Despite the Colombia Women’s National Team and the United States Women’s National Team playing each other seven times in the last five years, Chelsea forward Mayra Ramírez has not faced the USA. That streak should end on Thursday, February 20th, when the USWNT hosts Colombia on the first night of the 2025 SheBelieves Cup.
Not among the 23 players called up by head coach Ángelo Marsiglia are two core defensive players: Center-back Manuela Vanegas, who suffered an ACL injury in January (Real Sociedad news item) and had surgery earlier this month (Instagram), and goalkeeper Catalina Pérez, who is still recovering from a meniscus tear suffered during training at the 2024 Paris Olympics (Werder Bremen news item).
Another key absence is midfielder Ilana Izquierdo, whose senior season at Mississippi State (player profile) was cut short in October 2024 due to an apparent ankle injury (news article, Instagram). Izquierdo started two of Colombia’s four matches at the Paris 2024 Olympics and started all four of their matches at last year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup.
The only other players not called up from Colombia’s official squad for the 2024 Summer Olympics are 32-year-old midfielder Liana Salazar, who only played 35 minutes over two substitute appearances, and veteran goalkeeper Sandra Sepulveda, who was promoted from alternate to substitute following Pérez’s injury.
Among the 14 Olympians from 2024 that were called up are all five of Colombia’s goal-scorers from the tournament, including Washington Spirit midfielder Leicy Santos, who netted twice. The other four goals were scored by Mayra Ramírez, West Ham forward Manuela Pavi, Monterrey midfielder Marcela Restrepo, and Colombia’s most capped player, midfielder/forward Catalina Usme, who has 119 caps.
Real Madrid forward Linda Caicedo, the recipient of many deserved superlatives, did not score at the 2024 Olympics, but she did find the back of the net twice at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, where she had goals against Germany and the Korea Republic. Caicedo will turn 20 years-old during the SheBelieves Cup, on February 22nd.
In addition to Santos, the two other NWSL players called up are Racing Louisville center-back Ángela Barón, who was an unused substitute at last year’s Olympics, and Utah Royals outside-back Ana María Guzmán, who is on loan from Bayern Munich, who played in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, but missed the Olympics due to a knee injury.
Two of Colombia’s three unused alternates from the 2024 Summer Olympics were named to this roster: Pumas forward Wendy Bonilla Candelo and Independiente Santa Fe midfielder María Camila Reyes. The third Olympic alternate was midfielder Lady Andrade, who infamously punched Abby Wambach at the 2012 Summer Olympics (SI.com).
With the absence of goalkeeper Catalina Pérez, 32-year-old Katherine Tapia has been Colombia’s starter in its last seven matches, including all four Olympic matches. Natalia Giraldo, who was Colombia’s netminder for all four of its 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup matches, but was not on their Olympics squad, is likely the first backup ‘keeper. The third goalkeeper is the uncapped Luisa Agudelo, who is only age 17, but has a two-inch height advantage over Giraldo (5’8″ versus 5’6″).
Five players on Colombia’s SheBelieves Cup roster attended a national team training camp for domestic-based players earlier this month (FCF roster release). Among the players from that camp who were not called up for this tournament are forward Elexa Bahr, who is on loan from Racing Louisville to América de Cali, and 20-year-old center-back Yunaira López, who signed with Lexington SC of the USL Super League in January (press release).
Along with forward Linda Caicedo and goalkeeper Luisa Agudelo, two other players competed in last year’s FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, which was hosted by Colombia: Forward Karla Torres, who earned her first senior cap last October and just joined Leicester City on loan (press release, debut match write-up), and uncapped defender Mary Espitaleta (FIFA squad list name, the FCF refers to her as “Mary José Álvarez”).
Alphabetical Roster, By Position
Notes:
- Positions are sourced from the Instagram video for the roster announcement.
- Some of the names used by the Colombian Football Federation differ from the common names used on official FIFA rosters and elsewhere. For example, Mary Espitaleta is referred to as “Mary José Álvarez”, but “Mary Espitaleta” is the common name used for her at the 2024 FIFA U-20 WWC. Also, some players use both family names, such as Yirleidis Quejada Minota, who was only listed with her first family name.
