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Deyna Castellanos
	Castellanos with Bay FC in September 2024
Personal information
Full name	Deyna Cristina Castellanos Naujenis
Date of birth	18 April 1999 (age 25)
Place of birth	Maracay, Venezuela
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Bay FC
Number	10
Youth career
2013–2016	Escuela de Fútbol Juan Arango
College career
Years	Team
2016–2019	Florida State Seminoles
Senior career*
Years	Team
2020–2022	Atlético Madrid
2022–2024	Manchester City
2024–	Bay FC
International career‡
2013–2016	Venezuela U17
2018	Venezuela U20
2018–	Venezuela
Medal record
Women's football
Representing Venezuela
Central American and Caribbean Games
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 31 March 2024; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 08:39, 29 September 2023 (UTC)

Deyna Cristina Castellanos Naujenis (born 18 April 1999) is a Venezuelan professional footballer who plays as a forward for Bay FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the Venezuela national team.

Early life

Deyna Cristina Castellanos Naujenis was born on 18 April 1999 in Maracay, on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela.^[2]

Club career

Castellanos was awarded a scholarship to study journalism and play football at Florida State University, an experience she describes as life-changing;^[2] she spent three college years with the Florida State Seminoles before signing a two-year contract with the Spanish club, Atlético Madrid on 2 January 2020.^[3]

At the end of this contract, Castellanos moved to English club Manchester City, in the Women's Super League (WSL), where she signed a three-year contract on 3 June 2022;^[4] 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 6–0 Champions League win against Kazakhstani side Tomaris-Turan, scoring a penalty in the 89th minute.^[5] On 18 September 2022, she made her WSL debut, coming on in the 70th minute during a 4–3 defeat by Aston Villa.

On 26 January 2024, Castellanos was acquired by new NWSL expansion franchise Bay FC for a transfer fee.^[6]

International career

Youth

In 2014, she was a member of the Venezuela national under-17 team who finished fourth in the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup^[7] and runners-up in the 2014 Women's Youth Olympic football. She won the Golden Boot of the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup with six goals, equalling her teammate Gabriela García and was also a goalscorer of the 2014 Women's Youth Olympic football with seven. She was also as a top scorer of the 2016 South American Under-17 Women's Football Championship with 12. Castellanos is the top goalscorer of the Venezuela U-17 women's team with 35. Castellanos is currently the all-time leading goalscorer of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup with 11.

Castellanos was called up to the Venezuela U-20 women's team in January 2018 for the 2018 South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship. She was the only player to score in the Group B matches with three, once against Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile.^[8] She was also the only player to score in the final stage, scoring once in a 3–1 defeat against Paraguay U-20 women's team.^[9]

Senior

In April 2018, Castellanos was part of the senior team in the 2018 Copa América Femenina. She scored on her debut against Ecuador on 5 April,^[10] and netted four times in an 8–0 win over Bolivia four days later.^[11] In 2021, at the age of 21, she was named captain of the team for the first time.^[2]

Off the pitch

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 for NBC and Telemundo at the 2018 (men's) and 2019 (women's) FIFA World Cups,^[12] and in Spain.^[2] She is a fan of tattoos and as of 2022 has over 30.^[13] In Venezuela, she is known as Reina Deyna ("Queen Deyna").^[2] She learned English while at Florida State University, becoming quickly bilingual.^[2]

In The Best FIFA Football Awards 2017, Castellanos was named to the three-woman shortlist for The Best FIFA Women's Player. 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.^[14]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 26 November 2023.^[15]^[16]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			National cup^[a]		League cup^[b]		Continental^[c]		Other		Total
Club	Season	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	3	1	—		0	0	—		—		2	0
Career total			85	25	7	2	7	1	6	2	5	2	109	31

^ Includes Copa de la Reina, Women's FA Cup
^ Includes FA Women's League Cup, NWSL Challenge Cup
^ Includes UEFA Women's Champions League
^ ^a ^b ^c appearances in Supercopa de España Femenina

International

As of match played 25 September 2023^[17]

Appearances and goals by national team and year
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

Scores and results list Venezuela's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Castellanos goal.

List of international goals scored by Deyna Castellanos
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	5 April 2018	Estadio Municipal Francisco Sánchez Rumoroso, Coquimbo, Chile	Ecuador	1–0	1–0	2018 Copa América Femenina
2	9 April 2018		Bolivia	1–0	8–0
3				2–0
4				3–0
5				8–0
6	19 July 2018	Estadio Moderno Julio Torres, Barranquilla, Colombia	Jamaica	2–1	2–1	2018 Central American and Caribbean Games
7	23 October 2021	Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha, Guayaquil, Ecuador	Ecuador	3–1	4–1	Friendly
8	23 October 2021		Ecuador	4–1	4–1
9	26 October 2021		Ecuador	2–0	4–1
10	26 October 2021		Ecuador	3–1	4–1
11	9 April 2022	Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero, Cali, Colombia	Colombia	1–0	2–2
12	9 April 2022	Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero, Cali, Colombia	Colombia	2–0	2–2
13	9 July 2022	Estadio Centenario, Armenia, Colombia	Uruguay	1–0	1–0	2022 Copa América Femenina
14	15 July 2022		Peru	1–0	2–0
15	24 July 2022		Chile	1–1	1–1 (2–4 p)
16	14 November 2022	Estadio Municipal Los Arcos, Orihuela, Spain	Scotland	1–2	1–2	Friendly
17	29 June 2023	Estadio Las Delicias, Santa Tecla, El Salvador	Costa Rica	3–0	4–0	2023 Central American and Caribbean Games
18	1 July 2023		Haiti	1–1	4–1
19	1 July 2023		Haiti	4–1	4–1
20	3 July 2023		Guatemala	2–0	2–0
21	5 July 2023		El Salvador	2–0	2–1
22	26 September 2023	Estadio Olímpico de la UCV, Caracas, Venezuela	Uruguay	1–0	1–0	Friendly