Álvar Gimeno Soria (; born 15 December 1997) is a Spanish professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer who plays as a

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for Spanish rugby club Ciencias Sevilla CR and the Spain national team. In his youth career, he was selected to play in the 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championships for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and took part in

CAU Rugby Valencia CAU Rugby Valencia is a rugby union club based in Valencia, Spain. The club currently competes in the second-tier División de Honor B. History CAU Rugby Valencia was founded in 1973 by members of the University of Valencia The University o ...

age grade representatives teams during secondary school.

Early life

Álvar Gimeno Soria was born on 15 December 1997 in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, the son of Yolanda Soria and Toni Gimeno. Gimeno and his parents migrated to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

when he was twelve-years-old after his father pursued the sport

in the country. Settling in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, he attended St Thomas of Canterbury College where he excelled in sports playing for the Burnside under-12 rugby side and being personally coached by former Spain international, David Monreal.

Professional career

2015–17

Due to studying INEF at the

Technical University of Madrid The Technical University of Madrid or sometimes called Polytechnic University of Madrid (, UPM) is a public university, located in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1971 as the result of merging different Technical Schools of Engineering and Arc ...

, Gimeno signed with Complutense Cisneros. He made his professional debut in the División de Honor competition at 17-years-old. He made the match-day fifteen at

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

against Pozuelo at Valle de las Cañas in September 2015. Gimeno became the youngest rugby player to debut in the league. He reached the semi-finals after overcoming a narrow 25–23 quarter-final victory over Santboiana during the 2015–16 season. Gimeno later sustained an injury after the pain and discomfort that accompanied him throughout the Cisneros campaign and decided to undergo surgery. Gimeno gained selection honours after being announced in the 27-man Spain national team on 31 May ahead of the

2016 World Rugby Nations Cup The 2016 World Rugby Cup of Nations was the eleventh edition of the World Rugby Nations Cup rugby union tournament, created by World Rugby (formerly IRB). As with the previous nine tournaments, the competition took place in the Stadionul Naţion ...

. He was one of six potential debutants named. Unavailable to injury, Gimeno was replaced by Jaime Mata and would miss selection in the national squad for the remainder of their campaign in

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, Romania. He was called up for a second time with the national team to play the first friendly match of the 2016 end-of-year internationals against

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

. He debuted for Spain alongside Matthew Foulds, Kalokalo Gavidi and Fabien Perrin in November, replacing Thibaut Alvarez off the bench in the 69th minute. Gimeno received a yellow card for a dangerous tackle in his second test match against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. In September 2016, Gimeno returned to play for Complutense Cisneros in the opening week of the 2016–17 División de Honor season against Ciencias Rugby Sevilla. At season's end, he scored three career tries and featured in the playoffs against Santboiana. His performance at domestic level saw his inclusion in the Spain national sevens team in preparation for the

2017 Hong Kong Sevens The 2017 Hong Kong Sevens was the 42nd edition of the Hong Kong Sevens tournament, and the seventh tournament of the 2016–17 World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournament was played on 7–9 April 2017 at Hong Kong Stadium in Hong Kong. England ...

qualification tournament. While there was interest from other professional clubs for Gimeno, he signed a deal with

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

after coach Diego Merino Rodríguez confirmed the signing in May 2017. He made his first professional appearance for Valladolid starting in the

outside centre In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

position against

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

after defeating the side 35–18 in early September. The following week, Gimeno's second consecutive match, he scored his first try for the club during 2017–18 season against Hernani at Landare Toki. Gimeno attributed to Valladolid's División de Honor campaign and their championship and top of the table success after being selected in the side's starting lineup at centre. It was the club's seventh title win.

2018–present

Statistics

Updated: 24 April 2022 Source:''
Álvar G Soria Rugby History
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List of international test tries

Updated: 15 April 2021 Source:''

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References

External links

at It'sRugby.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Gimeno, Álvar 1997 births Spanish rugby union players Rugby union centres Living people People educated at St Thomas of Canterbury College Spain international rugby union players Sportspeople from Valencia Spanish expatriate rugby union players in France AS Béziers Hérault players Spanish expatriates in New Zealand Complutense University of Madrid alumni Complutense Cisneros CR players Valladolid RAC players