Janelly Farías Rodríguez (born 12 February 1990) is a former 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 last played as
centre-back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...
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
Juárez. She participated in
Exatlón Estados Unidos season 1 and was a commentator/analyst for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup for Telemundo. She uses her platform to promote inclusivity and advocate for LGBT+ persons. Born in the United States, she represented
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
at international level.
Club career
After publicly coming out as lesbian while playing college soccer, the rejection she suffered from her family originally led her to quit football. After a few years, however, during which her family gradually reconnected with her and in which she was inspired by 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 ...
, she made the decision to return to the sport.
On 28 June 2019, Farías joined
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 ...
side
CD Guadalajara
Club Deportivo Guadalajara S.A de C.V. (;), nicknamed ''"Chivas"'' () and simply known as Guadalajara or internationally as Chivas de Guadalajara, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in the Guadalajara metropolit ...
.
International career
Farías represented Mexico at the
2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship
The 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship was held in Russia from 17 August to 3 September 2006. It was the officially recognized world championship for women's under-20 national association football teams. Matches were held in four Moscow st ...
. She made her senior debut on 1 April 2007.
[ She is currently on the full women’s Mexico national team and looking to participate in the 2020 Olympic qualifying CONCACAF TOURNAMENT.
]
Personal life
Farias is openly lesbian
A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
. She actively advocates for equality and uses her platform to promote visibility and empowerment for the LGBT+ community. In October 2020, she led a talk for Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
titled "Navigating the Borders of Gender, Culture, Language, and Sexuality in Sports and Beyond."
References
External links
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1990 births
Living people
Mexican women's footballers
Women's association football central defenders
Women's association football midfielders
Mexico women's international footballers
Apollon Ladies F.C. players
Liga MX Femenil players
C.D. Guadalajara (women) footballers
Mexican expatriate women's footballers
Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus
Expatriate women's footballers in Cyprus
Mexican lesbian sportswomen
American women's soccer players
Soccer players from Santa Ana, California
American sportspeople of Mexican descent
New Mexico Lobos women's soccer players
UC Irvine Anteaters women's soccer players
American lesbian sportswomen
American LGBTQ soccer players
LGBTQ people from California
American expatriate women's soccer players
American expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus
Club América (women) footballers
21st-century American sportswomen
21st-century Mexican sportswomen
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