Alejandro "Álex" Padilla Pérez (born 1 September 2003) 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

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

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 ...

club

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

. Born in Spain, he represents the Mexico national team.

Early life

Padilla was born in

Zarautz Zarautz (, ) is a coastal town located in central Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, in Spain. It is bordered by Aia to the east and the south and Getaria, Gipuzkoa, Getaria to the west, located about west of San Sebastián, Donostia/San Sebastián. It ha ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

, Basque Country to a Spanish father (from

Bergara Bergara (; ) is a town and municipality located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, in the north of Spain. An Enlightened center of education operated by the '' Real Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del P ...

) and a Mexican mother. At three months old, he moved with his parents to his mother's hometown of Camargo, Chihuahua and lived there until age 7.

Club career

Padilla joined

Lezama Facilities The Lezama Facilities (, ), are the training ground and academy of the Primera Division club Athletic Bilbao. Located in the village of Lezama, around 10–15 kilometers east of Bilbao, the facilities were opened in 1971 and currently cover 1 ...

in 2019, from hometown side CD Zarautz. He made his senior debut with the

farm team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a Team sport, team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any s ...

CD Basconia Club Deportivo Basconia is a Spanish football club based in Basauri, Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded on 14 March 1913, it currently plays in , holding home games at the ''Artunduaga Sports Centre'', in the town o ...

on 15 September 2021, starting in a 2–2 Tercera División RFEF away draw against CD Anaitasuna. Promoted to the reserves in

Primera Federación The Primera Federación, officially the Primera Federación Versus e-Learning for sponsorship reasons (formerly known as Primera RFEF). is the third tier of the Spanish football league system beginning with the 2021–22 season. It is administe ...

ahead of the 2022–23 season, Padilla first appeared with the side on 28 August 2022, starting in a 2–1 home loss to

CF La Nucía Club de Fútbol La Nucía is a Spanish football team based in La Nucía, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1995, it plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio Camilo Cano'', which has a capacity of 3,000 spectators. Team colo ...

. In 2023, he was called up to the pre-season with the main squad. Due to injuries to

Unai Simón Unai Simón Mendibil (born 11 June 1997) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Athletic Bilbao and the Spain national team. Simón has spent his entire club career with Athletic, developing with their youth academy ...

and Julen Agirrezabala in the summer of 2024, Padilla was the candidate to step into the first team for the beginning of the 2024–25 season. He appeared in several pre-season matches, including the second half of a 3–2 loss against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

, and made his

debut as a starter against

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city c ...

at San Mamés on 15 August 2024; he made several saves, including from

Carles Aleñá Carles Aleñá Castillo (born 5 January 1998) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Getafe CF. Club career Barcelona Born in Mataró, Barcelona, Catalonia, Aleñá moved to Barcelona's youth system, La Masia ...

in a one-on-one situation, and was not at fault for the goal his side conceded in a 1–1 draw. On 9 January 2025, Padilla joined Mexican club

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countries. It also has 34 ...

on a six-month loan.

International career

Youth

On 2 September 2021, Padilla made his debut for the Spain U19's, coming on as a half-time substitute for

Alejandro Iturbe Alejandro Iturbe Encabo (born 2 September 2003) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Elche CF. Club career Atlético Madrid Born in Madrid, Iturbe joined Atlético Madrid's youth sides in 2008, aged f ...

in a 5–1 win against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. In November 2021, Padilla was included for Spain’s squad for the

qualifying Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

matches of the

2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2022) was the 19th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (69th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth associa ...

. He started and played the full 90 minutes against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

, as his side cruised to a 6–0 win, qualifying for the

elite round In political and sociological theory, the elite (, from , to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful or wealthy people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. Defined by the ...

. In the elite round, Padilla had played the full matches over

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, suffering a 2–2 and 3–3 draw and finishing second behind Austria, thus failing to qualify for the final tournament. In March 2024, Padilla was called up by the Mexico national under-23 team. On 22 March, he made his debut in a 4–2 defeat against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. In June 2024, he took part in the

Maurice Revello Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a football tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams comp ...

in France with Mexico.

Senior

On 29 August 2024, Padilla received his first call-up to the Mexico national team.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Bilbao Athletic *

Segunda Federación Segunda Federación, previously called Segunda RFEF, also officially known as Segunda B, is the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system containing 90 teams divided into five groups. It is administered by the Royal Spanish Football Fede ...

(Group 2): 2023–24

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Padilla, Alex 2003 births Living people Footballers from Zarautz Mexican men's footballers Mexico men's youth international footballers Spanish men's footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Mexican people of Basque descent Mexican people of Spanish descent Spanish people of Mexican descent Sportspeople of Mexican descent Sportspeople of Spanish descent Men's association football goalkeepers Athletic Bilbao B footballers CD Basconia footballers Primera Federación players Tercera Federación players Athletic Bilbao footballers La Liga players 21st-century Mexican sportsmen 21st-century Spanish sportsmen