Gael Arturo Álvarez Montiel (born 9 March 2006) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

club

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

Early life

Born in

Guasave Guasave () is a city and the seat of the homonymous municipality known as the Agricultural Heart of Mexico (El Corazon Agricola de Mexico) in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. It is located in the northwestern part of Mexico, 62km (38 miles) southeas ...

in the state of

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales. It is located in northwest Mexic ...

in Mexico, Álvarez was raised in the Barrio del Chaleco, where he played football on local pitches with his brother and father.

Club career

Álvarez started at the Age of 9, at Tuzos Guasave FC. He then joined the academy of professional side

at under-13 level. In April 2023, Álvarez represented Pachuca at the

Future Cup The Future Cup (officially known as the ABN AMRO Future Cup, and previously known as the AEGON Future Cup) is an annual friendly international youth tournament which is organized by the Dutch football club AFC Ajax. The tournament is created for ...

, hosted by Dutch side

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

, where he caught the eye of a number of clubs across Europe. In August of the same year, he was taken on trial by Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

side

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

, though he was only allowed by Pachuca to spend fifteen days on the trial, as he was still a minor, with the club affirming that Álvarez was "non-transferrable". On 11 October 2023, he was named by English newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as one of the best players born in 2006 worldwide.

International career

Álvarez was called up to Mexico's under-16 squad for the 2022 edition of the Montaigu Tournament, as Mexico finished in eighth position. Having represented Mexico's under-17 team since 2021, Carrillo was called up to the squad for the

2023 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2023 CONCACAF U-17 Championship was the 7th edition of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship (20th edition if all eras included), the men's under-17 international association football, football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted by ...

. He scored Mexico's opening goal of the tournament, a second minute scissor kick in an eventual 9–0 win against

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

, before adding to his tally in Mexico's 6–0 win against

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

in the round of sixteen. For his performances, he was named 'player of the tournament', as Mexico won the competition, beating the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

3–1 in the final.

Honours

Individual *

CONCACAF Under-17 Championship The CONCACAF U-17 World Cup qualification 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 tournam ...

Golden Ball:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Best XI:

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

CONCACAF Youth (U20) Best XI: 2024https://www.iffhs.com/posts/3367

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Álvarez, Gael 2006 births Living people People from Guasave Footballers from Sinaloa Mexican men's footballers Mexico men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders C.F. Pachuca players 21st-century Mexican sportsmen