Paola currently works as a FIFPRO Union & Player Relations Officer, still in the game of fútbol that she will tell you has been her life. She played the 2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago, was part of Mexico's National Team pathway and played five years in the Liga MX Femenil (Pumas, Pachuca, and Cruz Azul). Simultaneously, she has contributed to women's soccer professionalization from different angles: as a players' rights advocate, journalist, consultant, and researcher.
On the field she pushed the game forward as a winger and got her coaching badges from Mexico's National School of Football Managers (ENDIT). Off the field she studied Political Science at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), and obtained the International FIFA Master in Management, Law and Humanities in Sport.
Paola hosted a podcast called "Historias del Llano", and has been a sports columnist for outlets like Milenio, Grada, and Apuntes de Rabona, where she also was the Editorial Director. She lobbied for Mexico's first minimum wage for professional athletes, and is now working on behalf of players' rights worldwide, from her position at the International Federation of Professional Footballers.
Favorite sports memory?
Hearing the coach shout out “Paola, warm up,” when I was sitting on the bench during Mexico’s opening game, against Germany, at a U-17 Women’s World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago.
Your global sports Mount Rushmore?
Simone Biles, Serena Williams, Patri Guijarro, Thomas Muller.
Which world leader would you put in goal?
A young Angela Merkel.
Which athlete would you want to be world leader?
Patri Guijarro.
Best rivalry?
Tigres vs Rayadas.
A sign that the world of sport is shrinking?
The fact that I could play against first division teams of different countries (Mexico and Switzerland) registered under different federations of different confederations (CONCACAF and UEFA), after technically retiring from pro women's football.
Where would the Great Game Lab find the quintessence of global sport?
I mean, that Opening Ceremony at the Paris Olympics…
Question you'd most want to ask other fellows?
If your life depended on making your biggest dream come true, with which athlete would you partner up to make it happen?
