Anselmo García MacNulty (born 19 February 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for club

PEC Zwolle Prins Hendrik Ende Desespereert Nimmer Combinatie Zwolle, commonly known as PEC Zwolle, is a Dutch professional football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football. They have played in the Ered ...

. Born in Spain, he is a youth international for the Republic of Ireland.

Club career

He came through at his hometown club

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

before moving to

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

in 2019. He joined

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

on loan in July 2022. He made his debut in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

on 5 August 2022, in a 1–0 win against

Helmond Sport Helmond Sport () is a Dutch professional football club based in Helmond, North Brabant. Founded in 1967 following the acquisition of the professional license of , the club achieved promotion to the top-tier Eredivisie in 1982. After two seasons ...

. On 26 July 2023, he signed for

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

side

on a one-year contract with the option for a second year.

International career

Garcia chose to represent Ireland from U15 level, and this continued through to his playing at U19 level for Ireland and then call ups to the Irish U21 squad. He has not, however, ruled out playing for the country of his birth at a later date. He made his debut for the Republic of Ireland U21 team starting on 26 March 2023 in a 2–1 win against Iceland U21.

Personal life

Born and raised in

Seville, Spain 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 ...

but qualifies for Ireland through his mother Maeve who is from

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

. His father Anselmo Senior is Spanish. He would visit Ireland every summer with his family. His uncle Terry and aunt Una live in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

and travel down to watch his matches with Ireland U21s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia MacNulty, Anselmo 2003 births Living people Footballers from Seville Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Spanish men's footballers Irish people of Spanish descent Spanish people of Irish descent Men's association football defenders VfL Wolfsburg players NAC Breda players Eerste Divisie players PEC Zwolle players Eredivisie players Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Irish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Spanish expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands 21st-century Irish sportsmen 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers