Esther González

For the Mexican swimmer, see Esther González (swimmer).

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is González and the second or maternal family name is Rodríguez.

Esther González Rodríguez (born 8 December 1992) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker for National Women's Soccer League club Gotham FC and the Spain national team. She previously played for Atlético Málaga, Sporting de Huelva, Atlético de Madrid, and Real Madrid.

Esther González

Esther with Gotham FC in 2025
Personal information
Full name	Esther González Rodríguez
Date of birth	(1992-12-08) 8 December 1992 (age 32)
Place of birth	Huéscar, Spain
Height	1.61 m (5 ft 3 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Gotham FC
Number	9
Youth career
2000–2007	CD Huéscar
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2007–2009	Algaidas
2009–2011	Levante	47	(12)
2011–2012	Atlético Málaga	34	(12)
2012–2013	Sporting de Huelva	27	(15)
2013–2019	Atlético de Madrid	159	(80)
2019–2021	Levante	53	(29)
2021–2023	Real Madrid	54	(30)
2023–	Gotham FC	28	(12)
International career‡
	Spain U19
2016–	Spain	53	(36)
Medal record Women's football Representing  Spain FIFA Women's World Cup Winner 2023 Australia–New Zealand UEFA Women's Championship Runner-up 2025 Switzerland UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship Runner-up 2009 Switzerland
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 17 February 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 17:47, 9 July 2025 (UTC)

Club career

Real Madrid

González left Real Madrid as its all-time top scorer with 39 goals in 77 games.^[1]

Gotham FC

On 23 August 2023, National Women's Soccer League club NJ/NY Gotham FC signed Esther to a three-year contract with an option to extend for an additional year.^[2] She made her club debut on 2 September, coming on for Sinead Farrelly in a 3–3 draw away to the North Carolina Courage.^[3] On her first start, she scored her first and second NWSL goals in a 2–0 home win over the Washington Spirit.^[4] On 11 November, she headed in Midge Purce's corner to score the second goal for Gotham in the NWSL Championship Game. It stood as the game winner in a 2–1 victory over OL Reign, giving Gotham its first league championship.^[5]

On 24 March 2024, Esther scored in Gotham's first game of the season, a 1–0 victory over the Portland Thorns.^[6] On 5 October, she assisted Rose Lavelle and scored two goals of her own against Bay FC within 4 minutes and 20 seconds, marking the fastest three-goal contribution in NWSL history.^[7] She finished the regular season with a team-high 9 goals, tied for fourth-most in the league, as Gotham placed third in the standings.^[8] In the NWSL semifinals, Esther scored the opening goal in a 1–1 draw against the Washington Spirit; Gotham lost as Esther was one of three players whose penalty attempts were saved by Aubrey Kingsbury.^[9]

After starting the season with seven goals in nine games, Esther signed a new contract with Gotham through 2027.^[10] On May 25, 2025, she scored in the 82nd minute of the 2025 CONCACAF W Champions Cup final against Tigres, burying the rebound after Itzel González stopped her penalty kick. Gotham won 1–0 to become the inaugural winners of the competition.^[11]

International career

Esther González played for the Spain U17 team at the 2009 U-17 European Championship, where Spain was the runner-up to Germany.^[12]

Esther made her senior international debut in March 2016, as a substitute in a 0–0 friendly draw with Romania in Mogoșoaia.^[13]

She scored five goals in Spain's 13–0 win over Azerbaijan in qualifying for the Euro 2022. She and her team reached the quarter-finals, where Spain lost 2–1 to eventual European champions England in overtime.

In Spain's opening match of the 2023 FIFA World Cup, she scored Spain's third goal in a 3–0 win over Costa Rica. This was the third goal in six minutes for the Spanish and was just their second group stage win at the World Cup.^[14]

On 10 June 2025, González was called up to the Spain squad for the UEFA Women's Euro 2025.^[15] On July 27, 2025, she started in the tournament's final as Spain finished runners up, losing 1-1 (3-1 on penalties) to England.^[16]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 24 March 2024

