Marta Alexandra Cox Villarreal (born 20 July 1997) is a Panamanian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

who plays for the

Turkish Super League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The ...

club Fenerbahçe, and Panama women's national team. She is nicknamed ''Keky''.

Personal life and early years

Marta Alexandra Cox Villarreal was born in

El Chorrillo El Chorrillo is a corregimiento within Panama City, in Panamá District, Panamá Province, Panama with a population of 18,302 as of 2010. History It was founded April 29, 1915, and was originally populated by immigrants working on the constructi ...

neighborhood of

Panama City Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, i ...

, Panama on 20 July 1997. She started in football when she was only six years old at the local club Chorrillo FC. She was supported by her parents in her career. Her father kept supporting her also after her mother's death. At the age of 14, she debuted in the Panama national senior team.

Club career

Cox is tall, and plays in the

/striker position. She played in her country for

Universitario Club Universitario de Deportes is a Peruvian sports club based in Lima, which has soccer as its main activity. It also has women's football, volleyball and basketball sections. The football team, popularly known as Universitario, has competed in ...

(formerly Chorrillo FC) in the Liga de Fútbol Femenino. She then went abroad , and was with the clubs

Cortuluá Cortuluá, officially named Cortuluá Fútbol Club S. A. and previously known as Corporación Club Deportivo Tuluá for short, was a Colombian football club from Tuluá, Valle del Cauca Department. It was founded in 1967 and last played in Categ ...

in Colombia and

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

in the United States.

Alajuelense

In the 2020–21 season, she was with

Alajuelense Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Al ...

in the

Costa Rican Women's Premier Division The Costa Rican Women's Premier Division () is the main women's football competition in Costa Rica. It was established in 2001 and under the authority of the Women's Football Union (ADELIFE). Format The league is played in the Apertura and Clau ...

. At the end of the season, she left the club for Mexico.

León

In July 2021, Cox signed with

Club León Club León is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in León, Guanajuato, León, Guanajuato, that competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football league system, Mexican football. The club was founded in 1944 ...

. In doing so, she became the first foreign player to join 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 ...

team.

Pachuca

She played for

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

in the

, leaving the club at the end of 2023.

Tijuana

She transferred to

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

, and played in the first halof the

2024–25 Liga MX Femenil season The 2024–25 Liga MX Femenil season is the eighth season of the premier women's football league in Mexico. The season began on 4 July 2024 and will finish in May 2025. Stadiums and locations Alternate venues * América – Cancha Centenar ...

Fenerbahçe

Mid January 2025, Cox moved to Turkey, and signed a one-and-half-year deal with the

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

-based club Fenerbahçe to start playing in the second half pf the 2024-25 Super League season.

International career

Cox was admitted to the Panama national senior team when she was 14 years old. She took part at the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process decided all 24 teams which played in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the hosts France women's national football team, France qualifying automatically. It is the eighth FIFA Women's World ...

International goals

''Scores and results list Panama's goal tally first''

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Marta 1997 births Living people Footballers from Panama City Panamanian women's footballers 21st-century Panamanian sportswomen Women's association football midfielders Panama women's international footballers Pan American Games competitors for Panama Footballers at the 2019 Pan American Games Central American Games bronze medalists for Panama Central American Games medalists in football 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players Panamanian expatriate women's footballers Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Expatriate women's footballers in Colombia Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States United Women's Soccer players F.C. Indiana players Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Costa Rica Expatriate women's footballers in Costa Rica Liga Deportiva Alajuelense footballers Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate women's footballers in Mexico Liga MX Femenil players Club León (women) footballers C.F. Pachuca (women) footballers Club Tijuana (women) footballers Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate women's footballers in Turkey Turkish Women's Football Super League players Fenerbahçe S.K. (women's football) players