| Maria Antònia Mínguez | |
| Full Name: | Maria Antònia Mínguez Martín |
| Birth Date: | 5 March 1947 |
| Birth Place: | Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain |
| Position: | Goalkeeper |
| Years1: | 1970–1974 |
| Clubs1: | Barcelona |
Maria Antònia Mínguez Martín (born 5 March 1947) is a Spanish former footballer and women's football pioneer in Catalonia.[1] She played in FC Barcelona Femení's first-ever match on 25 December 1970,[2] [3] [4] thus becoming the first goalkeeper in the club's history.[5] [6] [7]
Mínguez grew up with a strict father and brothers who played football.[8] She decided to start playing to deal with her grief, after her fiancé was killed in a traffic accident on her 23rd birthday, responding to an advertisement recruiting girls to play in a charity football tournament.
Although she had initially tried out as a field player, she became a goalkeeper on the recommendation of coach Antoni Ramallets, whom she had long admired. She kept the fact that she had started training a secret from her father until the day before her first match.
Together with Carme Nieto, Alicia Estivill, Lolita Ortiz, and Immaculada Cabecerán, the main promoter of the event, Mínguez contested the first match of the women's FC Barcelona team against Unió Esportiva Centelles on 25 December 1970, which was held at Camp Nou in front of 60,000 spectators.[2] [3] [4] She was the team's goalkeeper and her performance in the penalty shootout was decisive in achieving victory (4–3).[2] She later stated that "we won that first trophy because of the penalties that I saved. I was the heroine".[6] She was taught to "stop everything that was shot at me" by the second coach César, who eventually told the first coach Antoni Ramallets that "she was ready".[6]
Mínguez stayed at the club for four and a half years, from 1970 to 1974, and during this period, she alternated with fellow goalkeeper Núria Llansà.[2] [9]
Mínguez gave up football because of a boyfriend who was against her playing. From her retirement from football until her actual retirement she worked as a nurse.
In 2021, Mínguez appeared on a television programme on SER Catalunya, discussing the abuse she and other players endured for playing football in the 1970s.