Javier Ignacio Aquino Carmona (, born 11 February 1990) 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, rugb ...

who plays as a full-back for

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

club Tigres UANL. He is an

Olympic gold medalist This article lists the individuals who have won at least four gold medals at the Olympic Games or at least three gold medals in individual events. List of most Olympic gold medals over career This is a partial list of multiple Olympic gold medalis ...

. Aquino made his debut with

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

in 2010, playing in over 70 league matches until his transfer to Spanish

Liga Adelante Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga ...

club

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

in January 2013, with whom he gained promotion to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaL ...

that same season. In 2014, he was loaned out to

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Li ...

. After a quiet performance with Rayo Vallecano, in 2015 he returned to Mexico to join Tigres UANL. Aquino has been called up to the Mexico U-23 national team, where he was a part of the squads playing at the

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America ...

, the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

, and the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

, where Mexico won the gold medal. He made his debut with the senior national team in 2011, and participated in the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

and

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 201 ...

, as well as the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

and

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

Club career

Cruz Azul

Born in San Francisco Ixhuatán in the Mexican state of

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the Federative Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 570 municipaliti ...

, Aquino began playing in Cruz Azul's lower division youth squads. Aquino played for Cruz Azul Lagunas of the third division, where he then traveled to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

to join the club's reserves. It would not be until the Apertura 2010 season that Aquino, together with other youth players, joined the

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football) Association football (more commonly known as football) was first codified in 1863 in England, although games that involved the kicking of a ball were evident considerably e ...

. Aquino was one of the revelations of the tournament, his main virtues being dribbling, speed and passing accuracy. On 23 July 2010 during the Apertura 2010, Aquino debuted for Cruz Azul under coach

Enrique Meza Enrique Meza Enríquez (born 3 March 1948) is a Mexican professional football manager who most recently coached Veracruz. Prior to pursuing a career in coaching, he was a goalkeeper for Cruz Azul during their dynasty of the 1970s, albeit a back ...

in a 0–3 win over

Estudiantes Tecos Tecos Fútbol Club (often referred to by its nickname "Tecos") is a Mexican professional football club associated with the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara AC. It plays its home games in the ''Estadio 3 de Marzo'' (March 3 Stadium, named for ...

, coming in as a 57th-minute substitute for Alejandro Vela. He scored his first goal in the Primera División on 24 October 2010 during match-day 13 of the Apertura 2010 against

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and lar ...

in a 1–1 draw at

Estadio Morelos Estadio Morelos is a football stadium located along Periférico Independencia, in the Independencia sector, near the base of Cerro del Quinceo in northwest Morelia, Michoacán, México. It was the site of professional football teams, Monarcas M ...

. He gradually cemented his place into the team's starting eleven as the main right-winger, going on to play for two more years at Cruz Azul, amassing over 90 appearances for the club, scoring seven goals.

Villarreal

On 28 January 2013 it was announced that Aquino was transferred to

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, ...

of Spain. He made his

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

debut coming on as a 67th-minute substitute for Moi Gómez in a 1–1 draw against

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its ho ...

. On 19 August 2013, Javier Aquino made his debut in

, entering as a substitute in the second half of the match against

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...

. He collaborated towards the final 3–2 victory for Villarreal, with an assist to fellow Mexican teammate

Giovani dos Santos Giovani dos Santos Ramírez ( ; born 11 May 1989) is a Mexican professional footballer. A versatile forward, dos Santos can play as an attacking midfielder, winger, and secondary striker. He is an Olympic gold medalist. Dos Santos began hi ...

Rayo Vallecano (loan)

On 25 August 2014, Villarreal announced that Aquino would be loaned out for the 2014–15 season to

. He made his league debut against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based i ...

on 25 August, and played all 90 minutes of the match which ended in a 0–0 draw.

Tigres UANL

After a discreet performance with Rayo Vallecano in the Spanish 2014-15 season, in June 2015, it was announced that he would join Mexican team Tigres UANL. With Tigres, he played the

2015 Copa Libertadores The 2015 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2015 Copa Bridgestone Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) was the 56th edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. ...

finals against River Plate. Tigres lost by 3-0 in Argentina after a 0-0 draw in Mexico. In December 2015, Tigres won the Mexico Apertura 2015 finals against

Pumas UNAM Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., commonly referred to as UNAM, is a professional football club based in Ciudad Universitaria of Mexico City, Mexico. The club competes in the Liga MX, the top division in the Mexican football league system. Foun ...

