Big days for European U19 champion. Real Madrid Femení's goalkeeper Laia López is getting her spotlight

Spain's Laia López’s last month has been one of strong emotions. The Real Madrid goalkeeper has just become European U19 Champion with Spain and, days ago, she signed her renewal with the Los Blancos until 2030, becoming a first-team player for the 26/26 season. 

Laia arrived at Real Madrid at age of 15 and has gone through the youth categories and has played for Real Madrid B, until she managed to make the leap to the first team after the departure of Misa Rodríguez this summer.

Debut in senior team? Already done

Although she can now settle into the first team, Laia’s debut came in May 2025, when she played as a starter at the Alfredo Di Stéfano stadium during the final stretch of the 2024/25 season, playing the last two Liga F games against Costa Adeje Tenerife and Valencia.

Real Madrid have added a young player with great projection to their team. In addition, she stands out for her height as she is 178 centimeters tall, which makes her a goalkeeper who imposes herself high in lateral crosses. Despite being a tall goalkeeper, Laia also has a good footwork, which helps both Real Madrid and the Spain national women's team to get the ball out.

His height helped him to start playing basketball, a sport with which she combined football. His passion for basketball comes from his father, Álvaro López, who played professionally and made his debut in the ACB, the first basketball division in Spain. Laia started when she was five years old, after her father signed her sister up to play basketball and until she was 14 years old she did not stop playing. In addition, as she herself reveals in an interview published by the Spanish Football Federation, her name is due to the basketball player Laia Palau, one of the top stars of Spanish basketball.

WNBA or Liga F? 

When she was seven years old, she started playing football and made her debut as a striker. A year later, seeing that she did not score many goals, she ended up being goalkeeper. Combining basketball with football helped him to have better reflexes and a greater vision of the game. As she herself says, basketball helped her develop automatisms such as jumping, going for the ball or finding her teammates from all angles.

The turning point came when she won his first Spanish championship with the Madrid national team, which made him rethink his future in the world of sport and opted for football. His father understood the decision, since in football she had begun to advance after receiving the call from the Madrid national team.

At 19 years old, she has become European champions twice with the U-19 team, a championship she also won years ago with the U17 National Team. After Spain won 1-0 in the final of the U-19 European Championship on July 10, with Laia as the starting goalkeeper, the Real Madrid player will rest for a few days before the team starts the preseason. In addition, she will continue with his studies of the Degree in Biochemical Engineering.