- Accented letters have not been altered from the press release’s list
Goalkeepers (3):
- Agudelo, Luisa (Deportivo Cali / COL)*
- Giraldo, Natalia (América de Cali / COL)
- Tapia, Katherine (Palmeiras / BRA)
Defenders (8):
- Arias, Carolina (América de Cali / COL)
- Arias, Daniela (Corinthians / BRA)
- Barón, Ángela (Racing Louisville / USA)
- Carabalí, Jorelyn (Brighton & Hove Albion / ENG)
- Caracas, Daniela (R.C.D. Espanyol / ESP)
- Espitaleta, Mary (Atlético Nacional / COL)*
- Guzmán, Ana María (Utah Royals / USA)
- Quejada Minota, Yirleidis (Pachuca / MEX)
Midfielders (6):
- Chacón, Ivonne (Levante UD / ESP)
- Martínez, Sara (Atlético Nacional / COL)
- Montoya, Daniela (Gremio / BRA)
- Restrepo, Marcela (Monterrey C.F. / MEX)
- Reyes, María Camila (Independiente Santa Fe / COL)
- Santos, Leicy (Washington Spirit / USA)
Forwards (6):
- Bonilla Candelo, Wendy (Pumas / MEX)
- Caicedo, Linda (Real Madrid / ESP)
- Pavi, Manuela (West Ham United / ENG)
- Ramírez, Mayra (Chelsea / ENG)
- Torres, Karla (Leicester City / ENG)
- Usme, Catalina (Galatasaray SK / TUR)
*uncapped
Detailed Roster
The Colombian Football Federation does not publicly maintain statistics for its national teams, so the most recent official numbers for women’s national team players are from the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Of the 23 players on Colombia’s SheBelieves Cup roster, 16 were on its Paris Olympics roster, either in the main 18 or as an alternate. After the Olympics, Colombia played three friendlies. So, calculating current caps and goals for those 16 players was fairly simple. Two additional players are uncapped. For the remaining five players their cap counts are essentially rough estimates and designated with a tilde (“~”) before their caps number.
Table 1: Colombia WNT 2025 SheBelieves Cup Roster — Basic Statistics
PLAYER P. HEIGHT D.O.B. AGE WWC27 CAPS G. SRC
Agudelo, Luisa GK 5'8" (173cm) 03/27/2007 17.91 20.24 0 0 U20
Giraldo, Natalia GK 5'6" (167cm) 05/19/2003 21.76 24.10 ~12 0 WWC
Tapia, Katherine GK 5'10" (178cm) 12/07/1992 32.21 34.54 15 0 OLY
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Arias, Carolina DF 5'3" (160cm) 09/02/1990 34.47 36.81 110 0 OLY
Arias, Daniela DF 5'9" (174cm) 08/31/1994 30.48 32.81 52 4 OLY
Barón, Ángela DF 5'7" (170cm) 09/18/2003 21.43 23.76 10 0 OLY
Carabalí, Jorelyn DF 5'7" (170cm) 05/18/1997 27.76 30.10 48 0 OLY
Caracas, Daniela DF 5'5" (166cm) 04/25/1997 27.82 30.16 53 0 OLY
Espitaleta, Mary DF 5'7" (170cm) 08/22/2005 19.50 21.84 0 0 U20
Guzmán, Ana María DF 5'4" (162cm) 06/11/2005 19.70 22.03 ~7 0 WWC
Quejada Minota, Y. DF 5'7" (170cm) 11/10/2002 22.28 24.62 6 0 OLY
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Chacón, Ivonne MF 5'10" (179cm) 10/12/1997 27.36 29.70 ~20 2 WWC
Martínez, Sara MF 5'7" (170cm) 01/22/2001 24.08 26.42 ~6 1 U17
Montoya, Daniela MF 5'3" (160cm) 08/22/1990 34.50 36.84 99 13 OLY
Restrepo, Marcela MF 5'7" (170cm) 11/10/1995 29.28 31.62 32 3 OLY
Reyes, María Camila MF 5'4" (162cm) 05/11/2002 22.78 25.12 13 0 OLY
Santos, Leicy MF 5'1" (155cm) 05/16/1996 28.77 31.10 76 17 OLY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bonilla, Wendy FW 5'3" (160cm) 07/08/2002 22.62 24.96 8 1 OLY
Caicedo, Linda FW 5'4" (162cm) 02/22/2005 19.99 22.33 39 12 OLY
Pavi, Manuela FW 5'3" (160cm) 12/23/2000 24.16 26.50 23 5 OLY
Ramírez, Mayra FW 5'10" (177cm) 03/25/1999 25.91 28.25 43 7 OLY
Torres, Karla FW 5'7" (171cm) 10/11/2006 18.36 20.70 2 0 U20
Usme, Catalina FW 5'6" (167cm) 12/25/1989 35.16 37.49 119 59 OLY
Key:
- P. = Position, as shown in the Instagram video for the roster announcement
- D.O.B. = Date of Birth (mm/dd/yyyy format)
- Age = Calculated age as of the first match of the SheBelieves Cup (February 20)
- WWC27 = Calculated age as of the first day of the 2027 FIFA WWC (June 24, 2027)
- Caps = Appearances for the senior Colombia WNT
- G. = Goals scored for the senior Colombia WNT
- SRC = Source of height and date of birth for each players. “OLY” is 2024 Summer Olympics squad lists, “WWC” is the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup squad lists, “U20” is the 2024 FIFA U-20 WWC squad lists, “U17” is the 2018 FIFA U-17 WWC squad lists.
