Mariona Caldentey

Mariona Caldentey, born Maria Francesca Caldentey Oliver on 19 March 1996 in Felanitx on Mallorca, is a Spanish footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder. She plays for Arsenal in the Women's Super League and for the Spain national team. She joined Arsenal in July 2024 after ten years at Barcelona.

In 2025 she finished No. 2 in the Ballon d'Or Féminin with 478 points, behind Aitana Bonmatí, and The Guardian also placed her No. 2 in its list of the 100 best female footballers in the world. ESPN ranks her No. 3 in its FC Women's Rank of the top 50 players of 2025, and the IFFHS has her No. 3 in its Women's World Best Player 2025 vote, behind Bonmatí and her Arsenal teammate Alessia Russo. She is also one of the 30 nominees for the Ballon d'Or Féminin 2026.

Caldentey joined Barcelona in 2014 and left in 2024 with 115 goals, the fifth-highest total in the club's history, and 25 trophies. She scored a 122nd-minute winner in the 2018 Copa de la Reina final and assisted Bonmatí's opening goal in the 2024 Champions League final win over Lyon. ESPN notes that her 292 completed passes into the attacking third led the Women's Super League. In her home town, the football ground Es Torrentó was renamed after her in 2020, the first public space in Felanitx named after a woman.

Sources of this text: Wikipedia · France Football / L'Équipe · The Guardian · ESPN · IFFHS