Pablo Martín Páez Gavira (; born 5 August 2004), known as Gavi (), 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

central 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

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 ...

club

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 ...

and the Spain national team. In 2022, he won the

Golden Boy award The Golden Boy is an award that is given by sports journalists to a young footballer playing in Europe perceived to have been the most impressive during a calendar year (two halves to two separate seasons). All nominees must be under the age of 2 ...

and received the

Kopa Trophy The Kopa Trophy is an association football award presented to the best performing player under the age of 21. It is organised by ''France Football.'' The award is named after former French footballer Raymond Kopa and the winner is selected by fo ...

, awarded by

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 exclusiv ...

during the

2022 Ballon d'Or The 2022 Ballon d'Or (French: ''Ballon d'Or'') was the 66th annual ceremony of the Ballon d'Or, presented by France Football, recognising the best footballers in the world in the 2021–22 season. For the first time in the history of the award, i ...

ceremony.

Club career

Early life and career

Gavi was born in

Los Palacios y Villafranca Los Palacios y Villafranca is a city located in the province of Seville, Spain. According to the 2006 census (INE), the city has a population of 35,225 inhabitants. Twin towns - sister cities * Los Palacios, Cuba * Saint-Colomban, Loire-Atlantiq ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

. He started his career at La Liara Balompié, a club in his hometown, where he spent two years, between 2010 and 2012. From there he moved on to

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

, where he spent two

seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pola ...

. He scored 95 goals for the youth team of

Barcelona

Youth career

In 2015, at the age of 11, he signed for

. In September 2020, he signed his first professional contract with the Catalan club, and was promoted directly from the under-16 team to the under-19 team. He made his debut for

Barcelona B 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 ...

on 21 February 2021, in the 6–0 home routing of L'Hospitalet, coming on as a substitute for Nico González in the 77th minute. He made his first start for Barça B the following 14 March in a 1–0

derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

win against Espanyol B at the Ciutat Esportiva Dani Jarque.

2021–22 season

Having featured twice for

in the

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 ...

season, Gavi was promoted to the senior squad for pre-season friendlies with the first team ahead of the start of the new season. After good performances in wins against

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2. ...

and

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan language, Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter River, Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in ...

, Gavi was reported to have pushed ahead of

Riqui Puig Ricard "Riqui" Puig Martí (; born 13 August 1999) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy. Club career FC Barcelona Born in Matadepera, Barcelona, Catalonia, Puig joined FC Barcelo ...

in manager

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

's squad selection. He continued this good run of form in a 3–0 win against German opposition

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

, earning comparisons with Barcelona legend

Xavi Xavier Hernández Creus (born 25 January 1980), known as Xavi is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of La Liga club FC Barcelona, Barcelona. Widely con ...

. On 29 August 2021, he played his first official match for Barcelona's first team in the 2–1

win over

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 ...

, replacing

Sergi Roberto Sergi Roberto Carnicer (, born 7 February 1992) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team. Mainly a central midfielder, he can also operate as a defensive midfielder, full-back or wi ...

in the 73rd minute. On 18 December, he scored his first goal for the club and provided an assist in the 3–2 home win over

Elche Elche ( ca-valencia, Elx) is a city and municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2014 data, Elche has a population of 228,647 inhabitants,Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

in the Supercopa de España Final. On 31 January, a Spanish court ruled in favor of accepting Gavi's new contract with Barcelona until 2026, signed in September the previous year, despite opposition from La Liga president

Javier Tebas Javier Tebas Medrano (; born 31 July 1962) is a Spanish lawyer and the president of Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, the association responsible for administering Spain's two professional football leagues. First elected in April 2013, he w ...

who argued that the new deal would not fit in the club's salary limit that season. On the same day, Barcelona announced that Gavi would acquire the number 6 shirt, previously worn by his coach Xavi. On 21 March, a court ruling ordered that the new deal to be revoked as it would exceed the club's salary limit, and a return to his previous enrolment as a youth-team player with his old number 30 shirt.

International career

Gavi has represented Spain at under-15 and under-16 level. On 30 September 2021, Gavi received a surprise call-up to the senior Spain national team by the manager

Luis Enrique Luis Enrique Martínez García (; born 8 May 1970), known as Luis Enrique, is a Spanish football manager and former player. A versatile player with good technique, he was capable of playing in several different positions, but usually played as ...

. He made his debut in their

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

semi-final A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

win against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

on 6 October, becoming the youngest player to ever represent Spain at senior level. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 10 October, Spain ultimately suffered a 2–1 defeat. On 5 June 2022, he scored his first senior goal in the Nations League away against the Czech Republic, becoming the youngest player to ever score representing Spain at senior level. Gavi was named in Spain's squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

in Qatar, in which he started in all four matches. With his goal against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

in Spain's first game of the tournament, Gavi became the third youngest player (only behind

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

and Manuel Rosas) to score in a World Cup match.

Style of play

Graham Hunter of

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

hailed Gavi as a highly promising young player in 2021, comparing him to former Barcelona midfielders

and

Andrés Iniesta Andrés Iniesta Luján (; born 11 May 1984) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder and is the captain of J1 League club Vissel Kobe. Considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Iniesta has spent most of his ...

due to his qualities as a footballer, including his dribbling, anticipation, intelligence, vision, passing, first touch, close control, change of pace, and ability to turn quickly to get out of tight spaces and initiate counter-attacks. Following his performance in Spain's semi-final victory over Italy in the 2021 Nations League Finals, Italian defender

Emerson Palmieri Emerson Palmieri dos Santos (born 3 August 1994), known as Emerson Palmieri or simply Emerson, is a professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club West Ham United and the Italy national team. Internationally, Emerson played for hi ...

described Gavi as a player who "has huge potential".

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Gavi goal''

Honours

Barcelona *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

2022–23 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 ...

Spain *

runner-up:

Individual *

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

* Golden Boy: 2022 * IFFHS Men's World Youth (U20) Team: 2022 *

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 ...

Men's Youth (U20) UEFA Team: 2022 * Trofeo Aldo Rovira: 2021–22

References

External links

Profile
at the FC Barcelona website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gavi 2004 births Living people People from Los Palacios y Villafranca Sportspeople from the Province of Seville Footballers from Andalusia Spanish footballers Association football midfielders Real Betis players FC Barcelona players FC Barcelona Atlètic players Segunda División B players Primera Federación players La Liga players Spain youth international footballers Spain international footballers 2022 FIFA World Cup players