Maite Oroz


Maite Oroz Areta is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Primera División club Real Madrid CF. She made her debut with Athletic Bilbao in 2015 and departed in 2020.

Club career

Born in Huarte, Navarre, Oroz began playing football with boys in the village team CD Huarte from the age of 6, joining the youth system at Osasuna in nearby Pamplona aged 12. From that early age, she was marked out as a promising talent due to her skill on the ball, creativity and confidence. She played with Osasuna's senior team for a season in the Segunda División before the women's section of the club was disbanded in 2014, leading her to join Athletic Bilbao.
Following a year with the club's B-team, she made her senior team debut in September 2015 and became a regular from then on, making 30 appearances in the 2015–16 Primera División as Athletic finished as champions. She played and scored in the subsequent 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, but the club did not progress beyond the opening knockout round.
In September 2018, Oroz sustained a serious injury, rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament of her left knee during a league match against Atlético Madrid which ruled her out for the entire 2018–19 season. Along with teammate and friend Damaris Egurrola, she decided to leave the club when her contract expired in summer 2020.

International career

Oroz was involved with Spanish national age-group teams at several levels and with much success, being a member of the under-17 squad that claimed the bronze medal at the 2013 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, silver at the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup and gold at the 2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship; the under-19 squad which reached the final of the 2016 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship then won the 2017 tournament; and the under-20 squad who were runners-up at the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, having also been involved in the 2016 edition.
In October 2019, she was called up to the inaugural squad for España Promesas, along with two clubmates.
She has also played for the unofficial Basque Country and Navarre representative teams, making her debut for both in 2017.