Leila Ouahabi El Ouahabi (born 22 March 1993) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Manchester City and the Spain national team. She is widely regarded as one of the best female left-back players in the world.

Leila Ouahabi

Ouahabi with Barcelona in 2019
Personal information
Full name	Leila Ouahabi El Ouahabi
Date of birth	(1993-03-22) 22 March 1993 (age 29)
Place of birth	Mataró, Spain
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Left-back
Club information
Current team	Manchester City
Number	15
Youth career
	Vilassar de Mar
2007–2009	Barcelona
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2009–2011	Barcelona B
2011–2013	Barcelona	21	(2)
2013–2016	Valencia	85	(3)
2016–2022	Barcelona	86	(1)
2022–	Manchester City	0	(0)
National team‡
2010–2012	Spain under-19	11	(1)
2016–	Spain	49	(1)
2014–	Catalonia	3	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 25 October 2021 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:25, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

Early life

Ouahabi was born in Mataró, Catalonia to a family of Moroccan origin.[1] Growing up, she would play futsal with her brother and at one point joined a futsal team of eleven other boys.[2] The first club she joined was a girl's youth team of the club UE Vilassar de Mar.[3]

Club career

Barcelona (2007–2013)

Ouahabi was thirteen when she joined Barcelona's youth teams in 2007.[4] After five years of elevating through the ranks of La Masia, she became a first-team player for the 2011–12 season. This season saw Barcelona achieve their first ever league title win. Ouahabi was frustrated with a lack of playing time after playing a second year in the Spanish Primera División with Barcelona.

Valencia (2013–2016)

She joined Valencia in 2013,[5] where she remained until 2016.

Return to Barcelona (2016–2022)

In the summer of 2016, Ouahabi re-signed with Barcelona from Valencia.[6]

She won three Primera División titles, five Copa de la Reina titles, two Supercopa de España titles and the UEFA Women's Champions League in her second spell at Barcelona, including the continental treble of Primera División, Copa de la Reina and Champions League in 2021.[7]

Manchester City (2022–Present)

She joined Manchester City from Barcelona in 2022 on a two-year deal.[8]

International career

Ouahabi has played for Spain's U19 national team.[9]

Ouahabi earned her first senior national team callup in February 2016 under newly appointed Spain coach Jorge Vilda.[10] A month later, Ouahabi made her senior international debut for Spain on 4 March 2016, starting a 0–0 friendly draw with Romania in Mogoșoaia.[11]

In February 2017, Ouahabi was called up to the Spain squad for the 2017 Algarve Cup, her first call-up for a senior national team tournament.[12] Her first international goal turned out to be the winning goal in the 2017 Algarve Cup final against Canada.

At the 2019 Women's World Cup Ouahabi started one group stage match, a 0–0 draw against China. The draw was enough to get them past the group stages for the first time in Spain's history where they would then face the United States in the Round of 16. Ouahabi started that Round of 16 match, where Spain had a convincing performance but lost 1–2 against the eventual tournament winners. She ended the tournament having played 180 minutes.[13]

International goals

Leila Ouahabi – goals for  Spain
#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	8 March 2017	Estádio Algarve, Algarve	Canada	1–0	1-0	2017 Algarve Cup

Honours

Club

FC Barcelona

• Primera División: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22
• UEFA Women's Champions League: 2020–21[14]
• Copa de la Reina: 2011, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22
• Supercopa Femenina: 2019–20, 2021–22
• Copa Catalunya: 2017, 2018, 2019

International

Spain

• Algarve Cup: Winner, 2017

References

External links

• Leila Ouahabi at Soccerway
• Leila Ouahabi on Twitter

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[it] Leila Ouahabi