Peque discusses being named the sport’s Best Women’s Player, her excitement over the first FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup and desire to help Spain qualify.
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Peque was named futsal’s Best Women’s Player for 2022
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She is relishing the first FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup
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The Spain winger names her best five
For Patricia Gonzalez Mota, better known as Peque, the FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup™ has been a long time coming. Finally, after two decades playing the sport, she has a shot at playing in its first edition in the Philippines in late 2025. First the 37-year-old Alcorcon winger must help Spain navigate the elite round of continental qualifying in March. Peque speaks to FIFA about that quest, fellow heavyweights Brazil and Portugal, dealing with chronic autoimmune disease lupus, and being named the best player on the planet.
FIFA: How did you get involved with futsal as a child?
Peque: My father has always been into football and he gifted me a ball. Ever since I’ve had feet, I have been playing with a ball. When I was young, there weren’t any girls’ teams, but when I was 10 or 11, my parents found a team that was all girls, so I went for it. It was a futsal team and I fell in love with futsal. I played 11-a-side football for a year and I didn’t like it at all. I never touched the ball, the pitch was too big and I ran all over the place without any sense, so since then it’s always been futsal.
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You were a fan of Raul growing up, right?
Yes, of course. When I was young there were no women’s players to look up to, and I’m a Real Madrid fan, so Raul was my idol for the player he was. He wasn’t necessarily the best at anything specific, but he worked so hard for the team, so I liked him a lot. Because of him I have spent all these years wearing the No7.
When you were 18 you were diagnosed with lupus. How have you been able to handle that as a professional athlete?
You can see a mark here (points to a spot on her forehead). It is something that I’ve had to live with. At that moment, I was very scared because the doctor didn’t have any tact while telling me [the news]. But ever since then, I’ve handled it with normalcy, knowing that I have an illness that is autoimmune and that it may affect certain things. The truth is that I’ve had a lot of luck. In regards to my joints and muscles, I only had one episode last season, so it is about taking care of myself.
There is finally going to be a FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup. What does that mean to you?
I’m super happy. It’s a dream come true. It’s been a constant fight for many years to be able to have a competition that I believe was very important for the sport to continue growing.
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What was your reaction when you found out about the World Cup, and how did you find out?
At first I didn’t believe it! I found out from a message from our national-team coach, Claudia Pons, but even then I wasn’t sure if it was true or not. I went to look on social media and I saw a tweet that there was finally going to be a World Cup. It was crazy and I was just so happy. It’s such a great relief. I’m in the final stages of my career and I don’t have 15 years to wait around for one.
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From your perspective, how has women’s futsal grown in these last few years?
It’s definitely grown, but not as much as us players would like. It’s a very fun sport, really nice to watch because it’s a sport that has a lot of action. We need people to come and watch it more. And how do you get people to come watch it? With publicity. We need more visibility so it grows. Right now we have a fixed platform in which all of the matches can be seen for free. That has been a plus for us. But we need to capture more people for the sport to continue growing. This World Cup will help the sport and give it an international platform.
What are your thoughts on Spain’s opponents in the elite round of UEFA qualifying, France, Poland and Finland?
People say that it’s easy since Italy are in the other group, Sweden as well, other teams that are a bit more experienced, but you cannot forget that this is World Cup qualifying. The players will all badly want to be there, so that evens the playing field. But we cannot lie, we are the favourites to be first in the group and we should be. We must demand finishing first and reaching the World Cup of ourselves.
Portugal are another big team. How do you see them at the moment?
It’s been so many years now that we have been facing each other in everything. They’re a very strong national team. They’re bringing in young players with a lot of quality, so they are restructuring well. Matches against them are always physical. I think, just as much as we are, they’re clear candidates [for the trophy].
And Brazil?
The majority of the Brazilians on the national team are in the Spanish league, so we know them very well. We’ve had several clashes with them in the last two-three years. I don’t think we’ll discover anything new about Brazil.
Amandinha had won eight successive Best Women’s Player awards. How did it feel to end her reign and be crowned the sport’s best player for 2022?
I always say that individual awards in a team sport don’t make much sense. It’s true that I was very excited to earn recognition like that at my age, but I took it as team recognition. It was more exciting to me when the Spanish national team were the best team in the world. I really don’t believe in individual awards.
You played with Emilly. What would you highlight about her game?
I think it’s her shot. Being able to do it with both legs. That’s what I would highlight. Her finishing is so good.
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How do you rate your Alcorcon and Spain team-mates Albita and Vane Sotelo as players?
I have spent many years together with Vane in the national team. She is the player with the best sense for goal that I’ve seen. And I think she is maturing a lot, because she is becoming more of a team player. Before she was more of an individual and now she sees the game more from a collective standpoint. Albita surprised me last year. She played very little in my team but I think she is a very smart, very alert player who knows how to manage the game with very good vision of play. This year she has made the step up to the national team, she’s competing more, and so I’m very pleased for her.
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Finally, excluding yourself, could you give us a best five right now?
In goal, I would put Jozi. At fixo, I would have Cami. On the left, Irene Samper. On the right, Anita Lujan. At pivot, Ana Luiza from Melilla.
