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Salma Paralluelo
Spanish footballer (born 2003) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Salma Celeste Paralluelo Ayingono (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈsalma θeˈleste paɾaˈʎwelo aʝiŋˈɡono] ⓘ; born 13 November 2003) is a Spanish professional footballer and former sprinter who plays as a left winger for Liga F club Barcelona and the Spain national team. She is the first ever player to have won all three World Cups, having won the 2023 FIFA World Cup, 2022 FIFA U-20 World Cup, and 2018 FIFA U-17 World Cup.[2]
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Early life
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Paralluelo was born in Zaragoza to a Spanish father[3] and an Equatorial Guinean Fang mother.[4][5] Her mother had moved from Equatorial Guinea so that her son, Florencio, from a previous relationship, who had a severe congenital vision deficiency, could receive better medical treatment in Spain.[5][6][7] She has two other brothers, José Jaime and Lorenzo, both footballers.[8]
She was raised in a working class neighbourhood in Zaragoza with her three older brothers. She began playing football with classmates as a young child. Her father lost his job during her early childhood, which worsened her family's financial position. Her mother later moved to Switzerland for work and had limited contact with Paralluelo, who remained in Spain and was raised primarily by her father. Paralluelo saw her mother during Christmas and summer holidays for most of her childhood. Her father described her as a student who passed her classes but was not "brilliant". She is close friends with triple jump bronze Olympic medalist, Ana Peleteiro, whom she met during her athletics career as a teenager.[9]
In December 2012, her older half-brother, Florencio, disappeared while going to meet with friends from his university. His body was found in a reservoir 35 days later in the Ebro River in Zaragoza. No violence or foul play was suspected in his death. Paralluelo participated in sports to cope with her brother's death.[10]
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Club career
Paralluelo is a product of UD San José in Zaragoza. She has played for Zaragoza CFF and Villarreal in Spain. She is also a 2022 FIFA Puskás Award nominee.
She signed for FC Barcelona at the end of the 2021–22 season, after her contract with Villarreal ended.[11]
In the 2023–24 season, she scored four goals in the 7–1 away win against Real Sociedad,[12] one of two "pokers" on her way to being Barcelona's top goalscorer in all competitions (Caroline Graham Hansen eventually took the league Pichichi title) as the team won four trophies. Still struggling in some tougher games, her growth as a footballer "made leaps" in the season.[13]
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International career
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Paralluelo won the 2018 UEFA Under-17 Championship and the 2018 FIFA U-17 World Cup. In April 2021, her anterior cruciate ligament was torn during a match.[14]
She returned to win the 2022 FIFA U-20 World Cup. She made her senior debut on 11 November 2022, starting and scoring a hat-trick in a 7-0 friendly home win over Argentina.
She was included in the Spain squad list for the 2023 FIFA World Cup.[15] During the quarter-final match against the Netherlands on 11 August, she scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory after extra time, to qualify Spain for the first time in history into the semi-finals of a World Cup.[16]
On 15 August 2023, she scored a goal in Spain's 2–1 victory over Sweden to take her team to its first senior World Cup final.[17] After winning the final against England, in which she played as a starter, she was proclaimed the best young player of the tournament.[18]
In October 2024, she announced that she would take an indefinite break from football due to physical and mental fatigue. She made 92 appearances with the Spanish national team and Spanish football clubs in just two years from 2022 to 2024. [19]
In June 2025, she was called up by the Spanish national team for the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 tournament in Switzerland.[20][21]
Athletics
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As an athlete, Paralluelo began her career at the San José Athletics club in Zaragoza. She won the Jean Bouin road race in Barcelona from 2012 to 2016 in her age group. In June 2016, Paralluelo participated for the first time in the Spanish championships in her age group (U14) and won three disciplines (80 meters hurdles, shot put, 80 meters).[22] In 2017, she won the 60 meters hurdles at the U16 Spanish Indoor Championships and finished sixth in the 100 meters hurdles at the U16 National Outdoor Championships that summer.[citation needed]
She joined the Scorpio-71 club, the largest athletics club in Zaragoza.[23] In 2018, Paralluelo won the 300 meters at the Spanish U16 Indoor Championships in 39.46 s and finished second in the triple jump (12.06 meters) on the same day.[24] At her age group outdoor championships in July, she broke the all-time Spanish record in the non-Olympic 300 meters hurdles discipline with a winning time of 42.56.[25]
In the outdoor season, in the third race of her life over the 400 meters hurdles, during the Ibero-American Athletics Meeting in Huelva, Paralluelo ran a time of 57.43, beating the all-time best Spanish sub-18 record and also breaking that year’s sub-18 world best time. With this result she was also qualified for the 2019 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival, where she won two gold medals in the 400m hurdles event, with a time of 57.95, and the medley relay.[citation needed]
In late 2019 she went to Playas de Castellón. She won her first senior medal at the 2019 Spanish Indoor Athletics Championships, winning bronze in the 400-meter test with a mark of 53.83s, a Spanish national record in the sub-18 and sub-20 categories.[26][27] Her result also allowed her to participate in the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships.[28] At the age of 15 years and 108 days, she was the second youngest ever participant in a total of 35 European Indoor Championships, only behind Norwegian race walker Kjersti Tysse (15 years and 34 days in the 1987 edition).[29]
In July 2022, after signing a contract with FC Barcelona, Salma Paralluelo announced that she wanted to focus solely on football in the future, thus retiring her career in athletics.[30]
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Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 26 January 2025[31]
- Appearances in Copa de la Reina
- Appearances in UEFA Women's Champions League
- Appearances in Supercopa de España
International
- As of match played 8 April 2025
- Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Paralluelo goal.
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Honours
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FC Barcelona
- UEFA Women's Champions League: 2022–23,[32] 2023–24[33]
- Primera División: 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25[34]
- Copa de la Reina: 2023–24, 2024–25[35]
- Supercopa de España: 2022–23, 2023–24
Spain
- FIFA Women's World Cup: 2023
- UEFA Women's Championship runner-up: 2025[36]
- UEFA Women's Nations League: 2023–24[37]
Spain U20
Spain U17
Individual
- FIFA Women's World Cup Young Player Award: 2023[38]
- 433 – Women's Talent of the Year: 2022–23[39]
- Hija Predilecta de Zaragoza (2023)[40]
- Ballon d'Or 3rd place: 2023, 2024
- IFFHS Women's World's Best Youth Player: 2023[41]
- IFFHS Women's World Team of the Year: 2023,[42] 2024[43]
- IFFHS Women's UEFA Team: 2023,[44] 2024[45]
- IFFHS Women's Youth (U20) UEFA Team: 2023[46]
- Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year Nominee: 2024[47]
- The Best FIFA Women's 11: 2024[48]
Records
Currently, Salma Paralluelo holds the following Spanish records in different age categories:[49]
Under-18
- 300m (38.60)
- 300m hurdles (41.97)
- 400m hurdles (57.36)
- Medley relay (2:08.53, with Laura Pintiel, Esperança Cladera, and Carmen Avilés)
- 400m indoor track (53.83)
Under-16
- 300m hurdles (42.56)
- 300m indoor track (39.27)
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References
External links
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