Shirley Cruz
Shirley Cruz Traña (born 28 August 1985) is a Costa Rican professional footballer who last played as a midfielder for OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League and the Costa Rica women's national football team. A creative midfielder who often acts as a deep-lying playmaker, Cruz is the second-ever female footballer from Costa Rica to play abroad when she joined Lyon in 2005.
| Shirley Cruz Traña during PSG-Montpellier (season 2012-2013) | ||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Shirley Cruz Traña[1] | |||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 28 August 1985[1] | |||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | San José, Costa Rica | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)[1] | |||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | |||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||
| 1997–1999 | CF Universidad | |||||||||||||||
| 1999–2000 | AD Goicoechea | |||||||||||||||
| 2000–2002 | CS Desamparados | |||||||||||||||
| 2002–2005 | UCEM Alajuela | |||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Saprissa FF | |||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||
| 2006–2012 | Lyon | 115 | (24) | |||||||||||||
| 2012–2018 | Paris Saint-Germain | 91 | (16) | |||||||||||||
| 2018 | Jiangsu Suning | 0 | (0) | |||||||||||||
| 2019–2020 | Alajuelense | 9 | (5) | |||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | OL Reign | 12 | (2) | |||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | Alajuelense | 0 | (0) | |||||||||||||
| International career‡ | ||||||||||||||||
| 2002– | Costa Rica | 92 | (29) | |||||||||||||
Honours
| ||||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 6 February 2018 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18 June 2020 | ||||||||||||||||
Early life
Cruz was born in the capital city of San José and discovered and learned the sport of football from her seven brothers.
Club career
Cruz began her football career at CF Universidad in San Pedro, San José. Cruz made a name for herself following her performance at the 1999 edition of the Los Juegos Deportivos Nacionales de San Carlos, translated as the National Sporting Games of San Carlos. She later played for local clubs AD Goicoechea, CS Desamparados, and UCEM Alajuela. With Alajuela, Cruz won three league titles and also earned the top scorer award once.[2][3]
Due to her performances locally, she signed with UCEM Alajuela and, in January 2006, moved abroad signing with Division 1 Féminine club Olympique Lyonnais. With her move, she became only the second Costa Rican women's football player, alongside Gabriela Trujillo, to play league football outside the country. Due to joining the club mid-season, Cruz appeared in only seven league matches scoring three goals. The 2006–07 season saw her playing time increase to 12 matches and also saw Lyon win their first league title under their new emblem. In the Challenge de France, Cruz was instrumental in helping Lyon reaching the final, where they lost to Montpellier on penalties scoring four goals in five appearances. The next season saw Lyon win the double following their league title and 3–0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the Challenge de France. Cruz appeared in 32 total matches, which included appearances in the UEFA Women's Cup.
Cruz appeared in all 22 league matches (starting 20) during the 2008–09 season, which saw Lyon win their third straight title. She also appeared in all seven UEFA Women's Cup matches, where Lyon suffered elimination in the semi-finals after losing 2–4 on aggregate to German club FCR 2001 Duisburg. On 18 September 2009, Cruz, for the first time, signed with Lyon under professional terms (previously contracts were semi-professional) after agreeing to a two-year contract, which will keep her at the club until 2011.[4] Cruz got off to a quick start for the 2009–10 season scoring a hat trick in the opening league match against AS Montigny-le-Bretonneux, which ended in a 6–0 victory.[5]
Cruz signed with Chinese Women's Super League team Jiangsu Suning in January 2018.[6]
In March 2020, Cruz signed with OL Reign for the 2020 NWSL season,[7] which due to the pandemic, was reformatted and condensed to shorter post tournament style competitions, the Challenge Cup and Fall Series. In December 2020, Cruz resigned with Reign for the 2021 NWSL season.[8] In December 2021, OL Reign waived the rights to Cruz and she left the club.[9]
International career
