The 29-year-old defender agreed a two-year deal from UEFA Women’s Champions League finalists and Primera Division champions, FC Barcelona Femeni.
Widely regarded as one of the leading wing-backs in the Spanish game, Ouahabi is a tireless presence up and down the left flank and won every trophy on offer during an 11-year spell with the Catalan giants, which was split by three years at Valencia.
Ouahabi was born in Mataro, Catalonia and made her first venture into football with Vilassar de Mar as a child. Growing up, she spent a lot of time playing futsal with her brothers and such was her passion for the sport – which is renowned for developing excellent close control and individual technique on small indoor pitches – that at one stage she joined a futsal team along with eleven other boys!
She joined Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy in 2007 at the age of 13 and went onto spend a total of 13 years in their ranks as a youngster and then professionally either side of her brief stint with Valencia.
Whilst on the books of the Blaugranes, Ouahabi played an integral role in their five Primera Division titles, seven Copa de la Reina de Futbol triumphs, two Supercopa Femeninas, three Copa Catalunyas and one UEFA Women’s Champions League success.
Her international career began with Spain’s Under-19s and she went on to make her senior debut against Romania in February 2016 before helping the team to win the Algarve Cup just a year later, when she scored the winning goal in the final against Canada.
Ouahabi, who has won 46 caps to date, also represented her homeland at the 2019 Women’s World Cup where they progressed past the group stages of the competition for the first time in their history before narrowly losing to the United States of America in the Round of 16.
She is set to feature in this summer’s UEFA Women’s European Championships and will stay in England permanently after the tournament having put pen to paper on a two-year contract at the Academy Stadium.