, in December 2016 the Apertura 2016 finals against América and in December 2017 the Apertura 2017 finals against

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is ancho ...

; Aquino played a key role for the team in the championships.

International career

Youth

Aquino was called up by

Luis Fernando Tena Luis Fernando Tena Garduño (born 20 January 1958) is a Mexican professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the Guatemala national team. Coaching career After retiring as a player, Tena began his coaching career in ...

to play in the

, in which he played in all six games and won the Gold Medal match against Argentina. He scored his first unofficial international goal in a friendly against

Club León Club León Fútbol Club, also known as León, is a Mexican professional football club based in León, Guanajuato, that competes in the Liga MX, the top flight of Mexican football. León has won the Primera División de México/Liga MX title ...

on 5 July 2012 in a 1–1 draw. Aquino took a hiatus from the senior squad to train with the under-23 team in preparations for the

, in which they won a gold medal in the final against Brazil.

Senior

Aquino made his official debut with the senior national team on 4 July 2011 against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

in the

. He played in all three group matches. The national team that played the 2011 Copa América was an under-22 squad composed of 5 "over-age" players.

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

has classified the team as the official "senior squad" but it could be said that his debut with the senior squad was on 11 November 2011 against

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

in a 2–0 friendly, he coming into play at the 86th minute for

Andrés Guardado José Andrés Guardado Hernández (; born 28 September 1986) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Betis and captains the Mexico national team. Popularly known as ''Principito'' (Spanish for '' ...

. He made his next appearance on 25 January 2012 in another friendly against

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

where he was attributed as adding creativity to Mexico's offense. He entered the game on the 56th minute while the game was tied 1–1, and was involved in the last two goals that Mexico scored to win the match 3–1. Aquino was initially omitted from the final 23 man roster that would participate in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, however after

Luis Montes Luis Arturo Montes Jiménez (born 15 May 1986), also known as Chapito, is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Chilean Primera División club Everton. Club career Montes started his career playing for Pachuca's youth ...

suffered a severe leg injury, Aquino would be called up to round out the 23 player at the 2014 World Cup. Aquino's most brilliant moment came at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup against New Zealand. Aquino would go on to be named man of the match. In May 2018, Aquino was named in Mexico’s preliminary 28-man squad for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, and in June, was ultimately included in the final 23-man roster. On 29 May 2019, Aquino announced his retirement from the internacional scene commenting that he talked with the new head coach

Gerardo Martino Gerardo Daniel "Tata" Martino (born 20 November 1962) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. Martino played mostly for Newell's Old Boys in his native Rosario. He holds the record of appearances with the team playing ...

and asked him to not be called anymore for the Mexican national team's matches, despite "El Tata" having considered Aquino for the

2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 15th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was primarily hosted in the ...

Career statistics

Honours

Tigres UANL *

: Apertura 2015, Apertura 2016, Apertura 2017, Clausura 2019 *

Campeón de Campeones ''Campeón de Campeones'' ( es, Champion of Champions) is an annual Mexican football competition established in 1942. In its current form, the winner of the Apertura season faces the winner of the Clausura season, for both Liga MX and Liga MX Feme ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

Mexico U23 *

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is hel ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

* CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship:

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Olympic Gold Medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece be ...

Mexico *

CONCACAF Cup The CONCACAF Cup (officially the CONCACAF Cup presented by Scotiabank for sponsorship reasons) was an international soccer play-off match to determine CONCACAF's entry into the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. The 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup w ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

Individual *

Best XI: Apertura 2015

References

External links

* * *
archive
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aquino, Javier 1990 births Living people Mexico international footballers Association football wingers 2011 Copa América players Footballers at the 2011 Pan American Games Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 Copa América players Copa América Centenario players 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players Liga MX players Ascenso MX players Liga Premier de México players Tercera División de México players Segunda División players La Liga players Cruz Azul footballers Cruz Azul Hidalgo footballers Villarreal CF players Rayo Vallecano players Tigres UANL footballers People from Oaxaca City Footballers from Oaxaca Olympic footballers of Mexico Olympic gold medalists for Mexico Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Mexican expatriate footballers Mexican footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Spain Pan American Games gold medalists for Mexico Pan American Games medalists in football 2018 FIFA World Cup players Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games