María Sánchez – Latina Powerhouse 2024

Maria Guadalupe Sanchez Moralesalso known as “La Bombi”, is a Mexican-American soccer player who, due to her exceptional skills and dedication, set a record as the highest-paid player in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the United States. Sánchez began her professional career with the Chicago Red Stars in suburban Chicago.

She then moved to National League team Chivas Femenil during the 2020 tournament in Mexico. In 2021 she managed to win the league championship with the first division team Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL).

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Her career also includes stints with the Idaho State University team and the Santa Clara Broncos at the University of Santa Clara in California. From 2015 to 2016, she represented the Mexican women's team in the U20 category at the FIFA World Cup.

With the “Tricolor,” María became champion at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games, which took place in Barranquilla, Colombia. In 2023 she triumphed with the team at the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile and filled the Aztec country with pride. At the end of 2023 she extended her contract with the Houston Dash. But in 2024, she surprised her fans by deciding to move to San Diego Wave FC on a $1.5 million contract. This positioned her as the highest paid player in the National Women's Soccer League.

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In mid-August, in San Diego Wave FC's debut at the Women's Concachampions in Panama, the visiting team won against Santa Fe from Panama 2-0. María immediately caught the eye as soon as she stepped onto the pitch, scoring the fastest goal in San Diego Wave history at 1' 22″, surpassing one goal Alex Morgan from the 2023 season, in which Alex scored a goal in 1' 32″ against the Houston Dash. “I think I'm pretty privileged because I make a living doing what I like best, which is something incredible .” for me,” she said in an interview with Today USA.

In this sense, she also said that one of her greatest hopes was that the presence of women's football would increase from year to year, in the hope that its history would repeat itself and other girls and young women would have the opportunity to stand out.