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup[a]		Continental[b]		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Levante	2009–10	Superliga Femenina	24	4	3	1	–		–		27	5
	2010–11	Superliga Femenina	23	8	2	1	–		–		25	9
	Total		47	12	5	2	–		–		52	14
Atlético Málaga	2011–12	Primera División	34	12	–		–		–		34	12
Sporting de Huelva	2012–13	Primera División	27	15	–		–		–		27	15
Atlético Madrid	2013–14	Primera División	25	14	2	0	–		–		27	14
	2014–15	Primera División	28	12	2	2	–		–		30	14
	2015–16	Primera División	29	18	3	2	4	1	–		36	21
	2016–17	Primera División	30	15	3	0	–		–		33	15
	2017–18	Primera División	26	8	3	0	1	0	–		30	8
	2018–19	Primera División	21	13	3	1	3	0	–		27	14
	Total		220	107	16	5	8	1	–		225	113
Levante	2019–20	Primera División	19	0	1	0	–		1[c]	0	21	0
	2020–21	Primera División	34	29	3	0	–		2[c]	1	39	30
	Total		53	29	4	0	0	0	3	1	60	30
Real Madrid	2021–22	Primera División	27	14	3	2	8	1	1[c]	0	39	17
	2022–23	Liga F	27	16	1	1	9	5	1[c]	0	38	22
	Total		54	30	4	3	17	6	2	0	77	39
Gotham FC	2023	NWSL	5	2	–		–		3[d]	1	8	3
	2024	NWSL	23	10	1	0	4	2	0	0	28	12
	2025	NWSL	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		28	12	1	0	4	2	3	1	36	15
Career total			402	190	30	10	29	9	8	2	469	211

1. Includes Copa de la Reina, NWSL Challenge Cup
2. Includes UEFA Women's Champions League
3. Appearances in Supercopa de España
4. Appearances in NWSL Playoffs

International

As of match played 3 July 2025

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Spain	2016	2	0
	2017	0	0
	2018	1	0
	2019	3	0
	2020	1	1
	2021	8	13
	2022	14	6
	2023	14	7
	2024	2	2
	2025	8	7
Total		53	36

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

List of international goals scored by Esther González

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	23 October 2020	Estadio La Cartuja, Seville, Spain	Czech Republic	1–0	4–0	UEFA Women's Euro 2021 qualifying
2.	18 February 2021	ASK Arena, Baku, Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan	1–0	13–0
3.				2–0
4.				3–0
5.				4–0
6.				12–0
7.	23 February 2021	La Ciudad del Fútbol, Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain	Poland	1–0	3–0
8.				2–0
9.	21 September 2021	Hidegkuti Nándor Stadion, Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	1–0	7–0	2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
10.				2–0
11.	25 November 2021	Estadio de La Cartuja, Seville, Spain	Faroe Islands	1–0	12–0	2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
12.				5–0
13.				7–0
14.				10–0
15.	25 June 2022	Nuevo Colombino, Huelva, Spain	Australia	3–0	7–0	Friendly
16.	20 July 2022	Falmer Stadium, Brighton and Hove, England	England	1–0	1–2	UEFA Women's Euro 2022
17.	2 September 2022	La Ciudad del Fútbol, Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain	Hungary	1–0	3–0	2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
18.	6 September 2022		Ukraine	1–0	5–0
19.				4–0
20.	11 October 2022	El Sadar Stadium, Pamplona, Spain	United States	2–0	2–0	Friendly
21.	16 February 2023	Industree Group Stadium, Gosford, Australia	Jamaica	2–0	3–0	2023 Cup of Nations
22.	22 February 2023	McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle, Australia	Czech Republic	1–0	3–0
23.				2–0
24.	29 June 2023	Estadio Román Suárez Puerta, Avilés, Spain	Panama	1–0	7–0	Friendly
25.				6–0
26.	21 July 2023	Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington, New Zealand	Costa Rica	3–0	3–0	2023 FIFA Women's World Cup
27.	1 December 2023	Estadio Municipal de Pasarón, Pontevedra, Spain	Italy	2–3	2–3	2023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League
28.	5 April 2024	Den Dreef, Leuven, Belgium	Belgium	5–0	7–0	UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying
29.				7–0
30.	4 April 2025	Estádio Capital do Móvel, Paços de Ferreira, Portugal	Portugal	4–2	4–2	2025 UEFA Women's Nations League
31.	8 April 2025	Balaídos, Vigo, Spain	Portugal	7–0	7–1
32.	30 May 2025	Den Dreef, Leuven, Belgium	Belgium	1–0	5–1
33.				2–0
34.	3 July 2025	Stadion Wankdorf, Bern, Switzerland	Portugal	1–0	5–0	UEFA Women's Euro 2025
35.				4–0
36.	7 July 2025	Arena Thun, Thun, Switzerland	Belgium	3–2	6–2
37.	11 July 2025	Stadion Wankdorf, Bern, Switzerland	Italy	3–1	3–1

Honours

Atlético Madrid

• Primera División: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19
• Copa de la Reina: 2016

Gotham FC

• NWSL Championship: 2023^[17]
• CONCACAF W Champions Cup: 2024–25^[18]

Spain U17

• UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship runner-up: 2009

Spain

• FIFA Women's World Cup: 2023
• UEFA Women's Championship runner-up: 2025^[16]

Individual

• CONCACAF W Champions Cup: 2024–25 Golden Ball
• UEFA Women's Championship top scorer: 2025^[19]