Daniela Arias

Atlético Bucaramanga

Arias joined the senior squad of her home-city club Atlético Bucaramanga in 2017 and played for it across the 2017 and 2018 Liga Femenina seasons.

Independiente Medellín and Junior

She spent the 2019 season with Independiente Medellín and the 2020 season with Junior of Barranquilla.

América de Cali

Arias signed for América de Cali in 2021 and made ten league appearances in her first season, establishing herself as one of the division's leading defenders and earning a nomination for its defender of the year award. She anchored the central defence as América played the 2020 Copa Libertadores, staged in Argentina in March 2021, and was named in CONMEBOL's team of the tournament.

Pachuca

On 23 December 2021, Liga MX Femenil club Pachuca announced Arias's signing for the Clausura portion of the 2022 season; she and the Argentine midfielder Ruth Bravo filled the club's two foreign-player places. Arias made 23 appearances and scored once across the calendar year, and helped Pachuca reach the Clausura final, in which it finished as runners-up.

Return to América de Cali

Arias returned to América de Cali for 2023. She started all four of the club's matches at the 2023 Copa Libertadores, held in Colombia, and was again named in CONMEBOL's team of the tournament. América also reached the Liga Femenina final that year, losing 2–0 on aggregate to Independiente Santa Fe, with the deciding leg played at the Estadio…

Arias was called up to the Colombia squad for the 2018 Copa América Femenina, at which Colombia finished fourth. She was a member of the Colombia team that won the gold medal in the women's football tournament at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima. On 3 July 2022, Arias was named in the squad for the 2022 Copa América Femenina, held in Colombia, where the team finished as runners-up. She was called up for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup on 4 July 2023, and started consistently as Colombia reached the quarter-finals, where it lost to the eventual runners-up England. Arias played at the 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup, and although knee trouble left her participation in doubt, she was named on 5 July 2024 in the squad for the 2024 Summer Olympics. At the 2025 Copa América Femenina, Arias again helped Colombia reach the final, which Brazil won on penalties. The following year she was part of the side that won the inaugural CONMEBOL Women's Nations League, sealed with a 4–3 win over Paraguay at the Estadio Defensores del Chaco in Asunción on 10 June 2026; the result also secured Colombia automatic qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. Afterwards Arias said the squad had "made history" and dedicated the title to earlier generations of Colombian players.

Arias grew up in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of the Morrorrico sector of Bucaramanga, in Santander. Her father, Luis Alberto Arias, played microfútbol, while her mother, Gladis Rojas, was at first reluctant to let her take up the game. Arias began playing at the age of seven on a parking lot belonging to her uncle in Morrorrico, alongside cousins and other children from the neighbourhood, and was often left out of games by boys who did not want a girl in the side. At 16 she joined the Botín de Oro academy in Bucaramanga, where she trained under Alexander Uribe. She took a series of jobs to support herself while she trained, working as a messenger, in a butcher's shop and in retail, and later with a Real Madrid foundation programme.

In 2019, Arias competed for the Santander team on the Colombian reality competition series Desafío Súper Regiones, broadcast by Caracol Televisión.