Marina Rupérez entered senior football two years ago.
She has started every season since then one division higher.
In 2024, she left Numancia’s academy to join CD San José in the regional league of Castile and León. In 2025, she celebrated promotion to Tercera Federación. In 2026, at the age of 17, she has signed for Elche in Segunda Federación.
The centre-back has agreed a contract with the club until 2028 after completing her first two senior seasons with San José.
The first ended with a historic promotion for women’s football in Soria. San José secured their place in the national divisions in April 2025 by defeating Virgen del Camino 1-0 at the Antiguo Los Pajaritos.
Marina remained an important player during the team’s debut season in Tercera Federación. She made 18 appearances, starting every one of them, accumulated 1,595 minutes and scored three goals. San José finished fourth, one point behind Capiscol, after collecting 40 points from 22 matches.
One of her goals travelled far beyond the league table.
Spain’s best amateur goal
The move began with a corner for San José during their match against Gimnástica Segoviana.
The opposing goalkeeper collected the ball and attempted to start a quick counter-attack with a long pass. Marina, who was returning to her position, anticipated the delivery, intercepted it and shot from long range.
“She tried to play it long, but I anticipated what she was going to do. I intercepted the ball, controlled it and shot from distance,” she later explained to SER Deportivos Soria.
The ball flew into the top corner.
Three minutes later, the defender scored again with a volley following another corner. San José won the match 6-0, but it was her first goal that continued to attract attention over the following months.
The strike was selected as one of the 11 finalists for the Panenka Award recognising the best amateur goal scored in Spain during 2025. Marina received 3,302 votes and won the public ballot while she was still only 16.
The award arrived in February. Six months later, her career has taken another step forward.
Eight years at Numancia
Marina was born in Soria on 16 June 2009 and spent eight years in Numancia’s academy before joining San José. Her development also led to her representing Castile and León at Spain’s regional-team championships.
Elche describe her as a right-footed centre-back with leadership, an ability to read the game and confidence in possession. Her quality when building from the back is accompanied by an attacking contribution unusual for a defender of her age.
The new season will be her first away from Soria and her debut in the third tier of Spanish women’s football.
Marina is not joining Elche merely as the scorer of a goal that went viral. She arrives after two full senior seasons, a promotion, a fourth-place finish in a national division and a journey in which she has not yet repeated a tier.
