Ayoze García Pérez (born 22 November 1985), known simply as Ayoze, is a Spanish former 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 played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, currently

assistant coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a Coach (carriage), horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultima ...

for

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

club

Indy Eleven Indy Eleven is an American professional soccer team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 2013, the team made its debut in the North American Soccer League in 2014, before moving to the United Soccer League in 2018. The franchise plays it ...

. He spent most of his 20-year senior career with

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 ...

and the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independe ...

, signing with the latter club in 2013. He retired following a spell in the

with

Playing career

Spain

Ayoze was born in

Puerto de la Cruz Puerto de la Cruz is a city and municipality in the northern part of the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. It was formerly known by its English translation, "Port of the Cross", although now it is known by its Spanish name in all lang ...

. He made his professional debut with

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

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 ...

, then had a loan spell at neighbours

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

in 2004–05's

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 ...

; he started his career as a winger. Upon his return, Ayoze became an essential member of the squad: from

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

he only missed eight league games and scored 14 goals, helping the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

club to achieve promotion to

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 ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

while acting as one of their

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. In the following season, he was again used regularly (25 appearances, three goals) as the team was immediately relegated; his debut in the Spanish top flight took place on 19 September 2009 as he came on as a 62nd-minute substitute in a 4–0 away loss against

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

, and his first goal came on 29 November in the 3–3 draw at

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

. In mid-May 2010, after negotiations to renew his link did not produce any results, Ayoze left Tenerife and signed for three years with

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

, which in turn retained their top-division status. He terminated his contract with the

Asturians Asturians ( ast, asturianos) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group native to the autonomous community of Asturias, in the North-West of the Iberian Peninsula. Culture and society Heritage Asturians are directly descended from the Astures, who wer ...

on 31 August 2012 after two seasons of insignificant playing time, the second one ending in relegation.

NY Cosmos

Aged 27, Ayoze moved abroad for the first time, joining the

of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

. He was an important player in his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

, helping to wins in the Fall Championship and the

Soccer Bowl The Soccer Bowl was the annual championship game of the North American Soccer League, which ran from 1968 to 1984. The two top teams from the playoffs faced off in the final to determine the winner of the NASL Trophy. From the league's founding ...

; he tallied one

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

, and was part of a defence that ranked first after allowing the fewest goals in the league (12). On 13 November 2013, Ayoze agreed to an extension. During the 2014 Spring season he scored twice and recorded one assist, once again helping his side to finish as the one with the fewest goals conceded and setting a modern-day NASL shutout streak record of 372 minutes. Ayoze provided the final pass on Mads Stokkelien's goal that gave the Cosmos a 1–0 lead in an eventual 2–1 defeat against the

San Antonio Scorpions The San Antonio Scorpions were an American professional soccer team based in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in 2010, the team made its debut in the North American Soccer League in 2012. The Scorpions played at Toyota Field, a soccer specific stadiu ...

on 8 November 2014, in The Championship's semi-finals.

Indy Eleven

On 6 February 2018, Ayoze signed for

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a Association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues curren ...

club

. He ended his stint at the end of the 2022 campaign aged 37, as leader in games played (126), started (106) and assists (22), being joint-fifth in goals at 13; other than him, only Karl Ouimette and Brad Ring had spent five seasons at the IU Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium.

Coaching career

Immediately after retiring, Ayoze stayed in Indiana by joining

Mark Lowry Mark Alan Lowry (born June 24, 1958) is an American singer, comedian, minister and songwriter. He is best known for co-writing the song "Mary, Did You Know?" and being a member of the Gaither Vocal Band from 1988 to 2001, and 2009 to 2013, alo ...

's staff at Indy Eleven.

Honours

New York Cosmos *

: 2013 Fall Championship *

Soccer Bowl 2013 Soccer Bowl 2013 was the North American Soccer League's postseason championship match of the 2013 season held to determine the NASL Champion. The event was contested in a one-game match between the Atlanta Silverbacks, winners of the Spring C ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayoze Garcia 1985 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Puerto de la Cruz Association football defenders Association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Tenerife B players CD Tenerife players UD Las Palmas players Sporting de Gijón players North American Soccer League players USL Championship players New York Cosmos (2010) players Indy Eleven players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United States USL Championship coaches Indy Eleven coaches