Mara Gomez is switching sides…
The 24-year-old Argentine soccer player, the first transgender footballer to play in Argentina’s professional women’s league, has joined Estudiantes de La Plata for the new season, leaving Villa San Carlos, the club that first gave her a pro contract.
Gomez made history in December 2020 when she made her debut in the Primera Division against Lanus, and is one of very few out trans players in professional football or any sports league.
Gomez, who also qualified as a nurse this month in a double career boost, posted on her Instagram about the move to her new club, writing: “Today I can say I’m happy.
“The joy of being in a very beautiful environment, where I can laugh and enjoy again this beautiful sport football that you know is half of me, it’s what keeps me walking through life.
“Today I’m part of the Pincha family, of a big club such as @edelpoficial @edelpfutbolfeme, the club of my dear city La Plata.
“Thanks for opening the doors, receiving me with so much affection, and today being one more club that sets an example of inclusion, that understands that passion doesn’t have gender or sex, that passion is for all.
“I promise to give my all as a player and fight for every point that takes us to the highest possible point in this tournament.”
The move allows Gomez, who must take hormones to suppress her testosterone levels in order to compete, to remain in the top flight. Estudiantes, who lost in their season debut on Monday to Platense, 3-1, finished well above the top half of the table after last season, while Villa San Carlos now plays in the third division, the Primera B Metropolitana.
Aside from advancing her football career, Gomez also celebrated her nursing qualification in the past week, which she had been working toward while training and playing football.
She posted on Saturday: “In my youth I was very afraid, thinking that I was not going to have a future, that I was not going to be able to complete my dreams and objectives.
“One day I decided to transform that fear into possibilities, I put strength and will into changing my life. I never gave up despite the adversities that life gave me.
“Today I complete my second life objective, today I’m a PROFESSIONAL NURSE.
“Thanks to my family and everyone that supported me to make this possible. Today is another time I demonstrate that I can, no matter how difficult the roads are, nothing is impossible.”
Gomez is set to make her debut for her new side on Monday, when the Primera Division’s new season kicks off.