Alfonso Blanco Antúnez (born 31 July 1987) is a Mexican 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 plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

club León.

Club career

Blanco began in Pachuca's youth division teams and then was transferred on loan for

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 Di ...

in the 2007 Season after having a good performance during the U-20 World Cup in Canada in 2006. Blanco arrived to Indios as one of the main bookings for the season but after 4 games and receiving 10 goals he was relegated to the bench for the rest of the season. Indios managed to qualify for the Liguilla in Apertura 2007 and due to an injury from the goalie Joel Barba, Blanco returned to the first team and helped the team get to the finals. Though he did not make his debut in the Primera División with

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

, there were already offers for Blanco from European clubs from Spain, Greece and Holland but in the end, he settled with

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

. After Óscar Pérez's controversial signing with

Tigres UANL Club Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, abbreviated as Tigres UANL and simply known as Tigres or internationally as Tigres de México, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in the Monterrey metropo ...

, Cruz Azul brought Blanco, possibly, to be a substitute of

Yosgart Gutiérrez Yosgart Ernesto Gutiérrez Serna (born 15 March 1981) is a Mexican professional football coach and a former goalkeeper. Career In the Clausura 2008 tournament, first-choice goalkeeper Óscar Pérez had fallen out of favor with the team due to h ...

, the Goalkeeper who took Perez's spot. He played the rest of Clausura 2009 as the Cruz Azul starter goalkeeper but the team finished in the last place of the table. On June 19, 2009, he was signed by Deportivo Irapuato. Later he joined

Club León Club León is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in León, Guanajuato, León, Guanajuato, that competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football league system, Mexican football. The club was founded in 1944 ...

. Before starting Clausura 2012, it was announced he would play for his original club, Pachuca.

Career statistics

Honours

Pachuca *

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

: 2016–17 León *

: Guardianes 2020 *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Individual *

Golden Glove: 2016–17

References

1987 births Living people Footballers from Veracruz Men's association football goalkeepers Mexican men's footballers Mexico men's under-20 international footballers Indios de Ciudad Juárez footballers C.F. Pachuca players Cruz Azul footballers C.D. Irapuato footballers Club América footballers Club Necaxa footballers Club León footballers Atlético San Luis footballers Liga MX players CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning players 21st-century Mexican sportsmen {{Mexico-footy-goalkeeper-stub