Hugo Ayala

Hugo Ayala
	Ayala with Mexico at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Full name	Hugo Ayala Castro
Date of birth	31 March 1987 (age 37)
Place of birth	Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Centre-back
Team information
Current team	UANL (assistant)
Youth career
2000–2002	Morelia
2002–2006	Atlas
Senior career*
Years	Team
2006–2008	Académicos
2006–2010	Atlas
2010–2022	Tigres UANL
Total
International career
2006–2007	Mexico U20
2007–2008	Mexico U23
2009–2018	Mexico
Managerial career
2023–	UANL (assistant)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing Mexico
Pan American Games
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Hugo Ayala Castro (born 31 March 1987) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

A clean and technical defender, Ayala is best known for his seasons and achievements with Liga MX club Tigres UANL.

Club career

Atlas

Hugo Ayala started his professional career with Atlas. 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, 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, 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, both key players for the Apertura 2011 championship. Ayala was named best defender of the Apertura 2011 season alongside teammate Jorge Torres Nilo. 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. He retired in 2023, and became assistant for Tigres' head coach Marco Antonio Ruiz.

International career

In May 2018, Ayala was named in Mexico's preliminary 28-man squad for the World Cup in Russia,^[3] and was ultimately included in the final 23-man roster revealed on 4 June.^[4] He would go on to appear in the opening group stage match against Germany, which Mexico won 1–0, and the round-of-16 loss against Brazil.

Career statistics

As of 12 September 2018^[5]

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Mexico	2009	2	0
	2010	1	0
	2012	4	0
	2013	4	0
	2014	3	0
	2015	10	0
	2016	5	0
	2017	9	0
	2018	9	1
Total		47	1

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

List of international goals scored by Hugo Ayala^[6]
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	31 January 2018	Alamodome, San Antonio, United States	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1–0	1–0	Friendly

Honours

Tigres UANL

Individual

Mexican Primera División Best Rookie: Clausura 2007
Mexican Primera División Best Center-back: Apertura 2011
Liga MX Best Defender: 2017–18
Liga MX Best XI: Apertura 2015, Apertura 2017, Clausura 2019
CONCACAF Best XI: 2018^[7]
CONCACAF Champions League Team of the Tournament: 2020^[8]

References

External links

Hugo Ayala – Liga MX stats at MedioTiempo.com (archived) (in Spanish)
Hugo Ayala at National-Football-Teams.com

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