Pablo Carmine Maffeo Becerra (; born 12 July 1997) is a Spanish 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

right-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

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

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Sant Joan Despí ; ) is a city and municipality located in the Baix Llobregat area ( Barcelona province in Catalonia, Spain). It is situated on the left bank of the Llobregat river. ''Es'' is a dialectal form of the masculine article ''el'', hence ''Despí'' wou ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Maffeo joined

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

's youth setup in 2003, from FC Levante Las Planas. On 7 April 2013, he made his senior debut for the reserves at the age of only 15, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0 home win against

CE Constància Club Esportiu Constància is a Spanish football team based in Inca, Mallorca, in the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Founded in 1922, its first men's team currently plays in the , the fifth division. Its first women's team is active ...

in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

Manchester City

On 3 July 2013, Maffeo and compatriot Manu García moved abroad, agreeing to a contract with

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. He was initially assigned to the under-18 team, progressing through the club's Elite Development squad. Maffeo was called up by first-team manager

Manuel Pellegrini Manuel Luis Pellegrini Ripamonti (; ; born 16 September 1953) is a Chilean professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Real Betis. As a coach, he has managed clubs in S ...

for a match against

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

on 29 August 2015, but remained unused in the 2–0 home win. He would subsequently make the bench on a few more occasions, aside from appearing with the under-19s in

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

. Maffeo made his competitive debut for City 24 August 2016, starting in a 1–0 victory over

FC Steaua București Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional Association football, football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of th ...

in the play-off round of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. His second start came two months later, in a 1–0 loss at

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

Girona

On 13 January 2016, after signing a new three-year contract with City, Maffeo joined

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

club

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

on loan until June. He made his professional debut on 7 February, replacing Borja García in a 1–1 home draw against

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

. On 27 December 2016, it was announced Maffeo would rejoin Girona on loan until the end of the season. On 15 April 2017, he was sent-off in stoppage time of the 3–3 away draw with

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

. He contributed one goal from 14 appearances in a first-ever promotion to

. Maffeo agreed to a third loan spell at the

Estadi Montilivi Estadi Montilivi is a multi-use stadium in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is used mostly for Association football, football matches and serves as the home ground of Girona FC. It was built and opened in 1970. Montilivi has a capacity of 14,624. Hi ...

on 31 July 2017. He made his debut in the competition on 19 August, starting in a 2–2 home draw against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

. When Maffeo played against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

, he man-marked

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

superbly. This prompted the latter to name the former as the toughest opponent that he had ever faced.

VfB Stuttgart

On 14 May 2018, Maffeo signed a five-year contract with

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

, with the deal being made effective on 1 July. His first appearance in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

took place on 26 August, in a 1–0 away loss to

1. FSV Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...

where he featured the full 90 minutes. Maffeo was loaned back to Girona on 20 June 2019. On 8 September 2020, he joined

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club based in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in th ...

also in a temporary deal but with an option to make the move permanent. He scored his first goal in the Spanish top division five days later, in the 1–1 draw at

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

Mallorca

On 7 July 2021, Maffeo joined

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

on a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long loan. On 29 June 2022, he agreed to a permanent four-year contract.

International career

Maffeo was a youth international for Spain. On 10 November 2023, he was called up by

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 ...

manager Lionel Scaloni for games against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

and

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 ...

in the

2026 FIFA World Cup The 2026 FIFA World Cup, marketed as FIFA World Cup 26, will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's Association football, soccer championship contested by the List of men's n ...

qualifiers, being eligible to play for the latter country through his mother.

Personal life

Maffeo's younger brother, Víctor, is also a footballer and a defender. He is of Italian descent on his father's side and of

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

descent on his mother's.

Career statistics

References

External links

Girona official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maffeo, Pablo 1997 births Living people People from Sant Joan Despí Spanish people of Argentine descent Spanish people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Argentine descent Sportspeople of Italian descent 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Barcelona Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players RCD Espanyol B footballers Girona FC players SD Huesca footballers RCD Mallorca players Manchester City F.C. players Bundesliga players VfB Stuttgart players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Kings League players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany