Raiderlín Carrasco had been in Spain for just over a month when she explained what she hoped to achieve there.
She was twenty years old, had just made her Liga F debut for Sporting de Huelva and was still adjusting to the climate and the time difference.
“My dream is to qualify for the World Cup with Venezuela and do my best to stay in Spain,” she told El Diario at the time.
Almost four years later, those two ambitions continue to define her career.
Carrasco has completed four consecutive seasons in the Spanish top flight. Venezuela, who have never appeared at a Women’s World Cup, finished third in the inaugural CONMEBOL Women’s Nations League and earned a place in the intercontinental play-offs for Brazil 2027.
The girl who used to sneak out of her home to play football is still in Spain. Her national team are closer than ever to reaching the World Cup.
Peluquita, from 23 de Enero
Carrasco grew up in the 23 de Enero neighbourhood in western Caracas.
She is known as Peluquita, and one of her clearest childhood memories is of leaving home without permission to play football. The support of her aunt Lisbeth and her father Radamés allowed her to turn those escapes into something more.
She joined the Caracas FC academy and competed at the South American Under-17 Championship in March 2018. She was fifteen years old, scored twice and helped Venezuela finish fourth.
Two years later, she represented Atlético SC in the Copa Libertadores. Her progress coincided with one of the most difficult moments of her life: her father suffered a motorcycle accident that caused memory loss and serious head injuries.
Carrasco later explained that the accident had affected her deeply and that making her father proud became a special source of motivation.
After spells with Atlético SC and Yaracuyanos, she returned to Caracas FC. In 2022, her career changed course.
From winger to full-back
Carrasco began that year by winning the Bolivarian Games with Venezuela’s Under-20 team. She then represented the senior side at the Copa América before crossing the Atlantic in August to join Sporting de Huelva.
She arrived in Spain as a wide attacker.
At Sporting, she also began playing at left-back, a position she had already occupied for Venezuela. Her speed and ability to cover the entire flank allowed her to alternate between the two roles and become a player who is difficult to confine to a single category.
She can defend as a full-back, advance as a wing-back or operate as a winger. She has never hidden that she prefers to play closer to goal, but the switch added another dimension to her game.
Sporting’s relegation in 2024 did not take her out of Liga F. Levante signed her on a two-year contract.
She made 49 competitive appearances for the club. Last season, she scored three goals and finished as the team’s second-highest scorer while alternating between defensive and attacking duties on the left.
Levante were relegated too.
Carrasco stayed in Liga F again.
The World Cup dream that remains
Her development in Spain has progressed alongside her international career with Venezuela.
She competed at her second Copa América in 2025 and scored against Bolivia. Three months later, she found the net again against Paraguay in the Women’s Nations League, the competition that determined South America’s World Cup berths.
La Vinotinto finished third, behind Colombia and Argentina. They missed out on the two direct qualification places but secured a spot in the intercontinental play-offs.
The dream Carrasco expressed after arriving in Huelva is not yet complete.
Venezuela must come through the final qualifying tournament to reach the first Women’s World Cup in their history. She will enter that decisive stage with greater international experience and having fulfilled the other half of that ambition: staying in Spain.
Madrid CFF will be her third Liga F club.
Sporting and Levante were both relegated during her time with them, but neither fall has taken her out of Liga F. Four years after crossing the Atlantic, Raiderlín Carrasco is still pursuing the same two dreams.
She has already turned one into a way of life. The other is one play-off campaign away.
