Lolita Ortiz
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.png) Ortiz in 1970 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Dolors Ortiz Castañer | ||
| Date of birth | 4 August 1944 | ||
| Place of birth | Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1970–1981 | Barcelona | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Dolors Ortiz Castañer (4 August 1944), better known as Lolita Ortiz, is a Spanish former footballer and women's football pioneer in Catalonia.[1] She played in Barcelona's first-ever match, and then served as the team captain for ten years, from 1971 until her retirement in 1981.[2][3]
Ortiz, who had been a handball player at Lycée Français de Barcelone,[4] saw the advertisement for a Barcelona women's football team and wanted to try out because of the draw of representing Barcelona.[5] She joined when the team was first created in 1970, playing in the first match on Christmas Day that year. Ortiz helped promote the team and the match in the press beforehand.[6] In Barcelona's inaugural 1971–72 league season, she was the team's top goalscorer, with 26 goals.[7]
When Immaculada Cabecerán suddenly retired in 1971, coach Antoni Ramallets made Ortiz the team's captain, which she remained until her forced retirement a decade later.[3][8] Ortiz recalled that in one season she was the second-highest goalscorer in the league. She played at the Camp Nou three times.[9] At one point, she kept playing for two months while pregnant after going to the pharmacy for a test and being told it was negative and she could continue playing.[10]
She suffered a career-ending injury in 1981, when she tore both her meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament. She never had her ACL reconstructed, as the doctor to whom the club referred her did not see value in her continuing to play football and said she did not need surgery in order to work her day job.[3][4]
