Eugenio Pizzuto Puga (born 13 May 2002) 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, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

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

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

club

Tigres UANL Club Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, abbreviated as Tigres UANL and simply known as Tigres or internationally as Tigres de México, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in the Monterrey metropo ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí, officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí, is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 59 municipalities and is named after its capital city, San Luis Potosí. It ...

, Pizzuto was first spotted at the age of 12 in 2013 by scout Jess Ibrom of the New Zealand-based Asia-Pacific Football Academy which worked in association with Chelsea FC (now merged with professional side

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League Men, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 ...

) during open trials in the city of

Monclova Monclova (), is a city and the seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. According to the 2015 census, the city had 231,107 inhabitants. Its metropolitan area has 381,432 inhabitants and ...

, Mexico. Following his performances, Pizzuto was offered a place in the academy along with a scholarship to Scots College in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

Pachuca

Following his time at Wellington Phoenix - where he was unable to play organised club football due to FIFA laws preventing the international transfer of minors - Pizzuto returned to Mexico and joined the youth ranks of

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

in 2018. On 21 January 2020, Pizzuto made his professional debut during a Copa MX group stage match against

Ascenso MX Ascenso MX, also known as Ascenso BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, was a professional association football league in Mexico and the second level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Primera División A de México (1994–2009 ...

club Venados. Four days later, Pizzuto made his

debut, coming on as a 59th-minute substitute for

Franco Jara Franco Daniel Jara (born 15 July 1988) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Belgrano. Jara is the all-time leading scorer for Pachuca. Club career Born in Villa María, Córdoba, Jara made his professional debut w ...

in an eventual 3–0 loss against León. However, just nine minutes after coming on, Pizzuto broke his

fibula The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. ...

and dislocated his ankle after getting his foot caught on the pitch.

Lille

On 1 August 2020, Pizzuto joined French side

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

on a free transfer. He debuted for the club's reserve team, Lille II, on 10 October, coming on as a substitute on the 58th minute against US Maubeuge, winning 3–1. He appeared on the bench for the first team for first time as an unused substitute on 22 November in a league match against

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

, winning 4–0. On 17 January 2022, Pizzuto's contract was terminated by

making him a free agent.

Braga

On 26 January 2022, Pizzuto joined

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

Tigres UANL

On 14 June 2023, Pizzuto returned to Mexico and joined

as a free agent.

International career

Youth

Pizzuto was part of the under-17 squad that participated at the

2019 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2019 CONCACAF U-17 Championship was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship (19th edition if all eras included), the men's under-17 international association football, football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted in ...

, where Mexico won the competition. He was included in the Best XI of the tournament. Pizzuto was the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the team that participated at the 2019 U-17 World Cup. Finishing runner-up against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, he won the Bronze Ball of the tournament. He was included in the

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclus ...

team of the tournament. Pizzuto was called up by

Raúl Chabrand Raúl Chabrand Manrique (born 11 August 1976), known as Raúl Chabrand, is a Mexican former professional footballer and current manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organiza ...

to participate with the under-21 team at the

2022 Maurice Revello Tournament The 2022 Maurice Revello Tournament (officially ), was the 48th edition of the Maurice Revello Tournament, an annual, international, age-restricted football tournament, which was formerly known as the Toulon Tournament. It was held in the departmen ...

, where Mexico finished the tournament in third place.

Personal life

Pizzuto is of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

descent. His father is from Italy and his mother from Mexico.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Lille *

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 ...

2020–21 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 ...

Tigres UANL *

Campeón de Campeones Campeón de Campeones () is an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic super cup between the Liga MX champions of the ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura'' tournaments. It was initially a super cup match between the league and cup cha ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Mexico U17 *

CONCACAF U-17 Championship The CONCACAF U-17 World Cup qualification is an international association football event in the North America, Central America and the Caribbean region, and is the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Results In 2009 the tournam ...

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 ...

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the annual world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fé ...

runner-up:

Individual *

Best XI:

Bronze Ball:

FIFA U-17 World Cup Best XI:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pizzuto, Eugenio 2002 births Living people Footballers from San Luis Potosí City Mexican people of Italian descent Men's association football midfielders Mexico men's youth international footballers Liga MX players Ligue 1 players Tercera División de México players Championnat National 3 players C.F. Pachuca players Lille OSC players Wellington Phoenix FC players S.C. Braga players Mexican expatriate men's footballers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand Mexican expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Mexican men's footballers 21st-century Mexican sportsmen