Jhon Jairo Espinoza Izquierdo (born 24 February 1999) is an Ecuadorian 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 defender for Swiss Super League club

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

and the Ecuador national team.

Club career

Born in

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

, Espinoza began his career with Liga Pro club Cuenca, where he made his debut on 12 December 2017. A few games into the

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

season, Espinoza moved to Aucas. He made his debut for the club on 30 July 2018 against Independiente Valle, starting in a 1–0 victory. On 18 February 2020, Espinoza scored his first goal for Aucas in a 2–1 victory over Vélez Sarsfield in the Copa Sudamericana.

Chicago Fire

On 23 November 2020, Espinoza joined American Major League Soccer club Chicago Fire. He made his debut for the club on 24 June 2021 against

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

, coming on as a late substitute in the 3–1 victory. On 27 December 2022, it was announced that Espinoza and Chicago had mutually agreed to terminate his deal immediately, and that he would join Swiss Super League side

on 1 January 2023.

Lugano

On 27 December 2022, Espinoza signed a 1.5-year contract with

in Switzerland.

International career

Espinoza captained the Ecuadorian under-20 team at the

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...

, and scored the winning goal in a 2–1 win over the United States in the quarter-finals. Espinoza made his senior debut in 2019. In a match against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

on 13 October 2019 Espinoza unfortunately scored an own goal in a 6–1 loss.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

Profile
at Chicago Fire {{DEFAULTSORT:Espinoza, Jhon 1999 births Living people Footballers from Guayaquil Ecuadorian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders C.D. Cuenca footballers S.D. Aucas footballers Chicago Fire FC players Chicago Fire FC II players FC Lugano players Ecuadorian Serie A players Ecuador men's international footballers Ecuador men's under-20 international footballers Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers Major League Soccer players MLS Next Pro players Swiss Super League players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland