Jhegson Sebastián Méndez Carabalí (born 26 April 1997) is an Ecuadorian 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Independiente del Valle Club de Alto Rendimiento Especializado Independiente del Valle, known simply as Independiente del Valle, is a professional football club based in Sangolquí Ecuador that currently plays in the Ecuadorian Serie A. Founded in 1958, the club plays ...

Club career

Independiente del Valle

Méndez joined the

academy in 2011. By 2014 he had been promoted to the club's B team and made his first-team debut on 7 March 2015 in a victory over L.D.U. Loja in the Serie A Primera Etapa. After two substitute appearances, Méndez was loaned to

Cultural Leonesa Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (), better known as Cultural Leonesa or La Cultural, is a Spanish football team based in León, in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. Founded on 5 August 1923, it currently plays in Primera División RFE ...

in Spain, making one substitute appearance for the club on 29 November 2015. Upon his return to the club, Méndez had to wait until gameweek 15 of the 2016 season to play his next game, appearing as a substitute in a defeat to Fuerza Amarilla on 13 May 2016. He followed that up by playing the full 90 minutes in six of the final ten games of the Serie A Primera Etapa and a further 12 appearances in the Segunda Etapa as he cemented himself as a first-team regular.

Orlando City

On 28 December 2018, Méndez signed to

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

team Orlando City. He made his debut in the season opener at home to

New York City FC New York City Football Club (often referred to as NYCFC) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in New York City. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern C ...

on 2 March 2019. In July 2019, Méndez was part of the Orlando City team alongside Nani and Chris Mueller that won the 2019 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge, beating teams from the MLS All-Stars and

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

to win the $25,000 prize for charity. On 7 November 2021, Méndez scored his first goal for the club on his 65th appearance. The goal, a spectacular knuckling 20-yard strike, was the opener in an eventual 2–0 win away at

CF Montréal Club de Foot Montréal () is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Montreal. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Founded in 1992 as the Mo ...

. It was the final match of the regular season in which Orlando entered knowing a draw would guarantee qualification to the 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs.

Los Angeles FC

On 19 July 2022, Méndez was acquired by

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. It was establi ...

via trade in exchange for $300,000 of General Allocation Money (GAM). Orlando could receive an additional $450,000 in GAM if certain contract conditions are met and also retained an undisclosed percentage of any future transfer fee. With LAFC, he won both the

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 199 ...

, after a 3-0 win over

Austin FC Austin FC is an American professional soccer club based in Austin, Texas. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 2018, the club began play in the 2021 season. Their home stadium is Q ...

, and the

MLS Cup Final MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

, following a penalty shoot-out win over

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

. At the end of the 2022 season, he was released by the club.

São Paulo

On 9 January 2023, Méndez joined Brazilian club

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

on a free transfer, signing a three-year contract. Rarely used in his first season, he was loaned to Spanish

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 ...

side

Elche Elche (, ; , , , ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2024's data, Elche has a population of 234,800 inhabitants,

on 1 February 2024. After no longer being part of the main team's plans, Méndez had his contract terminated by mutual consent on 8 January 2025.

Return to Independiente del Valle

On 21 January 2025, a few days after finalizing the procedures for his termination, Méndez was announced via

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as a reinforcement for Independiente del Valle.

International career

Méndez was a member of Ecuador’s

2017 South American U-20 Championship The 2017 South American Youth Football Championship (, ) was the 28th edition of the South American Youth Football Championship, a football competition for the under-20 national teams in South America organized by CONMEBOL. It was held in Ecuador f ...

squad which reached the final of the tournament. In October 2018, Méndez was called up to the senior Ecuador national team by manager

Hernán Darío Gómez Hernán Darío Gómez Jaramillo (; born 3 February 1956), also known as El Bolillo (; ''The Baton''), is a Colombian football manager and former player who is the current manager of the El Salvador national team. Career He was an active playe ...

for the first time. He made his debut on 11 September 2018, playing 73 minutes in a 2–0 friendly victory over

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

Toyota Park SeatGeek Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, about 12 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. It is the home stadium of Chicago Stars FC of the National Women's Soccer League, Chicago Fire FC II of MLS Next Pro, and th ...

Bridgeview, Illinois Bridgeview is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located approximately southwest of the Chicago Loop. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the village population was 17,027. History The earliest European sett ...

. In May 2019, he was called into the squad for the

2019 Copa América The 2019 Copa América was the 46th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. It was held in Brazil and took place between 14 June and 7 Ju ...

, his first senior international tournament. After sitting out the first group game, Méndez started against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and drew a foul from goalkeeper Gabriel Arias to win a penalty, Ecuador's only goal of a 2–1 defeat. He started the following game, a 1–1 draw with

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Ecuador were eliminated after finishing bottom of

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for Touring car racing, touring cars and ''Group B'' for Grand tourer, GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 (motorspor ...

with one point. In June 2021, Méndez was named to the final roster for the

2021 Copa América The 2021 Copa América was the 47th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football, football championship organised by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament took place in Brazil from 13 June to ...

. Méndez was named in the Ecuadorian squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Personal life

His uncle is former professional footballer and fellow Ecuadorean international player

Édison Méndez Édison Vicente Méndez Méndez (; born March 16, 1979, in Ibarra, Ecuador, Ibarra) is an Ecuadorian football (soccer), football Coach (sport), coach and former player who played as either a Midfielder (football)#Winger, winger or an attacking mi ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Los Angeles FC *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

São Paulo *

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil () is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, ...

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 ...

References

External links

*
Jhegson Sebastian Mendez Carabal
at

Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol * Federación, Entre Ríos, Argentina * Federación Department, Argentina * Federación Municipality, Falcón State Falcón State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Coro. The state was named after Juan Crisóstomo ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendez, Jhegson Living people 1997 births People from Mira Canton Sportspeople from Carchi Province Ecuadorian men's footballers 21st-century Ecuadorian sportsmen Men's association football midfielders Ecuadorian Serie A players C.S. Norte América footballers Independiente del Valle footballers Segunda División B players Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players Major League Soccer players Orlando City SC players Los Angeles FC players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players São Paulo FC players Segunda División players Elche CF players Ecuador men's international footballers Ecuador men's youth international footballers Ecuador men's under-20 international footballers Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil 2019 Copa América players 2021 Copa América players 2022 FIFA World Cup players