Eugenio Pizzuto Puga (born 13 May 2002) is a Mexican 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 ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Liga 3 club Braga B.

Club career

Early career

Born in San Luis Potosí, Pizzuto was first spotted at the age of 12 in 2013 by scout Jess Ibrom of the New Zealand-based Asia-Pacific Football Academy which worked in association with Chelsea FC (now merged with professional side

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

) during open trials in the city of

Monclova Monclova (), is a city and the seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. According to the 2015 census, the city had 231,107 inhabitants. Its metropolitan area has 381,432 inhabitants and a ...

, Mexico. Following his performances, Pizzuto was offered a place in the academy along with a scholarship to Scots College in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

Pachuca

Following his time at Wellington Phoenix - where he was unable to play senior football due to FIFA laws preventing the international transfer of minors - Pizzuto returned to Mexico and joined the youth ranks of

Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whi ...

in 2018. On 21 January 2020, Pizzuto made his professional debut during a Copa MX group stage match against Ascenso MX club Venados. Four days later, Pizzuto made his Liga MX debut, coming on as a 59th-minute substitute for

Franco Jara Franco Daniel Jara (born 15 July 1988) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward. Club career Born in Villa María, Córdoba, Jara made his professional debut with Arsenal de Sarandí, first appearing in the Primera Divi ...

in an eventual 3–0 loss against León. However, just nine minutes after coming on, Pizzuto broke his

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity i ...

and dislocated his ankle after getting his foot caught on the pitch.

Lille

On 1 August 2020, Pizzuto joined French side

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

on a free transfer. He debuted for the club's reserve team, Lille II, on 10 October, coming on as a substitute on the 58th minute against US Maubeuge, winning 3–1. He appeared on the bench for the first team for first time as an unused substitute on 22 November in a league match against

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...

, winning 4–0. On 17 January 2022, Pizzuto's contract was terminated by

making him a free agent.

Braga

On 26 January 2022, Pizzuto joined

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 ...

International career

Youth

Pizzuto was part of the under-17 squad that participated at the

2019 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2019 CONCACAF U-17 Championship was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship (19th edition if all eras included), the men's under-17 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted in the United States bet ...

, where Mexico won the competition. He was included in the Best XI of the tournament. He was the captain of the team that participated at the 2019 U-17 World Cup. Finishing runner-up against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, he won the Bronze Ball of the tournament. He was included in the

France Football ''France Football'' is a French weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclusi ...

team of the tournament. Pizzuto was called up by Raúl Chabrand to participate with the under-21 team at the 2022 Maurice Revello Tournament, where Mexico finished the tournament in third place.

Personal life

Pizzuto is of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

descent. His father is from Italy and his mother from Mexico.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Lille * Ligue 1: 2020–21 Mexico U17 *

CONCACAF U-17 Championship The CONCACAF U-17 Championship is an international association football event in the North America, Central America and the Caribbean region, and is the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Results In 2009 the tournament returned ...

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 ...

FIFA U-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:

Individual *

Best XI:

Bronze Ball:

FIFA U-17 World Cup Best XI:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pizzuto, Eugenio 2002 births Living people People from San Luis Potosí City Mexican people of Italian descent Footballers from San Luis Potosí Association football midfielders Mexico youth international footballers Liga MX players Ligue 1 players Tercera División de México players Championnat National 3 players C.F. Pachuca players Lille OSC players Wellington Phoenix FC players S.C. Braga players Mexican expatriate footballers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Expatriate association footballers in New Zealand Mexican expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Portugal Mexican footballers