Hugo Ayala Castro (born 31 March 1987) is a Mexican former 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 played 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 ...

. Ayala spent the majority of his playing career with

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 ...

, where he holds the record for most appearances.

Club career

Atlas

Hugo Ayala started his professional career with

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

. He made his official debut in 2006 as a starter against C.D. Guadalajara. Although Atlas lost 3–1 he became an often used substitute ending the season. In the next season he starting showing great talent in defending and became a starter in Atlas's defensive line up, leading Atlas all the way to the quarter-finals to face

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

, but lost to them in an aggregate score of (7–4). Throughout his career with Atlas he was mostly used as a substitute until the manager,

Ricardo La Volpe Ricardo Antonio La Volpe Guarchoni (; born 6 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager. He is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper who played for most of his career in Argentina and Mexico. As a coach, La Volpe was i ...

, took his place as manager of Atlas. La Volpe then started having confidence in Ayala, and made Ayala a starter and captain for Atlas.

Tigres UANL

On 2010, he arrived to Tigres UANL and by 2011 he already was the starter centre-back along with

Juninho Juninho, Portuguese for "little Junior", is a common nickname in Brazil for those whose full name includes Júnior. It is often combined with an epithet, sometimes a demonym (a word derived from their place of origin). The following association foo ...

, both key players for the Apertura 2011 championship. Ayala was named best defender of the Apertura 2011 season alongside teammate

Jorge Torres Nilo Jorge Emmanuel Torres Nilo (born 16 January 1988), also known as Pechu, is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a left-back. Club career Atlas Torres Nilo started his football career at Atlas, where he was used in the club's ...

. Ayala, a starter in Tigres since 2011, later would become champion with the team in the Apertura 2015, Apertura 2016, Apertura 2017 and Clausura 2019 seasons besides runner-up of 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. ...

. He retired in 2023, and became assistant for Tigres' head coach Marco Antonio Ruiz.

International career

In May 2018, Ayala was named in

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 ...

'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 name is ...

in Russia, and was ultimately included in the final 23-man roster revealed on 4 June. He would go on to appear in the opening group stage match against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, which Mexico won 1–0, and the round-of-16 loss 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 ...

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Mexico's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ayala goal.''

Honours

Atlas *

InterLiga InterLiga was an association football competition and the qualification method between eight Mexican clubs to determine two clubs qualified for the Copa Libertadores, it was held from 2004 to 2010. History From 1998 to 2003, the Mexican clubs c ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Tigres UANL * Liga MX Apertura:

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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 ...

* Liga MX Clausura:

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 ...

Copa MX Copa MX, also known as Copa Corona MX for sponsorship reasons, was an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic cup tournament for clubs at the highest and second levels of Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Copa ...

: Clausura 2014 *

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 ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Campeones Cup The Campeones Cup is an annual North American association football match contested between the winners of the previous MLS Cup from Major League Soccer and the winners of the Campeón de Campeones from Liga MX. The competition was established by ...

Mexico * Pan American Games Bronze Medal:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Individual *

Mexican Primera División 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 Divi ...

Best Rookie: Clausura 2007 *

Best Center-back: Apertura 2011 *

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 ...

Best Defender: 2017–18 * Liga MX Apertura Best XI:

* Liga MX Clausura Best XI:

* CONCACAF Best XI:

Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayala, Hugo 1987 births Living people Footballers from Morelia Mexican men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Mexico men's international footballers Mexico men's youth international footballers 2015 Copa América players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2018 FIFA World Cup players Pan American Games bronze medalists for Mexico Pan American Games footballers for Mexico Pan American Games bronze medalists in football Footballers at the 2007 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Liga MX players Atlas F.C. footballers Tigres UANL footballers CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning players 21st-century Mexican sportsmen