Rubio Yovani Méndez Rubín (born 1 March 1996) 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 forward who currently plays for

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are the oldest continuously operating professional socc ...

in the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

. Born in the United States, he plays for the Guatemala national team.

Club career

Youth

Rubin attended Whitford Middle School in Beaverton, Oregon. He started his youth career at Westside Metros and played at Beaverton High School.

Senior

Rubin signed a four-year deal with

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...

upon turning eighteen in March 2014. Rubin started, played the full 90 minutes and recorded an assist in his professional debut for Utrecht on 17 August 2014, in a 2–1 victory over Willem II. He won the Beloften Eredivisie in 2015–16 with Jong FC Utrecht. Rubin signed with Silkeborg IF of the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

in January 2017 after being released from FC Utrecht. After his departure from Silkeborg, Rubin signed with Stabæk for the remainder of the 2017 season. Rubin joined

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 ...

side

Club Tijuana Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente, simply known as Tijuana or Xolos, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Tijuana, Baja California, that competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. The club ...

in February 2018. After mostly playing on loan with Tijuana's affiliate Dorados, Rubin joined San Diego Loyal in September 2020. On 7 January 2021, Rubin joined

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

side

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

. On 14 January 2024, Rubin was loaned from Real Salt Lake to Liga MX club

Querétaro Querétaro, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Querétaro, 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Querétaro Cit ...

. On 24 April 2025, Rubin joined

side

International career

United States

A former United States under-17 player, Rubin in 2012 was named U.S. Soccer Young Male Athlete of the Year. Rubin was eligible to play for

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

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 ...

, or the United States. He joined the United States team for the match against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

on 3 September 2014. He earned his first cap when he started on 14 November 2014, in a 2–1 defeat against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, narrowly failing to score a header in the second half and attracting praise from manager

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (; born 30 July 1964) is a German professional Association football, football manager and former player. He played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, AS Monaco FC, Monaco, Tottenham Hot ...

Guatemala

Following a one-time switch earlier in the year, Rubin made his debut for

in a 2–0 Nations League defeat to

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

on 2 June 2022.

2023: Gold Cup

In June 2023, Rubin was named to

's squad for the

2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 17th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's association football, soccer championship of the North, Central American and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. Canada and the United ...

. During Guatemala's opening match against Cuba on 28 June 2023, he was fouled and injured in the opening ten minutes in which he was replaced by Guatemala teammate Darwin Lom. He remained in Guatemala's roster and was an unused substitute in Guatemala's second group match against Canada on 1 July. On 4 July 2023, Rubin returned to Guatemala's starting 11 in the Gold Cup during

Group D Group D may refer to: * FIA Group D - International Formula racing cars: ** Formula Two ** Formula Three ** Formula 3000 * One of six or eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group D ** 2018 FIFA Worl ...

's third and final group match against Guadeloupe. He scored 2 goals helping Guatemala secure a 3–2 victory against Guadeloupe helping the team top the group and move onto the Quarter-Finals of the

Personal life

Rubin was born to a Mexican father and a Guatemalan mother.

Career statistics

International

International goals

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

Honours

Individual * MLS Goal of the Year:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rubin, Rubio 1996 births Soccer players from Oregon Sportspeople from Beaverton, Oregon Living people 21st-century American sportsmen Guatemalan people of Mexican descent American people of Guatemalan descent American sportspeople of Mexican descent Sportspeople of Guatemalan descent Sportspeople of Mexican descent Men's association football forwards American men's soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players United States men's international soccer players Guatemalan men's footballers Guatemala men's international footballers Dual internationalists (men's football) FC Utrecht players Jong FC Utrecht players Silkeborg IF players Stabæk Fotball players Club Tijuana footballers Dorados de Sinaloa footballers San Diego Loyal SC players Real Salt Lake players Real Monarchs players Querétaro F.C. footballers Charleston Battery players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Danish Superliga players Eliteserien players Liga MX players Liga de Expansión MX players USL Championship players Major League Soccer players MLS Next Pro players 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup players American expatriate men's soccer players Guatemalan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands American expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark American expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Norway American expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico American expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Guatemalan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico