An inflatable boat, a Rayo Vallecano shirt, and a chance meeting on a Benidorm beach – the beginning of Vicky Lopez’s journey in elite football sounds like a work of fiction.
Lopez, 19, is undoubtedly the next global star of the women’s game. Over the past year, the attacking midfielder has established herself as a regular starter for the biggest powers in club and international football, Barcelona and Spain.
She has done so despite having to contend for minutes with Ballon d’Or winners and global superstars, and now looks set for global recognition at the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
On Saturday, Lopez is set to play in a Women’s Champions League final for the first time when Barcelona face Lyon in Oslo, live on BBC Two and iPlayer (17:00 BST).
Her journey to reach this point, it is fair to say, has not been conventional.
Won over by an inflatable boat
The daughter of a Spanish father and a Nigerian mother, Lopez was born in 2006 in the tight-knit working class Madrid neighbourhood of Vallecas.
At four years old she was playing football in the street with her older brother Jesus, an early education in the game that partly explains the flair, agility and speed she would become known for.
“Vicky learned her craft on the streets of Vallecas, her style is very street-influenced,” Spanish football journalist Irati Vidal told BBC Sport.
“She used to play for fun while admiring and trying to copy Neymar’s dribbles.”
Lopez soon joined local girls and boys teams where she often played in defence, and her innate talent caught the attention of Alba Mellado.
Mellado – a professional footballer and youth coach at Madrid CFF – a women-only club in the Spanish capital – was working on expanding the club’s junior ranks.
After telling club president Alfredo Ulloa about the gem she had discovered, Mellado approached Lopez’s family.
The young girl decided she wanted to stick with her friends on the local team, but fate would soon give Mellado another opportunity.
During a trip to Benidorm in the summer of 2015, Mellado bumped into an eight-year-old Lopez playing football with her cousins on the beach.
Mellado returned wearing a shirt of Rayo Vallecano, the La Liga side from Vallecas, to establish a connection with Lopez.
“After a few days playing with her, I bought an inflatable boat big enough for her and her cousins to convince her,” Mellado told BBC Sport.
“I think it paid off – a few days later her father rang me and said she was definitely joining [Madrid CFF].”
Lopez quickly caught attention at Madrid, though her route to the top was not without major obstacles.
At just 11 years old she lost her mother to a brain tumour. When her mother’s condition worsened and her father practically lived at the hospital, Mellado and her Madrid team-mates helped Lopez get to training and kept her occupied.
From there, Lopez developed at remarkable speed. In 2019, she was named most valuable player at a La Liga-organised tournament for under-12s girls’ teams after scoring seven goals, including a hat-trick in the final.
She caught the eye by scoring 60 goals in 17 matches in the 2020-21 youth league, and began her journey through the country’s junior ranks.
In September 2021, Lopez became the youngest player to feature in Spain’s top flight when she came off the bench against Athletic Bilbao, aged 15 years and 42 days.
“Of course she had the ability – I always told her so,” Mellado said.
“I also pushed her hard, because if she really wanted it, she had to always give her best and she always did. She was one of the hardest-working and she never once complained.
“She knows what she wants – that’s very important, because it makes her strive every day to achieve it.”
In 2022, perennial Spanish champions Barcelona signed Lopez on her 16th birthday, and two months later she became the youngest debutant in the club’s professional history.
She did so wearing the number 30, the same shirt worn by Lionel Messi when he broke into the Barca first team.
That season Lopez became Barcelona’s youngest-ever Champions League debutant, male or female, and the youngest player ever to score in Liga F.
If fans were not already excited by her potential, they were in October that year when she was named MVP as Spain won the U17 World Cup in India.
Lopez made her senior Spain debut in February 2024, replacing national icon Jenni Hermoso during the Nations League semi-final. At 17 years, six months, and 27 days, she become her country’s youngest debutant.
A breakout 2024-25 campaign – during which she stepped in for the ill Aitana Bonmati to help Spain reach the final of Euro 2025 – led to her winning the Kopa Trophy for the best young player in the world.
After initially being used as a winger, Lopez is now largely used in a central role for club and country