Matías Damián Palacios (born 10 May 2002) is an Argentine 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

central 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

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League (), also known as the ADNOC Pro League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the highest level of the Emirati football league system. The first team to w ...

side

Al Ain Al Ain () is a city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the seat of the administrative division of the Al Ain Region. The city is Oman–United Arab Emirates border, bordered to the east by the Omani town of Al-Buraimi. Al A ...

Club career

San Lorenzo

Palacios began his career with

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Villa San Lorenzo, town and municipality in Salta P ...

. He made his professional football debut on 21 September 2018, featuring for the final twenty-nine minutes of a 3–2 victory over Patronato at the

Estadio Pedro Bidegain Nuevo Gasómetro (; , named after the club's former venue, El Gasómetro), officially known as Pedro Bidegain Stadium (, ; named after the club's former president Pedro Bidegain) is an association football stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Loca ...

. Aged 16, it meant Palacios became the club's youngest ever player in Primera División history. He made five further appearances for the club, which included his one and only start on 10 January 2021 against Banfield.

Basel

On 15 February 2021, Palacios signed with

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

club

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

; penning a contract until 2025. He joined Basel's first team for their 2020–21 season under head coach

Ciriaco Sforza Ciriaco Sforza (; born 2 March 1970) is a Swiss football manager and former professional player who last managed Swiss Challenge League club FC Schaffhausen. After beginning his career with Swiss clubs FC Aarau and Grasshopper Club Zürich, he ...

. Palacios played his domestic league debut for his new club in the away game in the

Kybunpark The Kybunpark, formerly known as AFG Arena, is a multi-use stadium in St. Gallen, Switzerland, completed in 2008. It is used mostly for football matches and hosts the home matches of FC St. Gallen of the Swiss Super League. It replaces the Es ...

on 27 February as Basel were defeated 1–3 by St. Gallen. He scored his first goal for the club on 15 August 2021 in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

away game as Basel won 7–0 against amateur club FC Schönenwerd-Niedergösgen. He scored his first league goal for the club in the away game in the

Swissporarena Swissporarena is a multi-use stadium in Lucerne, Switzerland, completed in 2011. It is used mostly for football matches and hosts the home matches of FC Luzern of the Swiss Super League. The stadium has a capacity of 16,800 spectators, including ...

on 28 November as Basel won 3–1 against

Luzern Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

. At the beginning of the next season Palacios left the club because he had only been used as a substitute. During his time with them, Palacios played a total of 62 games for Basel scoring a total of four goals. 31 of these games were in the

, three in the

, 12 in the

Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

and 16 were friendly games. He scored one goal in the domestic league, two in the cup and the other was scored during the test games.

Al Ain

Palacios moved on to play for

in the United Arab Emirates.

International career

Palacios represented Argentina at U15, U17 and

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA S ...

level. For the U15s, Palacios won the 2017 South American Championship prior to winning the

2016 COTIF Tournament The 2016 L'Alcúdia International Football Tournament The Torneo Internacional de Fútbol Sub-20 de L'Alcúdia (''L'Alcúdia International Under-20 Football Tournament''), better known as COTIF, is an annual international invitational football c ...

with the U20s.

Pablo Aimar Pablo César Aimar (born 3 November 1979) is an Argentine former professional Association football, footballer and current assistant coach of the Argentina national football team, Argentina national team. During his career, he played as an attack ...

selected Palacios for the

2019 South American U-17 Championship The 2019 South American U-17 Championship (, ) was the 18th edition of the South American U-17 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONMEBOL for the men's under-17 national teams of South America. It wa ...

on 3 March. Diego Placente called him up for the U17s' trip to Russia for the

2019 Granatkin Memorial The 2019 Valentin Granatkin Memorial Cup is its 19th edition after dissolution of the USSR. The tournament was held at Saint Petersburg, Russia from 4 to 14 June 2019, being organised by Russian Football Union. Participating nations Total of 12 ...

. He scored in game one against Armenia, prior to netting versus

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

in the semi-finals on the way to Argentina winning the competition. He was also chosen as the tournament's best midfielder. In October 2019, Palacios was picked for the

2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 18th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was ...

in Brazil.

Personal life

His brother,

Julián Julián is the Spanish equivalent of the name Julian. Notable people with the name include: * Julián, Julián Cuesta, Spanish footballer * Julián Orbón (1925–1991) Cuban composer * Julián Carrón (1950) Spanish Catholic theologian * Juliá ...

, is a fellow footballer; he also started off in San Lorenzo's youth academy.

Career statistics

Honours

Argentina U15 *

South American U-15 Championship The South American U-15 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 15, is a South American association football competition held every two years contested by male players under the age of 15 and is organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body for foot ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Argentina U17 *

South American U-17 Championship The South American U-17 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 17, is a association football, football competition held every two years for South American under-17 teams. The tournament was born in 1985 out of a need for a classification tourna ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Granatkin Memorial The Granatkin Memorial () is a youth association football tournament which traditionally features invited national teams composed of U-17/U-18/U-19 players. The tournament is held in Saint Petersburg since 2006 (previously in Moscow and Leningrad ...

Argentina U20 *

L'Alcúdia International Football Tournament The Torneo Internacional de Fútbol Sub-20 de L'Alcúdia (''L'Alcúdia International Under-20 Football Tournament''), better known as COTIF, is an annual international invitational football competition for youth teams, open to both clubs and natio ...

: 2018 Al Ain *

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

: 2023-24

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palacios, Matias 2002 births Living people People from General Pico Footballers from La Pampa Province Emirati men's footballers Argentine men's footballers Argentina men's youth international footballers Argentina men's under-20 international footballers Men's association football midfielders San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers FC Basel players Al Ain FC players Argentine Primera División players Swiss Promotion League players Swiss Super League players UAE Pro League players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates AFC Champions League Elite–winning players Naturalized citizens of the United Arab Emirates Argentine emigrants to the United Arab Emirates 21st-century Argentine sportsmen