Sandy, Utah may seem a strange destination for players coming from across the pond but the community that has been built here encourages that very opportunity. Since returning to top flight football, the Utah Royals have attracted players from various backgrounds such as Japan, New Zealand, Guatemala, and Denmark but the one country that is most well represented within the ranks of this small market team, Spain.
Claudia Zornoza, Nuria Rábano, and Ana Tejada are our trio of players who hail from the European nation. What motivated these three athletes to move over 5,000 miles to play in a city they most likely never even heard of?
Let’s dive into Claudia Zornoza’s story in this first edition of the ‘Little Spain in Sandy’ miniseries.
Claudia’s Courageous Change
Experience is key in almost every professional sport and can play a crucial role in the success of a team or an individual. Claudia Zornoza brings exactly that to this young Royals team. A seasoned veteran in women’s football, Zornoza played 16 seasons in Spain’s Liga F for the likes of Atlético de Madrid, Valencia, Levante, and global powerhouse Real Madrid. At 34 years old, the Spanish number 10 is considered to be one of Jimmy Coenraets’ most important players for this upcoming season. The Madrid native and 2023 Women’s World Cup winner with the Spanish national team arrived to the Beehive State through a transfer in July, 2024 and has since logged 13 starts in as many games to go along with 3 goals and 3 assists.
The decision to move her life from Madrid to Sandy was anything but simple. More so, after she suffered the loss of her father but the insight she gained along the way has had a profound impact on her life. “At that time, my father was diagnosed with cancer and life told me ‘don’t leave right now’ so I was given the opportunity to stay and battle the illness with him. After he passed, I made the decision with my family to go. It was decided since January (2024). It was difficult but it also helped me. You never overcome the loss of a family member but I believe that it helped me in the moment I needed it most,” Claudia remembered.
Drastic change is generally accompanied by hardship and learning. “In the beginning, the adjustment was hard, both culturally and because of the language. But now I am more settled and much better off,” she continued.
The Royals have cultivated a diverse culture in their locker room that has encouraged special relationships to develop. Claudia is able to spend time with other Spanish speakers, an environment where she feels most comfortable but she also knows that it’s important to socialize with all her teammates.
“In July (2024) I only had Ana Tejada who spoke Spanish and now there are more. We spend all day together and many times I tell them ‘no, no, let’s disperse and speak English’. You also need to mix and attempt for everyone to interact. Aisha knows English and Spanish and helps with translations, it gives you peace of mind if something happens,” Zornoza stated.
Small factions within bigger groups such as sports teams are often common at a professional level. In the case of URFC, players from spanish-speaking cultures tend to gravitate towards each other due to the various similarities they share. Claudia continued, “It’s like the same culture, we have the same jokes and we understand each other. We’re Ana, Nuria, Aisha, Ana Maria, and I and so we understand each other very well on and off the field.”
Getting to know your teammates both on and off the pitch will inevitably reflect on the success or lack thereof throughout the season. When asked about the importance of clubs creating small cultures of different countries within their organization such as the Orlando Pride with their Brazilian influence and the North Carolina Courage with their Japanese representation, Claudia was clear on her perspective. “It’s great on a sporting level because the European game is very different. Having a mix of American play which is direct and quick-paced along with a calm and possession-focused mindset is good. We hope that this year we can do things well and get to the playoffs, it should be the ambition. On a personal level it’s funny because the girls want to learn Spanish and us English and in the end we spend a lot of time laughing.”
It’s been nearly a year since Claudia Zornoza arrived to put on the Blue-and-Gold. She admits that Madrid is much different to Sandy but there’s much to appreciate here. “I am a strange person. I don’t like big cities, the traffic. When I arrived I saw the mountains and the landscapes and told myself, ‘This will help me relax, I will enjoy this’.”
