Erika Vázquez says goodbye to Athletic: "They paid me for the bus and accommodation, and I was happy"

Erika Vázquez shows the shirt she wore on the day of her debut with Athletic, in a Champions League match against Newtowabbey Strikers (10-3) in 2004.Fernando Domingo-Aldama

Erika Vázquez (Pamplona, ​​39 years old) has played 17 seasons at Athletic.

She is the player with the most appearances in the rojiblanco team (423) and the club's second top scorer (264), after Zarra (422).

She has played a World Cup with the Spanish team, has won three Leagues and made her debut in a Champions League match.

She retires from soccer.

Ask.

It's been a lot of emotions, right?

Response.

It is something for which you want to prepare yourself, so that you are not overwhelmed, but it is impossible.

Q.

And have you left prepared not to play again?

R.

I will continue to be a footballer all my life, but it is true that when they told me that the moment always comes, I thought they say it and it will be like that.

And it was.

Thank God, I was able to choose it myself.

P.

Will you miss the emotion of the goal?

R.

And many more things.

I'm going to miss the locker room, the feeling of going out into the green.

And I think I'm still not aware of it, but it's true that for example the other day I scored the last goal, I did know it was the last and it was something very special and very emotional, and I think I started to cry.

Q.

When did you start playing?

R.

In my family it is not that they are very soccer fans, but from a very young age they gave me a balloon, and more than with my hands, I hit it with my feet.

I am very coordinated and I liked to kick the ball.

I started playing at school and combined it with gymnastics, then I started playing in a girls' team in Barañain, and then I went to Lagunak, Espanyol and Athletic.

P.

Were you, in those years, a weirdo?

R.

They saw it as something normal.

It is true that he was also one of the good ones.

I'm not going to tell her that she was in charge, but she was not one of the others.

The others saw it as normal because in that class we had been together since we were three years old and they had seen me grow up with them.

It's not that you suddenly appear in class and start playing.

I had grown up with them, so it wasn't weird at all.

P.

Did you ever think you could be professional?

R.

I watched football on TV, and yes I had male references, but I didn't think that I wanted to be a footballer either, I mean yes, but I never said come on, I'm going to work for it because I knew that as football was in that time was very difficult.

We didn't have female references either, to look at.

That has changed, I think that step has been taken, and now a girl can say: “I want to be a footballer, or I want to play for Athletic.

I can play for Athletic, I can fill fields”.

Q.

You can say: “I want to be Erika”.

R.

Yes, you see, and before we had a hard time imagining that.

You looked at the men and said, damn, I would love to play in a full stadium.

P.

Have you had football references?

R.

I identify with Raúl García.

Q.

You are talking about Raúl García, a Navarrese like you.

Why? Because everyone who comes to Athletic from there is competitive?

A.

It is true.

Yes, I don't know, maybe we're made of another paste.

P.

You also have a character.

R.

Also, yes, I admit it.

It is self-demanding, wanting to improve every day.

I've always had it, and I understand that if you don't have that, you can't be playing football until you're 39.

I have always wanted to improve, I have demanded a lot of myself.

I am very competitive.

P.

Is it good for women's football that there is a team like Barcelona that is sweeping?

R.

In men's football there was also a Barça that was devastating in its time;

like Madrid other times.

This is football, everyone prepares in the best way to compete in the best conditions.

Obviously they prepare and sign people to compete in Europe, and despite everything, look what happened to them in the Champions League, which doesn't happen to them in our League.

Here are leftovers;

They have two games a year that can be a bit complicated for them, but in the end they take them out for no reason, because they do things very well.

I think it's good because for us they have to be a mirror.

When you compete against them, you are seeing what level you really are at. They demand you and I think it is very good.

There is trying to improve every day to be a little closer to them.

P.

You, in Athletic, did not do badly for some years.

R.

I have had to win leagues.

We were not a team like Barcelona today, but we were capable of always competing.

I think that Athletic has been characterized a bit for that.

We didn't have the best team, I tell you no, but we won.

Q.

What was it due to?

A.

That is philosophy.

The feeling of belonging.

I'm here, I'm going with mine to the death.

In other teams they are some from here and others from there.

And well, it has its pros and cons, but it is true that this has also made us stronger.

P.

Has women's football already found its place or does it have to continue to grow and improve?

R.

We have taken steps, and I think we are getting a little closer, but it is true that there are still things to do.

For next year to see if the professional League comes out and I think that will be a change so that our League can be one of the best in Europe.

Q.

When you arrived at Athletic, you didn't get paid to play.

R.

But I felt professional.

I mean, I've always been professional without being.

There was a group of people around who were professional.

They have always worked very well, they have opted for women's football.

P.

And how can you launch to sign for Athletic without getting paid?

R.

Iñigo Juaristi did not need much convincing, really, because I wanted to play here;

I wanted to go to a champion team.

I wanted to improve, I wanted to be with the best.

I have always had options to be able to leave, but here I have always felt very valued, very loved and very respected, and there are times when it is good that you can earn more money or more titles or but perhaps it is not what I was looking for at that time and here I felt very well. I was happy and very comfortable.

Q.

How many of your 17 years at Athletic have you lived from football?

R.

Since we won the last League, in 2016.

P.

You have to have a lot of vocation to spend so many years without being a professional.

R.

I knew that I was coming to a champion team, that wanted to push myself, but also gave a lot of importance to studies.

Q.

What did you study?

A.

Physical Education, IVEF, and then I did a High Performance master's degree and I got the third level of coaching.

Q.

Sure.

If you are a man and you have a certain level, your life is almost settled.

R.

Exactly, I'm going to win millions, but I don't win millions.

P.

Here there are many who earn millions who dress in the locker room next door.

R.

Yes, and I will not be one of them.

What was left for me was to train and tomorrow when I leave here, to have things, because if not now is when you say, damn it, and now what do I do?

Well no, then I have always been responsible with my studies.

When I came here, I was in the club residence and they paid for the bus to come and go.

And in the end I said: “Well, look how good”.

P.

Did you feel privileged just because they paid for the bus?

A.

That.

They paid for our accommodation and then the bus.

And I was happy, although Derio's residence seemed like a very cold place.

Now it has changed and is something else.

There you would go to the bathroom and say, “my mother, my mother”, so many corridors.

But I've had a lot of fun and I've been very happy.

Q.

Is the balance positive?

R.

Yes, and that I had screwed up moments, of course, everyone has had moments in which they had a bad time.

P.

He has not been injured too much.

R.

No. Last year I had a blow to the knee and then I chained several things, but they have respected me and that is why I have been able to choose to leave from the field.

I didn't want to end up on a bench or in the stands.

I wanted to leave quietly, say goodbye like this, and I have enjoyed it very much.

Q.

Do you leave many friends?

R.

It is the important thing.

I have three leagues, which are on paper, but I give a lot of importance to people, which is what you end up with.

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