Gavi (footballer)

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Gavi
Gavi (footballer).jpg
Gavi training with Barcelona in 2022
Personal information
Full name Pablo Martín Páez Gavira [1]
Date of birth (2004-08-05) 5 August 2004 (age 20) [2]
Place of birth Los Palacios y Villafranca, Spain
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) [2]
Position(s) Central midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Barcelona
Number 6
Youth career
2010–2013 La Liara
2013–2015 Betis
2015–2021 Barcelona
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2021 Barcelona B 3 (0)
2021– Barcelona 92 (5)
International career‡
2018–2020 Spain U15 4 (1)
2019–2020 Spain U16 7 (0)
2020–2021 Spain U18 3 (0)
2021– Spain 27 (5)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing Flag of Spain.svg  Spain
UEFA Nations League
Winner 2023 Netherlands
Runner-up 2021 Italy
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:40, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 November 2023

Pablo Martín Páez Gavira [a] (born 5 August 2004), known as Gavi, [b] is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team. [4] [5]

Contents

In 2022, Gavi won the Golden Boy award and received the Kopa Trophy, awarded by France Football during the 2022 Ballon d'Or ceremony.

Early life

Gavi was born in Los Palacios y Villafranca, Sevilla, Andalusia. [1] [6]

Club career

Early career

Gavi started his career at La Liara Balompié, a club in his hometown, where he spent two years, between 2010 and 2012. [7] From there he moved on to Real Betis's youth academy, where he spent two seasons. [8] [9] He scored 95 goals for the youth team of Real Betis. [10]

Barcelona

Youth career

In 2015, at the age of 11, he signed for Barcelona. [11] [12]

In September 2020, he signed his first professional contract with the Catalan club, and was promoted directly from the under-16 team to the under-19 team. [13] [14] He made his debut for Barcelona B on 21 February 2021, in the 6–0 home routing of L'Hospitalet, coming on as a substitute for Nico González in the 77th minute. [15] He made his first start for Barça B the following 14 March in a 1–0 derby win against Espanyol B at the Ciutat Esportiva Dani Jarque. [16]

2021–22 season

Having featured twice for Barcelona B in the 2020–21 season, Gavi was promoted to the senior squad for pre-season friendlies with the first team ahead of the start of the new season. [17] [18] After good performances in wins against Gimnàstic de Tarragona and Girona, Gavi was reported to have pushed ahead of Riqui Puig in manager Ronald Koeman's squad selection. [19] [20] He continued this good run of form in a 3–0 win against German opposition VfB Stuttgart, earning comparisons with Barcelona legend Xavi. [21] [22]

On 29 August 2021, he played his first official match for Barcelona's first team in the 2–1 La Liga win over Getafe, replacing Sergi Roberto in the 73rd minute. On 18 December, he scored his first goal for the club and provided an assist in the 3–2 home win over Elche. [23]

2022–23 season

On 15 January 2023, Gavi scored a goal and provided two assists to be named man of the match in a 3–1 victory over Real Madrid in the Supercopa de España Final. [24] On 31 January, a Spanish court ruled in favor of accepting Gavi's new contract with Barcelona until 2026, signed in September the previous year, despite opposition from La Liga president Javier Tebas who argued that the new deal would not fit in the club's salary limit that season. [25] On the same day, Barcelona announced that Gavi would acquire the number 6 shirt, previously worn by his coach Xavi. [26] On 21 March, a court ruling ordered that the new deal to be revoked as it would exceed the club's salary limit, and a return to his previous enrolment as a youth-team player with his old number 30 shirt. [27] [28] [29]

On 20 June 2023, Barcelona managed to complete Gavi's registration to La Liga as a first-team player, subsequently extended his contract with Barcelona until June 2026, which contains a release clause of €1bn. [30]

2024–25 season

Gavi was injured when the season started and came back from injury on 12 September. [31]

International career

Gavi has represented Spain at under-15 and under-16 level. [1] [10]

On 30 September 2021, Gavi received a surprise call-up to the senior Spain national team by the manager Luis Enrique. He made his debut in their UEFA Nations League semi-final win against Italy on 6 October, becoming the youngest player to ever represent Spain at senior level. [32] [33] In the final against France on 10 October, Spain ultimately suffered a 2–1 defeat. [34] On 5 June 2022, he scored his first senior goal in the Nations League away against the Czech Republic, becoming the youngest player to ever score representing Spain at senior level. [35]

Gavi was named in Spain's squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, in which he started in all four matches. [36] With his goal against Costa Rica in Spain's first game of the tournament, Gavi became the third youngest player (only behind Pelé and Manuel Rosas) to score in a World Cup match. [37]

On 15 October 2023, Gavi scored the only goal in a 1–0 away win over Norway during the Euro 2024 qualifying, securing his national team's qualification to the major tournament. [38] A month later, on 19 November, he sustained an ACL injury in his right knee and a damaged meniscus during a UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying match against Georgia, with fears it would force him to miss both the Euro 2024 finals and the 2024 Olympic Games for Spain. [39]

Style of play

Graham Hunter of ESPN hailed Gavi as a highly promising young player in 2021, comparing him to former Barcelona midfielders Xavi and Andrés Iniesta due to his dribbling, anticipation, intelligence, vision, passing, first touch, close control, change of pace, and quick reflexes. [40] Following his performance in Spain's semi-final victory over Italy in the 2021 Nations League Finals, Italian defender Emerson Palmieri described Gavi as a player who "has huge potential". [33]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 21 December 2024 [41]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubSeasonLeague Copa del Rey Europe OtherTotal
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Barcelona B 2020–21 Segunda División B 20———20
2021–22 Primera División RFEF 10———10
Total30———30
Barcelona 2021–22 La Liga 3421011 [c] 01 [d] 0472
2022–23 La Liga362506 [e] 02 [d] 1493
2023–24 La Liga121003 [f] 100152
2024–25 La Liga100003 [f] 000130
Total92560231311247
Career total95560231311277
  1. ↑ Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpaβlomaɾˈtimˈpaeθɣaˈβiɾa] ; [3]
  2. ↑ pronounced [ˈɡaβi]
  3. ↑ Six appearances in UEFA Champions League, five appearances in UEFA Europa League
  4. 1 2 Appearance(s) in Supercopa de España
  5. ↑ Five appearances in UEFA Champions League, one appearance in UEFA Europa League
  6. 1 2 Appearances in UEFA Champions League

International

As of match played 19 November 2023 [42]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Spain 202140
2022133
2023102
Total275
As of match played 15 October 2023
Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Gavi goal [42]
List of international goals scored by Gavi
No.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetitionRef.
15 June 2022 Sinobo Stadium, Prague, Czech Republic8Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 1–12–2 2022–23 UEFA Nations League A [43]
217 November 2022 Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan13Flag of Jordan.svg  Jordan 2–03–1 Friendly [44]
323 November 2022 Al Thumama Stadium, Doha, Qatar14Flag of Costa Rica.svg  Costa Rica 5–07–0 2022 FIFA World Cup [45]
412 September 2023 Nuevo Los Cármenes, Granada, Spain23Flag of Cyprus.svg  Cyprus 1–06–0 UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying [46]
515 October 2023 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway25Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1–01–0 UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying [47]

Honours

Barcelona

Spain

Individual

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  2. 1 2 "Squad List: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Spain (ESP)" (PDF). FIFA. 18 December 2022. p. 27. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 December 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
  3. ↑ In isolation, Martín and Gavira are pronounced [maɾˈtin] and [ɡaˈβiɾa] respectively.
  4. ↑ "Camavinga and Gavi fight it out for the Golden Boy Award". Marca. 17 June 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
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  37. ↑ Furniss, Matt (23 November 2022). "The Youngest Players to Score at a World Cup". The Analyst. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  38. ↑ "Norway 0-1 Spain: Gavi goal seals qualification for La Roja and secures Scotland's spot at Euro 2024". Eurosport. 16 October 2023.
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  43. ↑ "Czech Republic vs. Spain 2–2: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  44. ↑ "Jordan vs. Spain 1–3: Summary". Soccerway.
  45. ↑ "Spain vs. Costa Rica 7–0: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  46. ↑ "Spain vs. Cyprus 6–0: Summary". Soccerway.
  47. ↑ "Spain vs. Norway 1–0: Summary". Soccerway.
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