“I've grown a lot. I've thoroughly enjoyed the day-to-day. I've learned daily with my teammates and with Adri, who is the goalkeeping coach,” stated María Valenzuela (Granada, 26 November 2002) upon her renewal with FC Badalona Women, the team she joined in 2024, and where she has spent the last two seasons. Standing 1.74 metres tall, and with excellent reflexes between the posts, the goalkeeper stood out at just 15 years old in the youth categories of Granada, her hometown. She was also an international with the Spanish National Team in the youth categories, with whom she won the Mundial Sub17 in Uruguay. The goalkeeper reached the elite with Levante UD in 2020. With the 'granota' squad, she experienced the happiest side of football, with the Champions, and also the toughest, an anterior cruciate ligament tear. An injury from which she relapsed barely a year later. 

Injuries seemed to halt her progression, but in the summer of 2024, FC Badalona Women gambled on the young goalkeeper, and she did not disappoint, playing 1,826 minutes across 21 matches in which she conceded 35 goals (1.66 goals per match). In addition to delivering great performances between the posts. This season, the starting goalkeeper was Antonia Canales, but the Chilean tore her cruciate ligament. Valenzuela took over as starter, but another injury forced her to pass the baton to young Carla Abdón, who played five league matches and one Copa de la Reina match. Despite missing several matches due to injury, the Granada-born goalkeeper has played 1,080 league minutes across 12 Liga F Moeve matches, in which she has conceded 21 goals (1.75 per match). The goalkeeper has made 37 saves throughout the season (3.08 interventions per match), and has kept a clean sheet on 4 occasions.

However, her best performances have come in the Copa de la Reina, where the goalkeeper has played 390 minutes across 4 matches, in which she has not conceded a single goal, notably making six highly meritorious saves in the draw against FC Barcelona (0-0) in the first leg of the knockout competition's semi-finals. “It's a very special team because of the players there, and because it's a very human group. Everyone involved is very good. We all get along great, and, ultimately, that harmony is then transferred onto the pitch,” concluded the footballer about the key to an FC Badalona Women that has already announced five renewals plus the continuity of coach Marc Ballester. A Catalan team that continues to grow in the elite by committing to its ambitious project, and María Valenzuela will seek to continue growing alongside the club while she keeps the goal locked down between the posts.