Abel Ruiz Ortega (; born 28 January 2000) is a Spanish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

club

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

and the Spain national team. Formed at

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, where he made one first-team appearance, he moved to

in January 2020, where he won the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

. Ruiz set the record for

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and goals for Spain's under-17 team, winning the European Championship in

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and finishing runners-up in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and at the 2017 World Cup. He made his senior international debut in 2021.

Club career

Barcelona

Born in

Almussafes Almussafes (Spanish: ''Almusafes'') is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Ribera Baixa in the Valencian Community, Spain. History Almussafes was originally a Muslim hamlet, consisting of several farmhouses and a tower. There was a customs off ...

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

, Ruiz joined Barcelona's youth setup in 2012, from

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. On 21 November 2016, he renewed his contract with the club. On 9 April 2017, while still a junior, Ruiz made his senior debut with the reserves, coming on as a late substitute for

Jesús Alfaro Jesús Alfaro Ligero (born 24 June 1991) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Wisła Kraków as a winger. Club career Born in La Palma del Condado, Huelva, Andalusia, Alfaro was a Sevilla FC youth graduate. He made his senior debu ...

in a 2–0

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

away win against

Badalona Badalona (, , , ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality to the immediate north east of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By popu ...

; he also became the first player born in the 2000s to make an appearance for the club's senior ranks. After Barcelona B's promotion, Ruiz made his professional team debut on 28 August 2017, replacing David Concha in an 3–0 home loss against

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

championship. Four days later he scored his first professional goal in a 2–2 draw against

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

. Ruiz had his first-team debut in the

Supercopa de Catalunya The Supercopa de Catalunya (''Catalonia Supercup'') is a football supercup competition organised by the Catalan Football Federation since 2014 for football clubs in the Catalonia autonomous community of Spain. The match features the two best rank ...

on 7 March 2018, scoring the winning penalty in a shootout against

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

. His

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

debut came on 12 May 2019 in a 2–0 win against

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

, as a substitute for

Philippe Coutinho Philippe Coutinho Correia (born 12 June 1992) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Premier League club Aston Villa and the Brazil national team. He is known for his combination of vision, ...

for the final 21 minutes at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

Braga

On 31 January 2020, Ruiz joined Portugal's

on loan for the rest of the season, with a mandatory purchase for €8 million and a buy-back clause. He made his debut on 20 February in the round of 32 first leg of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

away to

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

, starting the game and scoring in a 3–2 loss. Totalling eight appearances over the season, he scored his first

goal on 4 July soon after entering in a 4–0 home win over

Aves Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

. Ruiz was the top scorer in the

as Braga won it in

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, contributing seven goals in as many games. This included two in a 3–2 win away to

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

in the semi-finals. In 2021–22, Ruiz scored in each leg of a 3–1 aggregate win over

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

in the Europa League last 16. He netted the only goal of the game in the next fixture against Rangers, though the Scots won 3–2 over the two games after

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

International career

Ruiz made his debut for the Spain under-17 team on 25 October 2015, starting and scoring the first in a 2–0

2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification The 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification was a men's under-17 football competition organised by UEFA to determine the 15 national teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Azerbaijan in the 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Champ ...

win against

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

. He was also named in the list for the finals in Azerbaijan, despite being one year younger than his teammates. Ruiz finished the competition with four goals, being awarded the Silver Boot; he was also included in the tournament's best eleven. During the 2017 edition in Croatia, he captained the side as Spain achieved their ninth title. On 22 September 2017, Ruiz was included in

Santiago Denia Santiago Denia Sánchez (born 9 March 1974), commonly known as Santi, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a central defender, currently manager of the Spain under-21 national team. He appeared in 297 La Liga matches over 11 seasons ( ...

's squad ahead of the

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international football tournament contested by men's under-17 national teams. Organised by FIFA, the tournament took place in India between 6 and 28 October 2017, after the ...

, and scored two braces in the tournament, scoring two goals in a 4–0 win against

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesMali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

on 25 October. Due to the isolation of some national team players following the positive

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

test of

Sergio Busquets Sergio Busquets Burgos (, ; born 16 July 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona, where he is captain. He is considered to be a deep-lying playmaker capable of directing gameplay ...

, Spain's under-21 squad were called up for the international friendly against

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

on 8 June 2021. Ruiz made his senior debut in the 4–0 win in

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popul ...

, missing a penalty in the match.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Barcelona Youth *

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

: 2017–18 Barcelona *

: 2018–19 Braga *

Spain U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

; runner-up:

FIFA Under-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

runner-up:

Spain U18 *

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fir ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Spain U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain and England ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual *

Silver Boot:

*UEFA European Under-17 Championship Team of the Tournament:

Bronze Boot:

(6 goals) *

top scorer:

(7 goals) *

top scorer:

2020-21 The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

(7 goals) Records *Top goalscorer in the history of

finals: 8 goals (shared with

Amine Gouiri Amine Ferid Gouiri (born 16 February 2000) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ligue 1 club Rennes. Club career Lyon A player of Lyon starting in 2013, Gouiri signed his first professional contract with the club on 3 J ...

and

Odsonne Édouard Odsonne Édouard (born 16 January 1998) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Crystal Palace. Having progressed through the youth ranks of AF Bobigny, Édouard signed with Paris Saint-Germain in July ...

) *Top goalscorer in the history of

: 16 goals (shared with José Gomes) *Top goalscorer in the history of the Spain under-17 team: 27 goals. *Most-capped player in the history of the Spain under-17 team: 37 appearances.

References

External links

FC Barcelona official profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz, Abel 2000 births Living people People from Ribera Baixa Sportspeople from the Province of Valencia Spanish footballers Footballers from the Valencian Community Association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Primeira Liga players FC Barcelona players FC Barcelona Atlètic players S.C. Braga players Spain youth international footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Spain international footballers Competitors at the 2018 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Spain Mediterranean Games medalists in football Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal