Álvaro Mejía Pérez (born 18 January 1982) is a Spanish 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 lea ...

who played primarily as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Mejía started his career at

Las Rozas CF Las Rozas Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football club based in Las Rozas de Madrid, in the autonomous Community of Madrid. Founded in 1966 it plays in , holding home games at '' Polideportivo Dehesa de Navalcarbón'', which has a capacity of 3,000 ...

. He signed for

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in 1998, subsequently moving up the various youth ranks. Mejía joined the third team for 2001–02 but moved shortly after to the reserves, being admitted to the main squad the following season and making his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

debut in a 2–1 home win against

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

on 24 January 2004. He also appeared in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

on 3 March (again playing the full match) in a 1–0 home victory over

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

. In May he renewed his contract until 2010, and he was subsequently put to use in different defensive positions. The following year, Mejía appeared in just eight games for Real Madrid in all competitions, adding 26 in the league over the next two seasons. His only goal came in a 2–0 away defeat of

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

on 29 October 2005 after one minute on the pitch, having come on as a substitute for Carlos Diogo. In July 2007, Mejía joined top-flight newcomers

Real Murcia CF Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in , playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condo ...

on a four-year deal, and scored in the first league round in a 2–1 home win over

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

. A starter throughout the vast majority of the campaign, he faced relegation for the first time in his career. On 30 July 2010, after Murcia dropped another tier, Mejía moved to

AC Arles-Avignon AC, A.C., A/C, or Ac often refers to: * Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C * Alternating current, a type of electrical current in which the current repeatedly changes direction AC, A.C. or Ac may also refer to: Arts and entertainment G ...

in France, newly promoted to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

, on a one-year contract. In January of the following year he changed teams – and countries – again, signing for Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club), commonly referred to as Konyaspor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya, one of the largest cities in central Anatolia. Due to sponsorship agreements, the club is also officially known ...

. On 13 July 2012, Mejía agreed to a one-year deal with

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, after passing his medical. On 18 June 2014, after one season in the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

with Ergotelis FC, he joined newly promoted

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation wi ...

side

Al Shahaniya SC Al Shahaniya Sports Club (), is a Qatari sports club based in Al-Shahaniya, a town 20 km from the capital Doha. Founded in 1998, the most prominent team of the club is the football team which plays in the Qatari Stars League. The club's hom ...

Career statistics

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 2006–07 Al Shahaniya *

Qatari Second Division The Qatari Second Division (), QSD or Second Division League, also was known as Qatargas League due to sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the two-tier football league competition in Qatar. Contested by 8 teams, it operates on a system of p ...

: 2017–18

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mejia, Alvaro 1982 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Real Murcia CF players UD Almería players Ligue 1 players AC Arlésien players Süper Lig players TFF 1. Lig players Konyaspor footballers Super League Greece players Ergotelis F.C. players Qatar Stars League players Qatari Second Division players Al Shahaniya SC players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Spanish expatriate sportspeople in France Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Qatar