Josua Antonio Mejías García (born 9 June 1997) is a Venezuelan

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 defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Super League 2 Stones Bitter Super League II was the official name for the year 1997's Super League championship season, the 103rd season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the second to be played in summer. Teams Twelve teams were ...

club Athens Kallithea FC.

Career

Mejías came through the academy of local side

Carabobo , anthem = '' Himno del Estado Carabobo'' , image_map = Carabobo in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_ ...

and made his first team debut at age 18 in July 2015. He would make 36 total league appearances (31 starts) for the club over the next two years, until he was acquired by

Leganés Leganés () is a city in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Considered part of the Madrid metropolitan area, it is located about 11 km southwest of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 188,425, making it the region's fifth most popul ...

in September 2017. Leganés were then playing in

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 ...

, and they would send Mejías out on loan to gain his first European experience. After three seasons in the Spanish third tier with Cartagena, Gimnàstic, and

Atlético Madrid B Atlético de Madrid B is a Spanish football team based in Madrid, in the community of Madrid. Founded on 17 September 1963, it is the reserve team of Atlético Madrid and currently plays in Segunda Federación – Group 5. They play their home ...

, Mejías moved up to the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

with

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

in the 2020/21 season, making 21 appearances during the year for the Andalusian club. Mejías’ next loan was to

Beitar Jerusalem Beitar Jerusalem Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל בית"ר ירושלים, Moadon Kaduregel Beitar Yerushalayim), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply as Beitar (), is an Israeli football club based in the city of Jeru ...

. After making 15 league appearances in the 2021/22 season, Beitar would acquire Mejías from Leganés on a permanent transfer in August 2022. In the 2022/23 season, Mejías played 90 minutes in 11 of the first 13 rounds of the league, until a residency issue interrupted his season and he returned to Venezuela. In July 2023, Mejías joined Athens Kallithea FC in

International career

Mejías was called up to the Venezuela under-20 side for the

2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 21st 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 as ...

. He made his debut for the

Venezuela national football team The Venezuela national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Venezuela) represents Venezuela in men's international football and is controlled by the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF), the governing body for football in Venezuela. Th ...

on 7 October 2021 in a World Cup qualifier against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

International

; Venezuela U-20 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

: Runner-up

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

South American Youth Football Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as U-20 South American Championship and es, Torneo Juventudes de América, "Campeonato Sudamericano Sub 20" or pt, Juventude da América (English: "America's Youth") is a South American f ...

: Third Place

References

External links

* * 1997 births Living people Venezuelan men's footballers Men's association football defenders CD Leganés players FC Cartagena footballers Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Atlético Madrid B players Málaga CF players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Venezuelan Primera División players Carabobo F.C. players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Israeli Premier League players Venezuela men's international footballers Venezuelan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Israel Sportspeople from Valencia, Venezuela {{Venezuela-footy-defender-stub