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Individual *

Best player:

* FIFA FIFPro World XI:

* UEFA Women's Champions League Squad of the Season:

* UEFA Women's Champions League Defender of the Season:

References

External links

* *
Irene Paredes
at

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional Football team, football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish footb ...

*
archive

at BDFutbol * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paredes, Irene 1991 births Living people People from Goierri Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Spanish women's footballers Spain women's international footballers Liga F players Real Sociedad (women) players Athletic Club Femenino players Paris Saint-Germain Féminine players FC Barcelona Femení players Women's association football defenders 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Expatriate women's footballers in France Spanish expatriate sportspeople in France Division 1 Féminine players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players LGBT association football players Spanish LGBT sportspeople Sportspeople from Gipuzkoa UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players 21st-century Spanish women