Cruz has earned caps with the Costa Rican under-19 and under-20 women's teams. Her first appearance with the senior team occurred at the 2002 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup, which served as a qualifying tournament for the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup. Following a match in 2004 against Canada, in which she suffered a sprained right knee, Cruz did not feature with the national team for the next two years, due to commitments with her football club. In 2006, she made herself available for selection making her return to the team during qualification for the 2006 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup.[10]
Costa Rica qualified for its first ever FIFA Women's World Cup tournament and Cruz captained the team at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, playing all three of Costa Rica's matches.[11][12]
Honors
San José FF
- First Women's Division of Costa Rica: 2000
UCEM Alajuela
- First Women's Division of Costa Rica: 2003, 2004
- Division 1 Féminine (6): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12
- Coupe de France Féminine (2): 2007–08, 2011–12
- UEFA Women's Champions League (2): 2010–11, 2011–12
- Chinese FA Cup: 2018
- Regional cup: 2018
Alajuelense FF
- First Women's Division of Costa Rica: 2019, Apertura 2022
- UNCAF Women's Interclub Championship: 2022
Costa Rica
- Central American Games: 2013[17]
- Pan American Games Bronze medal: 2019[18]
- CONCACAF Women's Championship runner-up: 2014[19]
Individual
- IFFHS CONCACAF Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020[20]
- CONCACAF Best XI: 2015,[21] 2016[22]
- CONCACAF Female Player of the Year second place: 2014[23]
- CONCACAF Female Player of the Year third place: 2013,[24] 2015[21]
References
- ^ a b c "List of Players - 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
- ^ Talentosa jugadora exportó sus goles a francia 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Shirley Cruz fue elegida como la mejor jugadora en fase de grupos del Mundial de Canadá". La Nación, Grupo Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 November 2018.
- ^ "Shirley Cruz sigue dos años más en Francia".
- ^ "TDMás on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
- ^ "Shirley Cruz deja el París SG para jugar en el Jiangsu Suning de China". La Nación, Grupo Nación. Agence France-Presse.
- ^ "Shirley Cruz signs with OL Reign". www.sounderatheart.com. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ "OL Reign Re-signs Shirley Cruz for 2021 Season". www.olreign.com. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ^ "OL Reign Waive Shirley Cruz and Rosie White". OL Reign. 8 December 2021.
- ^ Calvo, Rodrigo (21 April 2017). "Shirley Cruz ilusionada por su octava semifinal de Champions (galerías) - Cronica Costa Rica". Cronica Costa Rica (in European Spanish). Retrieved 3 November 2018.
- ^ . FIFA. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
- ^ Cruz, Shirley (24 June 2016). "El sueño mundialista de Shirley Cruz hecho realidad - Cronica Costa Rica". Cronica Costa Rica (in European Spanish). Retrieved 3 November 2018.
- ^ "66 goles, 293 partidos, 11 años: Shirley Cruz marca historia en Europa | Crhoy.com". CRHoy.com | Periodico Digital | Costa Rica Noticias 24/7 (in European Spanish). Retrieved 3 November 2018.
- ^ "COFFUF on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
- ^ "Shirley Cruz levantó su segundo título de campeona en China". La Nación, Grupo Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 November 2018.
- ^ "Shirley Cruz cosecha su primer título en fútbol de China" (in European Spanish). Retrieved 3 November 2018.
- ^ www.diarioextra.com. "Diario Extra - Buzón de Rodrigo". www.diarioextra.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 November 2018.
- ^ "Costa Rica wins five medals in Pan American Games". AM Costa Rica. 12 August 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
- ^ . concacaf.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "IFFHS WOMAN TEAM - CONCACAF - OF THE DECADE 2011-2020". IFFHS. 29 January 2021.
- ^ a b . CONCACAF. Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
- ^ "Bryan Ruiz and Alex Morgan Named 2016 CONCACAF Players of the Year". CONCACAF. 18 January 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
- ^ . concacaf.com. 23 December 2014. Archived from the original on 28 February 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
- ^ . CONCACAF.com. 13 December 2013. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
External links
- – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Shirley Cruz – UEFA competition record ()
- Profile (in Spanish) at Fedefutbol
- Profile at Paris Saint-Germain
- Profile (in French) at Olympique Lyonnais
- Shirley Cruz at Soccerway