Daniela Montoya

Formas Íntimas

Montoya came through and spent the early part of her career at Formas Íntimas of Medellín, for many years the dominant club in Antioquia and a regular in continental competition. She played in seven editions of the Copa Libertadores Femenina between 2009 and 2015, finishing third in 2009 and reaching the final in 2013, and won four consecutive Copa Pre-Libertadores titles from 2012 to 2015. She also represented Antioquia at the Colombian National Games, winning gold in 2008 and silver in 2012.

Futsal

Alongside her football career, Montoya played futsal to a high level. She co-founded the team Futsasa with her twin sister in 2008 and played for Paisitas de Antioquia before moving to Spain to join Burela of Galicia, where she scored 11 goals in 19 matches, won the Copa de la Xunta de Galicia and finished as a runner-up in the Spanish league; her scoring earned her the nickname "la bombardera". She has also been capped by Colombia's national futsal team.

Levante

Montoya returned to Spain in 2016 to play football for Levante, making 11 league appearances.

Colombian clubs and Al-Riffa

Back in Colombia, Montoya played for Envigado and then Junior of Barranquilla. In 2019 she had a brief spell in Bahrain with Al-Riffa, for whom she scored once in four matches at the 2019 WAFF Women's Clubs Championship. She later played ten league matches for Independiente Medellín, scoring twice, and returned to Junior in 2022, scoring three times in 15 appearances.

Atlético Nacional

Montoya joined Atlético Nacional in 2023, a move Colombian media framed as a blow for Junior. Playing further forward than earlier in her career, she scored eight goals in 18 league appearances across two seasons.

Grêmio

On 3 February 2025, Montoya signed for Grêmio of the Série A1, on a contract to the end of December 2025 that renewed automatically if she met agreed targets for playing time and goal involvement. She helped the club win the Campeonato Gaúcho in 2025, and the renewal clause was triggered that November. On 10 July 2026, after 28 appearances without scoring, club and player agreed to terminate the contract.

Alianza Lima

On 4 August 2026, Montoya joined Peruvian club Alianza Lima for the closing tournament of the season. She said the club's plans for its women's team had persuaded her: "The project convinced me most. I felt this club believes in women's football and wants to compete at the highest level." Sisy Quiroz, the club's head of women's football, said her leadership would strengthen the squad.

Early years

Montoya played for Colombia at the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Germany, scoring twice against Costa Rica, and made her senior debut the same year. She was a runner-up at the 2010 South American Women's Football Championship, scoring against Uruguay, and went on to play at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, where Colombia were eliminated in the group stage, and at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, appearing in two of the three matches.

2014–2015

Montoya was a runner-up again at the 2014 Copa América Femenina and won silver at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games, where she scored in the semi-final against Venezuela. She took a second Pan American Games silver medal at the 2015 Games in Toronto.

At the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, Montoya scored in a 1–1 draw with Mexico on 9 June 2015 — the first goal Colombia had scored at a Women's World Cup. The BBC likened the long-range strike to James Rodríguez's goals at the men's tournament a year earlier.

Exclusion from the national team

After the 2015 World Cup, Montoya publicly criticised the Colombian Football Federation over unpaid bonuses and the conditions in which the squad worked. She was left out of Colombia's preparations for the 2016 Summer Olympics and went roughly 18 months without a call-up, having been a fixture in the side for a decade. In a 2019 interview with El Tiempo she described writing to federation officials seeking an explanation, and said the players did not want "war" but wanted to build something; she also questioned the reasoning behind leaving out more experienced players.

Return and later career

Montoya returned to the squad for the 2018 Copa América Femenina, scoring against Uruguay, and in 2019 was part of the team that won gold in the women's tournament at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima.

Named in the squad for the 2022 Copa América Femenina on 3 July 2022, she scored twice against Paraguay as the hosts reached the final, and was named in the team of the tournament. She captained Colombia at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, for which she was called up on 4 July 2023, and where the team reached the quarter-finals for the first time.

She played at the 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup and was named on 5 July 2024 in the squad for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

By 2025, at 35, Montoya was being used largely from the bench by coach Ángelo Marsiglia, described by El Tiempo as a substitute brought on to organise the midfield. She scored twice against Bolivia at the 2025 Copa América Femenina, where Colombia again finished as runners-up, and in October came off the bench to score in successive CONMEBOL Women's Nations League matches — against Peru on the 24th and Ecuador on the 28th, the latter a long-range strike that settled a 2–1 win. She said afterwards that she had not known how to celebrate. Colombia won the competition on 10 June 2026, beating Paraguay 4–3 in Asunción to take the inaugural title and qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup.