Hugo Ayala Castro (born 31 March 1987) 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

centre-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 ...

Club career

Atlas

Hugo Ayala started his professional career with

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

. He made his official debut in 2006 as a starter against

C.D. Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara (); often simply known as Guadalajara () and their nickname ''Chivas'' (), is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco. Guadalajara is one of the ten founding members of the Mexican First Divi ...

. Although Atlas lost 3–1 he became an often used substitute ending the season. In the next season he starting showing great talent in defending and became a starter in Atlas's defensive line up, leading Atlas all the way to the quarter finals to face

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 ...

, but lost to them in an aggregate score of (7–4). Throughout his career with Atlas he was mostly used as a substitute until the manager,

Ricardo La Volpe Ricardo Antonio La Volpe Guarchoni (; born 6 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager. He is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper who played for most of his career in Argentina and Mexico. As a coach, La Volpe was in ...

, took his place as manager of Atlas. La Volpe then started having confidence in Ayala, and made Ayala a starter and captain for Atlas. Then after Tigres saw great interest in Ayala his new club was Tigres

Tigres UANL

On 2010, he arrived to Tigres UANL and by 2011 he already was the starter centre-back along with Juninho, both key players for the Apertura 2011 championship. Ayala was named best defender of the Apertura 2011 season alongside teammate

Jorge Torres Nilo Jorge Emmanuel Torres Nilo (born 16 January 1988), also known as Pechu, is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Liga MX club Toluca. Club career Atlas Torres Nilo started his football career at Atlas, where he was u ...

. Ayala, a starter in Tigres since 2011, later would become champion with the team in the Apertura 2015, Apertura 2016 and Apertura 2017 seasons besides runner-up of the

2015 Copa Libertadores The 2015 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2015 Copa Bridgestone Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) was the 56th edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL ...

International career

In May 2018, Ayala was named in Mexico’s preliminary 28-man squad for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

in Russia, and was ultimately included in the final 23-man roster revealed on 4 June. He would go on to appear in the opening group stage match against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where Mexico won 1–0 and the round-of-16 loss 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

:''Scores and results list Mexico's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ayala goal.''

Honours

Tigres UANL *

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 ...

: Apertura 2011,

Apertura 2015 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 divi ...

, Apertura 2016, Apertura 2017, Clausura 2019 *

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 2014 *

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 ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

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 ...

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 United ...

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 ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Campeones Cup The Campeones Cup is an annual North American association football match contested between the winners of the previous MLS Cup from Major League Soccer and the winners of the Campeón de Campeones from Liga MX. The competition was established by ...

Individual *

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 ...

Best Rookie: Clausura 2007 *

Best Center-back: Apertura 2011 *

Best Defender: 2017–18 *

Best XI:

, Apertura 2017, Clausura 2019 * CONCACAF Best XI:

Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayala, Hugo 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Morelia Mexican footballers Footballers from Michoacán Association football central defenders Mexico international footballers Mexico youth international footballers 2015 Copa América players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2018 FIFA World Cup players Pan American Games bronze medalists for Mexico Pan American Games medalists in football Footballers at the 2007 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Liga MX players Atlas F.C. footballers Tigres UANL footballers