Top facts about Guillermo Ochoa, Memo

Guillermo Ochoa is a Mexican professional goalkeeper who currently plays for Liga MX club América and the Mexico national team. Popularly known as the nickname of Memo, he has captured considerable attention in the light of his brilliant performance, immense talent and breathtaking saves.

His most sparkling performance was against the Brazil national team in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Ochoa was honoured to be the Best Mexican Goalkeeper by the International Federation of Football History from 2000-2010.

Back in his early career, he played in America from 2005 to 2011 and then moved to French Club Ajaccio. He spent a span of three seasons in France and joined Spanish Club

in 2014. Failing to establish himself in the team, he joined Granada on a season-long loan in 2016.

By playing every minute of the game for the entire season, he was a true shining light in the club as he became the player with the most saves in the top five leagues in Europe.

Afterwards, he got contracted a two-year deal with the Belgian Club

in July 2017. Despite being their first choice and having a stellar performance there he was not eager to resign his contract with them in 2019.

Therefore in August 2019, much to many people's consternation, he came back to the first club that gave him his debut as a goalkeeper, Club América.

He signed a three and a half year deal with the club for an undisclosed fee, as he was assumed to be paid an annual salary of $1.5 million, making him the highest-paid Mexican player in Liga MX.

Top facts about Guillermo Ochoa that you might want to know

Among top facts about Guillermo Ochoa, it is fascinating knowing that he came into the spotlight by showing his phenomenal stopping ability in front of goals specifically on his National side.

He was the first Mexican footballer to be shortlisted for the FIFA Ballon d'Or, in 2007. Likewise, he was handed his professional debut by legendary manager Leo Beenhakker, who was the coach of

CF many years ago.

Among his honours, one can suggest his contribution in the squads for 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 FIFA World Cups, the 2013 and 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the 2007 Copa América, the Copa América Centenario, 2007, 2009, 2015, and 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup as he was allocated the number 13 shirt at almost all of them.

Being one of Mexico's standout players at the Brazil World Cup, he became the man of the match in two of his country's games at the tournament: the 0-0 draw with Brazil in the group stages and the 2-1 last-sixteen defeat to the Netherlands.

Not to mention that Jaime Lozano called him up to represent Mexico at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as one of three over-age reinforcements.

While it was his second contribution to the Olympic Games after the 2004 Athen Games, he appeared 6 times and conceded 7 goals for Mexico at the Tokyo Olympic Games and led them to receive the bronze medal in the tournament.

Aside from the titles and achievements anchored to his name, currently, when the Club América's participation in the Guard1anes Clausura 2021 ended with the elimination in the quarterfinals against

, he was offered by Major League Soccer (MLS) to continue his career in the United States.

The 36-year-old historic goalkeeper might choose to play his final years of football in the American League, while even Las Águilas are already looking to replace him. It is pertinent to mention that among MLS clubs, Inter Miami, Atlanta United and Toronto FC are interested to sign him.

Guillermo Ochoa facts in brief

Bio

• Full name

  : Francisco Guillermo Ochoa Magaña

• Nickname

  : Memo

General information

• Date of birth

  : 13th July 1985

• Place of birth

  : Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

• Religion

  : Christianity

• Nationality

  : Mexican

• Ethnicity

  : Hispanic

• Education

  : Johan Cruyff Institute

• Horoscope

  : Cancer

• Age

  : 36 years

Personal information

• Father

  : Guillermo Ochoa Sánchez

• Mother

  : Natalia Magaña Orozco

• Siblings

  : Ana Laura Ochoa Magaña

• Marital status

  : