“I feel great, settling in well with the group and the welcome I've received, and I'm already eager for more,” begins Cris Martínez (Astorga, 26 June 1993). Despite being from León, she feels like one of her own in A Coruña. That's the city she arrived in back in 2016 to take ownership of the right flank for the Galician team. Over these ten years, the defender has grown with the club, achieving promotion to the top flight twice, and enduring a relegation that made her stronger. But beyond her sporting achievements, the defender has become the captain of the Deportivista squad, and last season, almost by chance, she received the news of a lifetime: becoming a mother. “I won't say it came as a complete surprise, but it wasn't a planned decision. The sudden transition from training with my teammates to stopping due to pregnancy was a bit complicated, but now I look back on it from a different perspective and I'm very happy,” she admits.

From the very first moment, she received the utmost support from Deportivo Abanca. “They've been incredibly good to me since the day they found out. At first, it was news that only a few people needed to know because of potential implications, so I told the psychologist, the doctor... but from the day I told everyone, they've supported me, and I've had everything I've needed,” the footballer states. In fact, the club and the player decided to share the news with the rest of the squad and announce it via an emotional video on social media. “My teammates' reaction was immense joy and it made me happy and see things differently. They braced themselves for the worst, but the reaction on social media was very positive, and it's a video I'll treasure forever,” she affirms. Meanwhile, thanks to the signing of the II Collective Bargaining Agreement, Liga F has also supported her throughout this process. 

“I continued training with the club until the season ended and all my teammates went on holiday. After that, I got in touch with the club and Liga F, and they supported me financially with a personal trainer specialised in pregnancies in León, Diana,” recalls the defender, who also has a funny anecdote. “Nicolás was born on a Monday, and I was training right up until the previous Friday,” she replies with a laugh. Furthermore, Liga F has also assisted her in the post-motherhood period. “By subsidising a physiotherapist specialised in pelvic floor rehabilitation, Patricia Gutiérrez, who is also in Astorga. They've supported me in everything I've needed,” she confides. Precisely, that support has given her greater peace of mind during her maternity leave because “very few women have taken this step, and you become the benchmark for everything and for how to do things.”

A feeling that has made her feel a bit like a 'guinea pig' because “it's a difficult decision to make as it's a pause in your career, and a chosen pause. An injury happens unexpectedly, but this is a choice you make and you have to take the decision.” Even so, Cris states that “I've never felt alone at any point, and both the physios, the rehabilitation coaches, and the trainers have been involved, informing themselves about everything.” Additionally, the Deportivo Abanca player once again highlights the importance of these aids in the II Collective Bargaining Agreement. “Feeling supported by all laws and regulations in any job is important, but even more so in this one because it's still a physical job, where you're putting your body at the service of raising a baby and returning in the best possible condition,” she asserts. After giving birth in November, she returned to training with the club at the end of March. 

April 15, 2025

“You come from being on leave and looking after your child. I was in Astorga surrounded by my parents, my in-laws... lots of people helping with the baby, supporting us, and moving back to A Coruña was a tough and tiring process, but when I arrived at Abegondo and stepped onto the pitch for the first time, it stirred everything in me, and I realised this was what I wanted, and I'm enjoying it immensely,” she admits. Now she spends her mornings at the training ground and her afternoons with her son. “We have a girl helping us look after the baby in the mornings because my husband works until five, and when I finish my shift here, I go home and my second shift begins,” she expresses with the same smile she had when she had her son a few months ago, and with which she now only thinks about returning. “I'm in the final stages of recovery. I'm still doing some exercises separately, but I'm already doing drills with my teammates,” she replies. 

An objective, that of returning to play, which she sets for herself by the end of the season. “I'd like to get some minutes, but minutes earned, not given. I want to play if I truly deserve it, for that reason, not because Cris Martínez is playing again after having a child,” admits a footballer who is now at a crucial point in her recovery. “I'm starting to train with my teammates. They have a year's head start, but it's the benchmark to see where I really am,” she states. From the first day she found out she was going to be a mother, her goal was to regain the level she was at before. “Maybe I'll never play again because maybe I'll never reach my previous level, but physically my objective was to feel as I did before, and now I feel great, and I think I've achieved it,” she says proudly. 

She imagines a return with “my son watching his mother play again, surrounded by much of my family.” A son, Nicolás, who has already become a Deportivista fan because “he already puts club posters in his mouth,” and who sees his mother as a role model for other women footballers. “I've achieved this now at 32, and I hope I can get some minutes back in Liga F, but I want people to know that it's possible, and if someone has already achieved it before, why not do it again?” asks the player from Astorga, who has had few role models to look up to, apart from Alharilla or Ainize Barea 'Peke'. “Life, and not just football, has changed. Everything is postponed much longer, and people now have children much later. It's also difficult to make a living and provide for a child. Everything is delayed, especially in this short-lived world,” she replies.

A reflection that the footballer quickly expands upon. “It's a difficult decision. It must be respected, but I hope, just like Alharilla or 'Peke', I can serve as an example that it's possible, and that whoever wants to and desires it will be encouraged,” explains Cris Martínez, who has demonstrated that it is now normal to combine professional football with being a mother, thanks to the help of Liga F and Deportivo Abanca. “I know of cases where they haven't been as supportive as they should have been, but at Dépor, they've always supported me. And when I was ready to return from my leave, they welcomed me with open arms,” says the player emotionally, conveying a final message of naturalness. “Do I feel like a role model? I don't know. I hope someone sees me and wants to do the same. Yesterday I brought Nicolás, and many told me they definitely wanted to be mothers. I hope that by seeing me and my child, they feel that it's possible,” she concludes.