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María Guadalupe Sánchez Morales, also known as 'La Bombi,' is a Mexican-American soccer player who, due to her exceptional skills and dedication, set a record as the highest-paid player in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the United States. Sánchez began her professional career with the Chicago Red Stars in the suburbs of Chicago.
Subsequently, she joined the national league team Chivas Femenil during the 2020 Tournament in Mexico. In 2021, she succeeded with the first-division team, Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), securing the League Championship.
Her career also includes stints with the Idaho State University team and the Santa Clara Broncos at the University of Santa Clara in California. From 2015 to 2016, she represented the Mexican women's team in the under-20 category at the Soccer World Cup.
"When I talk to my friends who I grew up playing soccer with or to my family and they explain to me that they worked more than 12 hours a day, I really realize that I am living my dream."
With the 'tricolor', María was champion at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games, which took place in Barranquilla, Colombia. In 2023, she triumphed with the team at the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile, filling the Aztec country with pride. At the end of 2023, she renewed her contract with the Houston Dash. But in 2024, she surprised her fans with the decision to move to San Diego Wave FC under a 1.5 million dollar contract. Thus, she positioned herself as the highest-paid National Women's Soccer League player.
In mid-August, in the San Diego Wave FC debut in the Women's Concachampions in Panama, the team won 2-0 as a visitor against Santa Fe of Panama. María stood out as soon as she stepped onto the field, scoring the fastest goal in the history of the San Diego Wave at 1' 22", surpassing a goal by Alex Morgan from the 2023 Season, in which Alex scored a goal at 1' 32" in a duel against the Houston Dash."I think I am quite privileged by the fact that I make a living doing what I like the most, it is something incredible for me," she said in an interview with Today USA.
In that sense, she also said that one of her greatest hopes was that, year after year, the presence of women's soccer would grow, hoping that its history would repeat itself and other girls and young women would have the opportunities to stand out.