Alvaro Linares Silva (born March 30, 1984), known as Álvaro Silva (), is a 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 as a

centre-back 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 ...

. Born in Spain, he represented the Philippines national team. He played for clubs in Spain, Romania, Azerbaijan, Kuwait, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand during his senior career, notably amassing

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 ...

totals of 165 matches and two goals at the service of Málaga B,

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

, Xerez (two spells) and

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

Club career

Silva was born in

Andújar Andújar () is a Spanish municipality of 35,619 people (2024) in the province of Jaén, in Andalusia. The municipality is divided by the Guadalquivir River. The northern part of the municipality is where the Natural Park of the Sierra de And� ...

, Jaén. After one loan, he made his senior debut with

Atlético Malagueño Club Atlético Malagueño, shortened to Atlético Malagueño, () is a Spanish football team based in Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1990, it is the reserve team of Málaga CF, and currently plays in , holding home ...

, appearing in two second division seasons and being relegated in the latter. His first contact with the first team came in 2006–07, also in the second level (33 games, one goal). In 2008–09, Silva was loaned by Málaga for a second time, to another

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

n side,

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo S. A. D. is a Spanish association football, football club based in the city of Jerez de la Frontera. It was founded in 1947 and plays in . History Due to the link between Jerez de la Frontera and the United Kingdom created b ...

, appearing relatively as they achieved a first-ever

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 ...

promotion. On 16 July 2009 he returned to Málaga, being immediately released and joining neighbors

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20,724. Salvadoran ...

in the second level for three years. A starter through most of the campaign, he suffered relegation this time. Silva returned to division two and Xerez in the summer of 2011. After only one league appearance in the first half of the season, however, he moved abroad and penned a six-month contract with

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club

FC Petrolul Ploiești Asociația Clubul Sportiv Petrolul 52, commonly referred to as FC Petrolul Ploiești (), Petrolul Ploiești or simply Petrolul, is a Romanian professional Association football, football Club (organization), club based in Ploiești, Prahova Count ...

. In January 2013, Silva signed an 18-month deal with

Khazar Lankaran FK Khazar Lankaran FK () was an Azerbaijani football club based in Lankaran that last played in the Azerbaijan Premier League during the 2015–16 season. Since the summer of 2016 the club has concentrated on youth football. It played in the Aze ...

of the

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League (), also known as Misli Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Azerbaijan and the highest level of the Azerbaijani football league system. It is contested by twelve ...

. He won his second piece of silverware on 23 October of that year, featuring against Neftchi Baku PFK in the

Azerbaijan Supercup The Azerbaijan Supercup () was a football competition, held at the beginning of each domestic season and disputed between the winners of the Azerbaijan Premier League and the winners of the Azerbaijan Cup. It was held in 1993–1995 period as "Sa ...

. After his stint in Azerbaijan, Silva turned down offers from clubs in Israel, Qatar and Spain which included Marbella FC, in favor of

Kuwaiti Premier League The Kuwait Premier League (), known as Zain Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Kuwait football pyramid system. Formed in 1961, Kuwait SC holds the best record in the competition, having won 20 times. History Th ...

Qadsia SC Al Qadsia Sporting Club () is a professional football club based in Kuwait City. Al Qadsia was founded in 1953 as ''Al-Jazira'', before being renamed to ''Al Qadsia SC'' on 20 October 1960. Qadsia currently plays in the Kuwait Premier League ...

. On 30 August 2016, he left Daejeon Citizen FC and began training with Indonesian club Arema Cronus F.C. who was poised to sign him pending a successful medical, but eventually nothing came of it. Silva joined

V.League 1 The V.League 1 (), also called LPBank V.League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football league in Vietnam, controlled by the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF). It is contested by 14 clubs who play each ...

side

Hanoi FC Hanoi Football Club (), officially named CLB Hà Nội, is a professional football club based in Hanoi, Vietnam. They play their home matches at Hang Day Stadium and compete in V.League 1, the top division in the Vietnamese football league sy ...

on 21 December 2016, for one year.

International career

In early 2014, Silva started work on getting his Filipino passport as his paternal grandmother was Filipino. so he would be eligible to play for the Philippines national team. By mid-June, he arrived in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

to further process his documents. Silva made his international debut on October 31, 2014, coming on as a substitute in a 3–0 friendly win against

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

Personal life

Silva was born to Spanish parents – his father being of Filipino descent– and traces his Filipino roots to

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite (; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region. On the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest of Manila, i ...

and

Iloilo Iloilo ( ; ), officially the Province of Iloilo (; ; ; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Iloilo City, the regional center of Western Visayas and politically independen ...

. Silva belongs to a family of footballers, his younger brother Enrique, played for Malaga B, his cousin Kike Linares – who is also a Philippines international and Nacho Linares.

Club statistics

Honours

Xerez *

: 2008–09 Khazar *

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Azerbaijan Cup The Azerbaijan Cup () is a major association football competition in Azerbaijan. In its original form, it started in 1936, when Azerbaijan was a republic of the Soviet Union and it was not disputed by Azerbaijani teams in the Soviet league pyramid ...

runner-up: 2012–13 Al-Qadsia *

Kuwait Super Cup The Kuwait Super Cup () is football competition in Kuwait organised by the Kuwait Football Association (KFA) since 2008. Until the 2022–23 season, the competition served as the opening match of the season and was played between the champions of ...

: 2014 *

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

BG Pathum United *

Thai League 1 The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

: 2020–21 Individual *

AFF Championship The ASEAN Championship (formerly known as the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the ASEAN Hyundai Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the biennial football tournament organized by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) for men's natio ...

Best Eleven:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

References

External links