Marbella Ibarra (1972 – 2018) was a Mexican advocate for

Women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and about 200 national teams partic ...

who was trained as a lawyer. She created the first professional women's football team in Mexico. She was murdered in 2018.

Life

Ibarra was born in

Acapulco de Juárez Municipality Acapulco de Juárez is one of the 81 municipalities of Guerrero, in southwestern Mexico, along Acapulco Bay on the Pacific coast, being both the most populous and most densely populated municipality in Guerrero. The municipal seat lies at Acapul ...

. She was trained as a lawyer, but after university she stayed on as a coach. She became known as an advocate for women's football in Mexico. She played a bit of football and basketball for fun but as a coach she formed an amateur women's team named Isamar FC. She was enthusiastic about football and she interceded with Xolos of Tijuana to persuade them create a women's team in 2014. She was their coach and they had a problem as they were the only professional team in Mexico. The team had to travel to the USA to find similar clubs and Ibarra would subsidise their travel costs from her own beauty business. It was her ambition to create a league in Mexico and three years later the

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 ...

was formed. In 2017

Andrea Rodebaugh Andrea Rodebaugh Huitrón (born 8 October 1966) is a Mexican professional football coach and former player who is the current manager of Tijuana in the Liga MX Femenil. Life She was born in 1966 in Mexico City. She played as a midfielder and ...

was confirmed as the lead for the Tijuana women's team. This announcement thanked, but removed Ibarra who had been credited with creating the team. She was a scout for talent and she devoted time to trying to create financial support for promising women footballers so that they trial with different teams. She was credited with founding Mexico's national women football team. In 2018 her body was found wrapped in plastic in

Rosarito is a coastal city in Playas de Rosarito Municipality, Baja California, on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. As of 2010, the city had a population of 65,278. Located south of the US–Mexico border, Rosarito is a part of the greater San Diego–Tiju ...

. There was signs of torture. She had been missing since September and her death was not thought to have links to her work in sport. Her body was found in October and she is thought to have died several days before. Her hands and legs were bound. Her body highlighted the number of women who are murdered in Mexico. A bound and tortured body is not unique and it was thought that the death was intended to send some kind of message.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibarra, Marbella 21st-century Mexican lawyers 1972 births 2018 deaths People from Acapulco 21st-century Mexican women lawyers Mexican murder victims Mexican torture victims People murdered in Mexico