Jesús Andrés Padilla Cisneros (born March 3, 1987 in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

) is a

Mexican-American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played as a striker.

Career

Padilla was born and raised in

and moved to

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

with his parents when he was fourteen. He joined the youth academy of

in 2001 and, having been a part of the academy system for five years, made his professional debut on August 8, 2006 in a 1-0 loss to

Deportivo Toluca Deportivo Toluca Fútbol Club S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Club Deportivo Toluca, is a Mexican football club, playing in the Primera División de México, the top-flight of Mexican football. Toluca's stadium, Estadio Nemesio Díez Riega ...

. Padilla moved on loan to sister club

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

on August 17, 2009. He remained with Chivas USA until the club declined his contract option on March 11, 2011. In June 2011, he was loaned to CF La Piedad in

México Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. He scored eight goals in twenty-nine matches in

Liga de Ascenso Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Lig ...

. Padilla remained with Guadalajara for the Apertura of the 2012-13 Liga MX season. He made seven appearances, five of them as a substitute, in addition to a

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

appearance. He was loaned to Piedad again for the Clasura portion of the season.

Nationality issue

Although he was born in the United States, according to Article 30 of the

Mexican Constitution The Constitution of Mexico, formally the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States ( es, Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the current constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro, in th ...

, he was born Mexican as he is the son of Mexicans born in a foreign country. Chivas owner Jorge Vergara's take on the nationality question is simple: "We go by the definition in the Constitution," Vergara says. "Mexican law says that you are a Mexican if you are born outside Mexico and both parents are Mexican."

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Padilla, Jesus 1987 births Living people C.D. Guadalajara footballers Chivas USA players Dorados de Sinaloa footballers Major League Soccer players Mexican expatriate footballers Mexican footballers American sportspeople of Mexican descent Liga MX players American expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Soccer players from San Jose, California Association football forwards Nationality controversies