Joshua Giovanni Pérez Figueroa (born January 21, 1998) is a 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 forward for

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

club

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

. Born in the United States, he plays for the El Salvador national team.

Club career

On February 4, 2016, Pérez signed with

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

, having trained with the club regularly since 2013. On November 28, 2016, he made his debut against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

. On August 31, 2017, Fiorentina announced that they would loan Pérez to Serie C club Livorno for the upcoming season. On August 8, 2018, Pérez returned to the Los Angeles area, signing with Los Angeles FC on a free transfer. Perez and Los Angeles mutually agreed to part ways on February 7, 2020. On June 25, 2020, Pérez joined Segunda División B side Castellón, but left the club on September 9, as the club was already promoted to Segunda División, without making any appearances. Hours after leaving Castellón, he joined

UD Ibiza Unión Deportiva Ibiza is a Spanish professional football club based in the town of Ibiza, in the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Founded in 2015, it plays in Segunda División, holding home matches at '' Estadi Municipal de Can Mis ...

in the third division. On July 2, 2021, after helping with seven appearances overall as Ibiza achieved a first-ever promotion to the second division, Pérez reached an agreement with the club to rescind his contract. On August 26, 2021 Pérez returned to the

and signed a contract mid-season with

Miami FC The Miami FC is an American professional soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 2016 se ...

. On February 8, 2023, Pérez signed with

Montevarchi Montevarchi is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. History The town of Montevarchi sprang up around 1100, near to a fortified Benedictine monastery, founded by bishop Elempert (986–1010) of Arezzo. At first the cas ...

in the Italian third-tier

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

. Pérez joined the

in the USL Championship on August 17, 2023.

International career

A longtime USA youth international, Pérez switched allegiance to El Salvador in February 2021, accepting a call-up to the U-23 side ahead of the

CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship The CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship was a quadrennial, international, age-restricted football tournament organized by CONCACAF to determine which men's under-23 national teams from the North, Central America and Caribbean region qua ...

. He made his debut with the El Salvador U23s in a 2–0 loss to the Canada U23s on 19 March 2021. On 25 March 2021, he scored a brace against the Haiti U23s. On June 5, 2021, Pérez made his debut with El Salvador senior team in a 7–0 victory against the U.S. Virgin Islands and scored one goal.

Personal life

Joshua Pérez was born in Montebello, California, son of Giovanni Pérez and Susana Figueroa. His father was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, California to Salvadoran parents, while his mother was born and raised in El Salvador and immigrated to the United States. Giovanni played as a professional soccer player, where he spent time at California Emperors and also played for El Salvador's FAS, a club which Giovanni's father and Joshua's grandfather Hugo Antonio Pérez played. Joshua is the nephew of former professional soccer player and current manager of the El Salvador national team Hugo Pérez. In 2018 he married Silvia Borghini in Florence

Career statistics

References

External links

Profile at EurosportProfile at Top Drawer
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Joshua 1998 births Sportspeople from Montebello, California Soccer players from California American sportspeople of Salvadoran descent Living people Salvadoran men's footballers El Salvador men's international footballers El Salvador men's youth international footballers American men's soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players Men's association football forwards ACF Fiorentina players US Livorno 1915 players Los Angeles FC players Phoenix Rising FC players CD Castellón footballers UD Ibiza players Miami FC players Montevarchi Calcio Aquila 1902 players Serie A players Serie C players Major League Soccer players USL Championship players Segunda División B players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup players American expatriate men's soccer players Salvadoran expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Salvadoran expatriate sportspeople in Italy American expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Salvadoran expatriate sportspeople in Spain American expatriate sportspeople in Spain Tampa Bay Rowdies players