.jpg) Castellanos with thePortland Thorns in September 2025 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Deyna Cristina Castellanos Naujenis | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1999-04-18)18 April 1999 (age 26) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Maracay, Venezuela | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Forward | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Portland Thorns | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 10 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2013–2016 | Escuela de Fútbol Juan Arango | ||||||||||||||||
| College career | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2016–2019 | Florida State Seminoles | 82 | (48) | ||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2020–2022 | Atlético Madrid | 58 | (23) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2024 | Manchester City | 24 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024 | Bay FC | 20 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2025– | Portland Thorns | 21 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2013–2016 | Venezuela U17 | 39 | (35) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018 | Venezuela U20 | 6 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018– | Venezuela | 44 | (23) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 00:05, 16 November 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 08:39, 29 September 2023 (UTC) | |||||||||||||||||
Deyna Cristina Castellanos Naujenis (born 18 April 1999) is a Venezuelan professionalfootballer who plays as aforward forPortland Thorns FC of theNational Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and theVenezuela national team.
Deyna Cristina Castellanos Naujenis was born on 18 April 1999 inMaracay, on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela.[2]
Castellanos was awarded a scholarship to study journalism and play football atFlorida State University, an experience she has described as life-changing.[2] She spent three college years with theFlorida State Seminoles, scoring 48 goals in 82 total appearances.[3]
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After leaving Florida State, Castellanos elected not to enter her name into the2020 NWSL College Draft due to the lack of player autonomy afforded to her by theDraft system.[4] Instead, she signed her first professional contract with Spanish clubAtlético Madrid on 2 January 2020, inking a two-year deal.[5]
At the end of this contract, Castellanos moved to English clubManchester City, in theWomen's Super League (WSL), where she signed a three-year contract on 3 June 2022;[6] she was described as the marquee signing during a high-turnover summer for the club.[2] She made her Manchester City debut on 18 August 2022, in a 6–0Champions League win againstKazakhstani side Tomaris-Turan, scoring a penalty in the 89th minute.[7] On 18 September 2022, she made her WSL debut, coming on in the 70th minute during a 4–3 defeat byAston Villa.
On 26 January 2024, Castellanos was acquired by newNWSL expansion franchiseBay FC for a transfer fee.[8] In the 2024 season, Castellanos appeared in 20 matches, starting 12, and scored 2 goals.
On 23 January 2025, Bay FC announced that they had bought out the remainder of her contract, making her a free agent.[9] The next day, Castellanos was acquired by NWSL teamPortland Thorns FC and signed to a two-year contract with a club option.[10] She made her Thorns debut in the league's season-opener, starting and playing 87 minutes in a defeat to theKansas City Current.[11] Castellanos scored her first goal with her new club on 22 April, helping the Thorns beatNJ/NY Gotham FC, 4–1.[12]
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In 2014, she was a member of theVenezuela national under-17 team who finished fourth in the2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup[13] and runners-up in the2014 Women's Youth Olympic football. She won theGolden Boot of the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup with six goals, equalling her teammateGabriela García and was also a goalscorer of the 2014 Women's Youth Olympic football with seven. She was also as a top scorer of the2016 South American Under-17 Women's Football Championship with 12. Castellanos is the top goalscorer of theVenezuela U-17 women's team with 35. Castellanos is currently the all-time leading goalscorer of theFIFA U-17 Women's World Cup with 11.
Castellanos was called up to theVenezuela U-20 women's team in January 2018 for the2018 South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship. She was the only player to score in theGroup B matches with three, once against Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile.[14] She was also the only player to score in thefinal stage, scoring once in a 3–1 defeat againstParaguay U-20 women's team.[15]
In April 2018, Castellanos was part of thesenior team in the2018 Copa América Femenina. She scored on her debut againstEcuador on 5 April,[16] and netted four times in an 8–0 win overBolivia four days later.[17] In 2021, at the age of 21, she was named captain of the team for the first time.[2]
Castellanos started a foundation that encourages gender equality and helps provide football scholarship for South American girls.[2]
She has worked as a studio analyst forNBC andTelemundo at the2018 (men's) and2019 (women's) FIFA World Cups,[18] and in Spain.[2] She is a fan oftattoos and as of 2022 has over 30.[19] In Venezuela, she is known asReina Deyna ("Queen Deyna").[2] She learned English while at Florida State University, becoming quickly bilingual.[2]
InThe Best FIFA Football Awards 2017, Castellanos was named to the three-woman shortlist forThe Best FIFA Women's Player while still playing in college. Her nomination created some controversy.Megan Rapinoe was outspoken about this nomination, complaining that Castellanos was an unknown player and had not played professionally, nor in a major senior national team tournament at the time of her nomination.[20]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Continental[c] | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Atlético Madrid | 2019–20 | Primera División | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 1[d] | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2020–21 | Primera División | 27 | 13 | 2 | 0 | — | 4 | 1 | 2[d] | 1 | 35 | 15 | ||
| 2021–22 | Primera División | 26 | 10 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 2[d] | 1 | 29 | 11 | ||
| Total | 58 | 23 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 71 | 26 | ||
| Manchester City | 2022–23 | Women's Super League | 19 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 28 | 4 | |
| 2023–24 | Women's Super League | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 8 | 1 | |||
| Total | 24 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 5 | ||
| Bay FC | 2024 | NWSL | 20 | 2 | — | — | — | 1[e] | 0 | 21 | 2 | |||
| Portland Thorns FC | 2025 | NWSL | 10 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 11 | 2 | ||||
| Career total | 112 | 27 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 138 | 34 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Venezuela | 2014 | 4 | 0 |
| 2015 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2016 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 9 | 6 | |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2020 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 5 | 4 | |
| 2022 | 11 | 6 | |
| 2023 | 7 | 6 | |
| Total | 38 | 22 | |
Florida State Seminoles
Atlético Madrid
Venezuela squads | |||||||||||||
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