Sources: Heights and dates of birth all from official FIFA squad lists. Caps and goals are not directly from official sources. For players that have “OLY” as their height/birthdate source, their numbers were calculated by using their listed caps and goals from Colombia’s cumulative statistics for the 2024 Paris Olympics, or for unused alternates, from the FIFA squad lists for that tournament, and adding appearances from Colombia’s three post-Olympics friendlies.
Notes and Notables
Mayra Ramírez versus the USWNT: Not (Yet) Applicable
Since Mayra Ramírez earned her first senior international cap in 2018, Colombia and the USWNT have played each other at least once annually, starting in 2021:
- January 2021: two friendlies
- June 2022: two friendlies
- October 2023: two friendlies
- March 2024: Concacaf W Gold Cup quarterfinal
However, Ramírez has been only called up for one international window when Colombia played the USWNT: June 2022, where she was an unused substitute for both matches (match reports: 25-Jun, 28-Jun). Ramírez was unavailable for the 2023 friendlies due to injury (U.S. Soccer press release). The January 2021 friendlies were held outside an official international window (FIFA 2020-2023 PDF) while Ramírez was playing in Spain for Sporting de Huelva.
For the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup, Ramírez was not released by her then-new club, Chelsea FC, which was then still coached by the USWNT’s current head coach, Emma Hayes. (Forbes.com article)
As the W Gold Cup stretched beyond the normal international window (FIFA 2024-2025 PDF), Chelsea did not have to release Ramírez for the full duration of the tournament due to an exception included in the “Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players” (“RSTP” for short). Normally, a club has to release players if called up for a confederation’s championship tournament of its senior women’s national teams. However, that only applies to the national teams of members associations affiliated with the “organising confederation” (page 51 of the RSTP, October 2022 edition), not guest teams from other confederations. For the W Gold Cup, Concacaf was the organizing confederation, not CONMEBOL, of which Colombia is a member.
League Distribution
A majority of Colombia’s roster for the 2025 SheBelieves Cup play in the Americas, including six domestic-based players in the Liga Femenina Profesional de Fútbol Colombiano, which is the most-represented league. The NWSL, Mexico’s Liga MX Femenil, and the Brasileirão Feminino A1 each have three players.
The remaining eight players are all based in Europe. The English Women’s Super League has the second-most players of any league, with four, including 18-year-old Karla Torres, who is on loan to Leicester City from her Colombian club, Independiente Santa Fe. Three additional players are with Spanish clubs. The final player, Catalina Usme, is with Galatasaray S.K. in Turkey’s Women’s Football Super League.
In list form, the counts per league:
- Liga Femenina Profesional (Colombia): 6 players
- WSL (England): 4
- Brasileirão Feminino A1 (Brazil): 3
- Liga F (Spain): 3
- Liga MX Femenil (Mexico): 3
- NWSL (USA): 3
- Turkish Women’s Football Super League (Turkey): 1
Colombian Football Federation press release: “Convocatoria Selección Colombia Femenina de Mayores para la She Believes Cup – febrero 2025”. Also, see this Instagram video, which shows the position categories for the roster.
