Paul Nicolás Aguilar Rojas (born 6 March 1986) is a Mexican former 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 played as a

right-back 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 ...

. Aguilar represented

Mexico 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 ...

at the

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and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, as well as the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

, and the

Copa América Centenario The Copa América Centenario ( pt, Copa América Centenário, french: Coupe Amerique Centennaire, en, Centennial Cup America; literally ''Centennial America Cup'') was an international men's association football tournament that was hosted by the ...

Club career

Pachuca

Paul Aguilar began his career with

Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whic ...

in 2002. He started off in Pachuca's affiliate (

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

) team,

Pachuca Juniors Club de Fútbol Pachuca Reserves and Academy are the under-20, under-17 and under-15 teams of Mexican Liga MX Pachuca. History Pachuca Juniors played its single season at Primera División A in 2004-05 season. After the season the club license ...

. In 2004, he was loaned to

Indios de Ciudad Juárez Club de Fútbol Indios de Ciudad Juárez, commonly referred as Indios de Ciudad Juárez or simply Indios, was a Mexican football club. Founded in 2005 when CF Pachuca moved its Pachuca Juniors to Ciudad Juárez, it was promoted to the Primera Div ...

for two seasons in order to gain more experience. After returning to Pachuca in 2005 and making 27 appearances with the "B team" (Pachuca Juniors), Aguilar made his first-team debut in the 2006 Apertura tournament on 6 August in a match against

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

, with the match ending in a 2–3 defeat. Paul Aguilar played the entire ninety minutes and scored a goal in the 56th minute of the game. Pachuca won the 2007 Clausura championship after defeating América in the final. Paul Aguilar became a mainstay within the squad and won the confidence of manager

Enrique Meza Enrique Meza Enríquez (born 3 March 1948) is a Mexican professional football manager who most recently coached Veracruz. Prior to pursuing a career in coaching, he was a goalkeeper for Cruz Azul during their dynasty of the 1970s, albeit a back ...

. Aguilar would barely miss a game since earning a starting position at right-back during the 2008 Clausura. Paul Aguilar also participated in the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

s with Pachuca. His performance with the club earned him a spot in the final 23-man national team squad who would play the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. After five years and ten seasons with Pachuca, Paul Aguilar was sold to América for the 2011 Apertura in exchange for

Juan Carlos Silva Juan Carlos Silva Maya (born 6 February 1988) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. He made his league debut for America on 12 August 2007 against Chiapas in a 6–1 victory at the Estadio Azteca. Silva has represent ...

and

Enrique Esqueda Enrique Alejandro Esqueda Tirado (born 19 April 1988) is a Mexican former professional footballer who last played for East Bengal F.C. in the I-League. He represented Mexico at the 2015 Copa América. He is popularly known by his nickname "Pale ...

América

On 23 May 2011, Aguilar officially joined Club América for the

Apertura The ' and ' tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is div ...

tournament. Aguilar made his debut with América on 31 July in a league match against

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in M ...

, which ended in a 1–1 draw. Upon his arrival Aguilar became a popular player with the club's fans. He scored his first goal with América in the 90th minute against arch-rivals

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 ...

in the Súper Clásico. On 26 May 2013, Paul Aguilar won his first title with América after defeating

in the Clausura final, playing in both legs. On 26 March 2014, Aguilar signed a two-year contract extension with América, which will keep him at the club until 2016. Aguilar had previously stated publicly that he would like to end his career at América. Aguilar made his 100th league appearance for América on 30 May in the 4–0 win over Guadalajara. Prior to the first-leg of the 2014 Apertura semifinal series against

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

, it was reported that Aguilar was separated from the squad by manager

Antonio Mohamed Ricardo Antonio Mohamed Matijević (born 2 April 1970) is an Argentine football manager and former player. Mohamed played as a striker, making his senior debut with Huracán in 1988 and being sold to Italian club Fiorentina in 1991. He ne ...

due to an alleged dressing-room confrontation between the two. On 2 December 2020, Paul Aguilar left

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América or simply América, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

Juárez

On 19 July 2021, Aguilar signed with

FC Juárez Fútbol Club Juárez, commonly referred to as ''Bravos de Juárez'', or simply as ''Juárez'', is a Mexican football club based in the city of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua that currently competes in Liga MX. History Futbol Club Juárez was foun ...

International career

In October 2007, Aguilar received his first senior national team call-up by coach

Hugo Sánchez Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager, who played as a forward. A prolific goalscorer known for his spectacular strikes and volleys, he is widely regarded as the greatest Mexican fo ...

to play a friendly match against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, however he did no see playing time. In 2009, Aguilar was called-up again, this time by coach

Javier Aguirre Javier Aguirre Onaindía (; born 1 December 1958), nicknamed ''El Vasco'' (The Basque), is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager who is currently in charge of Spanish team RCD Mallorca. Aguirre played for Mexico at the 1986 Wo ...

, and made his debut with the national team on 30 September in a friendly match against

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. The match ended in a 1–2 defeat, with Aguilar played the entire 90 minutes and scoring Mexico's only goal. In early 2010, Aguirre called-up Aguilar for a series of international friendlies in preparation for the

. Mexico's first game of 2010 was a 5–0 win over

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, in which Paul scored his second goal for Mexico in only his second appearance. He eventually made the final 23-player roster for the World Cup. He started in the tournament's inaugural match against hosts

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, but was substituted out for

Andrés Guardado José Andrés Guardado Hernández (; born 28 September 1986) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Betis and captains the Mexico national team. Popularly known as ''Principito'' (Spanish for '' ...

in the 55th minute. He did not participate in any of the next three matches. Aguilar was a part of the winning squad at the

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the 21st CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's 50 years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition started on June ...

, however he only saw playing time in the semi-final match against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. Aguilar also participated in the 2011 Copa America held in

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 ...

, playing in all three group matches as a right-back. In 2012, he saw no activity with the national team. Aguilar would not receive another call-up until late 2013, this time by new coach

Miguel Herrera Miguel Ernesto Herrera Aguirre (born 18 March 1968), popularly referred to by his nickname "Piojo" (Spanish for "louse"), is a Mexican former professional footballer and current manager. He is the head coach of Liga MX club Tijuana. A former ...

for the two World Cup intercontinental playoff matches against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Aguilar would go on to score Mexico's first goal in the 5–1 win over New Zealand at the Estadio Azteca on 13 November. The playoff ended in a combined 9-3 win for Mexico, thus qualifying them to the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. Aguilar would be included in the final 23-man squad for the World Cup. During the 2014 World Cup, he started at right-back for Mexico in all four matches. During the

2015 CONCACAF Cup The CONCACAF Cup (officially the CONCACAF Cup presented by Scotiabank for sponsorship reasons) was an international soccer play-off match to determine CONCACAF's entry into the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. The 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup ...

, a one-off tournament meant to serve a qualifier to the

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 20 ...

, Aguilar scored a game-winning volley in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society), ...

for Mexico in the 3–2 result. In the run-up to the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

, national coach

Juan Carlos Osorio Juan Carlos Osorio Arbeláez (; born 8 June 1961) is a Colombian professional football manager and former footballer who played as a midfielder. Osorio began his playing career with Deportivo Pereira in 1982, and went on to play for Brazilian c ...

decided not to call-up Aguilar following alleged criticism from the player towards Osorio’s tactics.

Career statistics

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Mexico's goal tally first.''

Honours

Pachuca *

Mexican Primera División The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in al ...

: Clausura 2007 *

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 ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, 2009–10 *

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

North American SuperLiga The SuperLiga was an official North American association football competition between teams from the Liga MX of Mexico and Major League Soccer of the United States and Canada, the top divisions in each country. The competition was sanctioned by C ...

América *

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

: Clausura 2013, Apertura 2014, Apertura 2018 *

Copa MX The Copa MX (formerly called Copa Tower Monterrey, Copa Eliminatoria, Copa México and Copa Corona MX (for sponsorship reasons)) was a Mexican football cup competition that was established in 1907. After a lengthy hiatus that began in 1997, it wa ...

: Clausura 2019 *

Campeón de Campeones ''Campeón de Campeones'' ( es, Champion of Champions) is an annual Mexican football competition established in 1942. In its current form, the winner of the Apertura season faces the winner of the Clausura season, for both Liga MX and Liga MX Feme ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16 Mexico *

CONCACAF Cup The CONCACAF Cup (officially the CONCACAF Cup presented by Scotiabank for sponsorship reasons) was an international soccer play-off match to determine CONCACAF's entry into the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. The 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup w ...

Individual *

Best XI: Clausura 2015, Apertura 2015, Clausura 2016

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aguilar, Paul 1986 births Living people People from Concordia Municipality Footballers from Sinaloa Association football fullbacks Mexican footballers Mexico international footballers 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2011 Copa América players 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Copa América Centenario players CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning players C.F. Pachuca players Indios de Ciudad Juárez footballers Club América footballers Liga MX players