Jhegson Sebastián "Sebas" Méndez Carabalí (born 26 April 1997) is an Ecuadorian 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 ...

who plays as a midfielder for

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

club

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

and the Ecuador national team.

Club career

Independiente DV

Méndez joined the

Independiente del Valle Club de Alto Rendimiento Especializado Independiente del Valle, known simply as Independiente del Valle, is a professional football club based in Sangolquí, Ecuador, that currently plays in the Ecuadorian Serie A. Founded in 1958, the club pla ...

academy in 2011. By 2014 he had been promoted to the club's B team and made his first-team debut on 7 March 2015 in a victory over

L.D.U. Loja Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Loja was a professional association football team from the city of Loja, Ecuador. They played in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. In the First Stage of the 2012 seas ...

in the Serie A Primera Etapa. After two substitute appearances, Méndez was loaned to

Cultural Leonesa Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (), better known as Cultural Leonesa or La Cultural, is a Spanish football team based in León, in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. Founded on 5 August 1923, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF ...

in Spain, making one substitute appearance for the club on 29 November 2015. Upon his return to the club, Méndez had to wait until gameweek 15 of the 2016 season to play his next game, appearing as a substitute in a defeat to Fuerza Amarilla on 13 May 2016. He followed that up by playing the full 90 minutes in six of the final ten games of the Serie A Primera Etapa and a further 12 appearances in the Segunda Etapa as he cemented himself as a first-team regular.

Orlando City

On 28 December 2018, Méndez signed to

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

team Orlando City. He made his debut in the season opener at home to

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned ...

on 2 March 2019. In July 2019, Méndez was part of the Orlando City team alongside Nani and Chris Mueller that won the 2019 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge, beating teams from the

MLS All-Stars The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from Liga MX. MLS initially adopted a traditional all-star ...

and

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in ...

to win the $25,000 prize for charity. On 7 November 2021, Méndez scored his first goal for the club on his 65th appearance. The goal, a spectacular knuckling 20-yard strike, was the opener in an eventual 2–0 win away at

CF Montréal CF Montréal is a Soccer in Canada, Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Montreal, Montréal, Québec, Canada. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Found ...

. It was the final match of the regular season in which Orlando entered knowing a draw would guarantee qualification to the

2021 MLS Cup Playoffs The 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs (branded as the 2021 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for sponsorship reasons) was the 26th edition of the MLS Cup Playoffs, the post-season championship of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top soccer league in the United States ...

Los Angeles FC

On 19 July 2022, Méndez was acquired by

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club, commonly referred to as LAFC, is an American professional Association football team based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The club ...

via trade in exchange for $300,000 of General Allocation Money (GAM). Orlando could receive an additional $450,000 in GAM if certain contract conditions are met and also retained an undisclosed percentage of any future transfer fee. With LAFC, he won both the

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...

, after a 3-0 win over

Austin FC Austin FC is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Austin, Texas. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in 2018, the club began play ...

, and the MLS Cup Final, following a penalty shoot-out win over

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 2010 ...

. At the end of the 2022 season, he was released by the club.

São Paulo

On 9 January 2023, Méndez joined Brazilian club

on a free transfer, signing a three-year contract.

International career

Méndez was a member of Ecuador’s

2017 South American U-20 Championship The 2017 South American Youth Football Championship es, ''Campeonato Sudamericano Sub-20 ''Juventud de América'' Ecuador 2017'', italic=unset, pt, ''Campeonato Sul-Americano Sub-20 ''Juventude da América'' Equador 2017'', italic=unset, region=B ...

squad which reached the final of the tournament. In October 2018, Méndez was called up to the senior Ecuador national team by manager

Hernán Darío Gómez Hernán Darío Gómez Jaramillo (; born 3 February 1956), also known as El Bolillo (; ''The Baton''), is a Colombian former football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. Career He was an active player from 1966 to 19 ...

for the first time. He made his debut on 11 September 2018, playing 73 minutes in a 2–0 friendly victory over Guatemala at

Toyota Park SeatGeek Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, about twelve miles southwest of downtown Chicago. It is the home stadium of the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women's Soccer League, Chicago Fire FC II of the MLS Next ...

Bridgeview, Illinois Bridgeview is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located approximately southwest of the Chicago Loop. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 17,027. History The earliest settlement in Bridgeview occurred in the ...

. In May 2019, he was called into the squad for the

2019 Copa América The 2019 Copa América was the 46th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. It was held in Brazil and took place between 14 June and 7 J ...

, his first senior international tournament. After sitting out the first group game, Méndez started against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

and drew a foul from goalkeeper Gabriel Arias to win a penalty, Ecuador's only goal of a 2–1 defeat. He started the following game, a 1–1 draw with Japan. Ecuador were eliminated after finishing bottom of

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with '' Group A'' for touring cars and '' Group B'' for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top t ...

with one point. In June 2021, Mendez was named to the final roster for the

2021 Copa América The 2021 Copa América was the 47th edition of the Copa América, the international men's football championship organised by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament took place in Brazil from 13 June to 10 July 2021. The to ...

Personal life

His uncle is former professional footballer and fellow Ecuadorean international player

Édison Méndez Édison Vicente Méndez Méndez (; born March 16, 1979 in Ibarra) is an Ecuadorian football coach and former player who played as either a winger or an attacking midfielder. He is the current manager of LDU Quito's youth categories. Méndez is ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honors

Los Angeles FC *

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

References

External links

*
Jhegson Sebastian Mendez Carabal
at

Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol The Ecuadorian Football Federation ( es, Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol or ) is the governing body of football in Ecuador. Its headquarters are in Quito, and it organizes the country's various football competitions and oversees the Ecuador ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendez, Sebas Living people 1997 births People from Mira Canton Ecuadorian footballers Association football midfielders Ecuadorian Serie A players C.S.D. Independiente del Valle footballers Segunda División B players Cultural Leonesa footballers Major League Soccer players Orlando City SC players Los Angeles FC players Ecuador international footballers Ecuador youth international footballers Ecuador under-20 international footballers Ecuadorian expatriate footballers Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Ecuadorian expatriates in the United States Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate soccer players in the United States Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate footballers in Brazil 2019 Copa América players 2021 Copa América players C.S. Norte América footballers 2022 FIFA World Cup players