Karen Araya

About

Karen Andrea Araya Ponce, born 16 October 1990, is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Peruvian Primera División club Universitario and the Chile women’s national team. Her club career has taken her across multiple leagues: after starting with Colo-Colo, where she won six Primera División titles, she moved to Spain, returning to Sevilla in 2022 after an earlier 2018–19 stint there before switching to Madrid CFF later that same year.

In August 2025 she joined Première Ligue club Nantes for a one-season deal, then returned to South America in January 2026 to sign with Peru’s Universitario.

Internationally, Araya represented Chile at the 2023 Pan American Games, where the team won silver, returning to Madrid CFF after Chile’s semifinal loss to the United States.

Beyond outdoor football, she has also represented Chile’s national futsal team, competing at the 2015 Copa América de Futsal Femenina. Football runs in her family: her younger brother, Bernardo, is a futsal player who has represented clubs in Argentina and France and has captained the Chile national futsal team, making the Arayas a notable footballing family across both the traditional and futsal codes of the sport.