Ainize Barea
Ainize Barea Nuñez, often known as Peke Barea, is a Spanish footballer who plays as a forward for Athletic Club.
Club career
Barea started her career at CD Ugao. Due to the fact that there were two other footballers with the forename Ainize at the club, Barea was given the nickname 'Peke', a reference to the fact that she was only 153cm tall.After playing in the regional Basque League with Ugao for eight years, she transferred to Santa Teresa, who were playing in the Primera División, the top tier of Spanish football. Her two seasons at Badajoz-based Santa Teresa were affected negatively by a knee injury and she joined Deportivo La Coruña afterwards, signing a contract with them on 14 June 2017. She would go on to score 84 goals in 106 games for the club.
She remained with Deportivo until July 2021, at which point, she transferred to Athletic Club. In October 2023, it was announced that Barea was pregnant with her first child; she went on maternity leave in March 2024, giving birth in September of that year and returning to the squad in April 2025. As the first active player at the club to be an expectant mother, she observed that information, processes and facilities relating to pregnancy were limited.