Mariano Díaz Mejía (Spanish pronunciation: aˈɾjano ˈði.aθ meˈxi.a born 1 August 1993), better known as Mariano, is a 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. Born in Spain, he plays for the Dominican Republic national team. Shortly after making his debut for

Badalona Badalona (, , , ) is a municipality in Barcelonès county, in Catalonia (Spain). It is located to the north east of Barcelona, on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By population, ...

in 2011, Mariano joined

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 ...

, where he played in the C-team and then the reserves, where he was top scorer in the

2015–16 Segunda División B The 2015–16 Segunda División B season was the 39th since its establishment. The first matches of the season were to be played in August 2015, and the season ended in June 2016 with the promotion play-off finals. Overview before the season 80 te ...

. He then began playing with the first team, and was part of their squad that won

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 ...

, 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 ...

and the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

in 2016–17. He was subsequently signed by

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 ...

club

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

, but returned to Madrid one year later, spending the next five seasons with ''Los Blancos'' before joining

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

for a single season in 2023.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Premià de Mar Premià de Mar () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' of the Maresme in Catalonia. It is situated on the coast between El Masnou and Vilassar de Mar, to the north-east of Barcelona. The town is b ...

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 ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Mariano began his youth career with local side

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

, and appeared for lowly CE Premià and Fundació Sánchez Llibre. In 2009, he joined

CF Badalona Club de Fútbol Badalona () is a Spanish football team based in Badalona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1903 it plays in , temporarily holding home games at Estadi Municipal de Badalona, with a capacity of 4,170 seats. Ba ...

, and made his senior debut on 21 August 2011, replacing

Iñaki Goikoetxea Iñaki Goikoetxea Beristain (born 6 May 1982 in Deba, Gipuzkoa) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker, and is a current manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether business ...

for the final 21 minutes of a 1–0 loss at

CD Teruel Club Deportivo Teruel is a Spanish football team based in Teruel, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1954, the club plays in the , and holds home games at ''Estadio Pinilla'', with a capacity of 4,500 seats. History Founded in 195 ...

in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

; he made two more appearances off the bench. On the 31st, he made his first start, playing the entirety of a 3–1 loss at RB Linense in that season's

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

, scoring his team's consolation.

Real Madrid

Youth and Castilla

Shortly after, Mariano signed with

, returning to youth football. In August 2012 he was promoted to the Madrilenian side's C-team also in the third level. He became a regular in his second season there, scoring 15 goals in 26 matches, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

on 22 December 2013 in a 5–2 home win over

Sestao River Club Sestao River Club is a Spanish football team based in Sestao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1996 it plays in , hosting home games at ''Estadio Las Llanas'', with a capacity of 8,905 seats. History ''Sestao River Club ...

. The following 18 January, Mariano made his professional debut at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano, appearing with the reserves in a 1–2 loss against

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

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 ...

; he came on for the final five minutes in place of

Raúl de Tomás Raul, Raúl, Raül, and Raüll are forms of a common first name in Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan. The name is cognate of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph and the French R ...

. In 2014–15, with Castilla now in the third tier, Mariano was indefinitely promoted to the team. He made ten appearances, six from the bench, and scored five times. On 29 March, he entered late in De Tomás' place again and scored twice to cap a 5–1 home win over UD Las Palmas B, while one week later, he was given a start at lowly

UB Conquense Unión Balompédica Conquense is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Cuenca, Spain, Cuenca, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1946, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio La Fuensanta ...

and struck both goals in a seven-minute span. On 24 October 2015, Mariano scored all of his team's goals in a 3–1 home win over

UD Socuéllamos Unión Deportiva Socuéllamos is a Spanish football team based in Socuéllamos, Ciudad Real, in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. Founded in 1924, it plays in , holding home games at 2,500-seat '' Estadio Paquito Jiménez'' . Hi ...

, and repeated this on 8 November in a 3–2 win against

CF Fuenlabrada Club de Fútbol Fuenlabrada, S.A.D. is a football club based in Fuenlabrada, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, the third tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded in 1975. It holds ...

. The following 17 April, he scored his third treble of the season, scoring all of the goals – two penalties – in a home win over SD Gernika Club which put Castilla top. He scored his 25th goal of the season in a 6–1 win over

La Roda CF La Roda Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football club based in La Roda, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1996 it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Municipal de Deportes'', which has a capacity of 3,000 spectato ...

on the last day of the season, making him the season's top scorer and winning the group at the expense of

Barakaldo CF Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Basque football team based in Barakaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1917 it plays in , holding home stadium is '' Lasesarre'', with a 7,960 Seat Capacity. History Barakaldo pla ...

2016–17: Entrance in the first squad

Mariano was definitively promoted to the main squad by manager

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; ; ''Zineddin Lyazid Zidan''; ; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as an attacking midfi ...

on 20 August 2016, after a back injury to striker

Karim Benzema Karim Mostafa Benzema (born 19 December 1987) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for and Captain (association football), captains Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad Clu ...

. One week later, Mariano made his senior debut during a 2–1 win over

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

, replacing

Álvaro Morata Álvaro Borja Morata Martín (born 23 October 1992) is a Spanish professional Football player, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Süper Lig club Galatasaray S.K. (football), Galatasaray, on Loan (sports), loa ...

in the 77th minute. On 26 October, again from the bench, he scored his first goal for the ''Merengues'' to conclude a 7–1 win at

Cultural y Deportiva 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 the

. In the second leg, he added a hat-trick for a 13–2 aggregate win, including a 23rd-second goal that was his team's fastest goal in the competition. Mariano scored his first top-flight goal on 10 December, equalising in a 3–2 comeback victory at home to

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

. Later that month, he was part of the squad that won the

2016 FIFA Club World Cup The 2016 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2016 presented by Alibaba YunOS Auto for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club association footbal ...

in Japan, but did not appear in either of Real Madrid's matches. Mariano made eight appearances when Madrid won the

2016–17 La Liga The 2016–17 La Liga season, also known as LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, was the 86th since its establishment. The season began on 19 August 2016 and concluded on 21 May 2017. Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid secured t ...

. He was a back-up when Madrid won the

2016–17 UEFA Champions League The 2016–17 UEFA Champions League was the 62nd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 25th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pla ...

Lyon

On 30 June 2017, Mariano signed for

. The fee was reported as €8 million plus 35% interest on the capital gain of a potential future transfer. He made his debut on 5 August in the first match of the

2017–18 Ligue 1 The 2017–18 Ligue 1 season, also known as Ligue 1 Conforama for sponsorship reasons, was the 80th season since its establishment. The season started on 4 August 2017 and ended on 19 May 2018. AS Monaco FC, Monaco were the defending champions. O ...

season against

RC Strasbourg Alsace Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace, commonly known as RC Strasbourg (, ; RCS) or simply just Racing, is a football in France, French professional association football club founded in 1906 and based in the city of Strasbourg, Alsace. It became a p ...

, scoring twice in a 4–0 home win. He totalled 18 goals for the league season, forming a prolific attacking trio alongside

Memphis Depay Memphis Depay (; born 13 February 1994), also known mononymously as Memphis, is a Dutch professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Sport Club Corin ...

and

Nabil Fekir Nabil Fekir (; born 18 July 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for UAE Pro League club Al Jazira. An academy graduate of Lyon, he was promoted to the senior squad in July 2013. Fekir became a first-t ...

(19 and 18 goals respectively).

Return to Real Madrid

On 29 August 2018, Real Madrid announced they had signed Mariano on a five-year contract. As the Spanish club already owned 35% of his playing rights, the fee was reduced to €23 million. He was given the number 7 shirt, previously worn by

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

. His second debut was on 19 September, coming on as a 73rd-minute substitute against

A.S. Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: ) is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its exis ...

in the first fixture of the

2018–19 UEFA Champions League The 2018–19 UEFA Champions League was the 64th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 27th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. For the first ti ...

group stage, and he scored the last goal of a 3–0 victory with a curved shot from outside the

penalty area The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends to each side of the goal and in front of it. If any part of the ball is ove ...

. On 1 March 2020, having just came off the bench for his first league appearance of the season, he scored with his first touch of the ball in the 90th minute of a 2–0

El Clásico El Clásico (in Spanish, also in lowercase letters; ) or El Clàssic (in Catalan, ), both meaning "The Classic", is the name given to any football match between rival clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid. Originally referring to competitions he ...

victory. He made five appearances during the league season, as Real Madrid won the

2019–20 La Liga The 2019–20 La Liga season, also known as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, was the 89th since its establishment. The season began on 16 August 2019 and was originally scheduled to conclude on 24 May 2020. Barcelona were the two-time ...

. In July 2020, Mariano tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. On 3 June 2023, Real Madrid announced that Mariano would leave the club at the expiration of his contract on 30 June 2023.

Sevilla

On 1 September 2023, Mariano signed for fellow La Liga club

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

on a free transfer.

International career

Mariano is eligible for the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

through his mother, a native of

San Juan de la Maguana San Juan de la Maguana is a city and municipality in the western region of the Dominican Republic and capital of the San Juan Province (Dominican Republic), San Juan province. It was one of the first cities established on the island; founded in 15 ...

. He made his international debut on 24 March 2013 in a friendly against neighbours

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, and scored the last goal of a 3–1 victory. He later retired from the national team to focus on his career at Real Madrid and also avoid being

cap-tied Cap-tied is an adjective, used primarily in association football, to describe a player who has represented a senior national football team in more than three games (including at least one competitive game) and as a result is unable to represent a ...

with the Dominican Republic, in view of a possible call up for the Spain national team. In December 2017, Spain manager

Julen Lopetegui Julen Lopetegui Argote (; born 28 August 1966) is a Spanish professional football manager and former footballer. He is the current manager of the Qatar national team. A goalkeeper, he played 149 La Liga matches over nine seasons, representing ...

said he was monitoring Mariano for a call-up. In March 2025, he was called up to the Dominican Republic national team after 303 days without playing a club match.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Dominican Republic's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mariano goal.''

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 2016–17, 2019–20, 2021–22 *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

: 2016–17, 2021–22 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

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 ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Individual *

top scorer: 2015–16

References

External links

Profile
on Real Madrid official website * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Mariano 1993 births Living people Dominican Republic people of Spanish descent Spanish people of Dominican Republic descent Sportspeople of Dominican Republic descent People from Premià de Mar Footballers from the Province of Barcelona Dominican Republic men's footballers Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards CF Badalona players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Olympique Lyonnais players Sevilla FC players UEFA Champions League–winning players Segunda División B players Segunda División players La Liga players Ligue 1 players Dominican Republic men's international footballers 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in France Dominican Republic expatriate men's footballers Dominican Republic expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France 21st-century Spanish sportsmen 21st-century Dominican Republic sportsmen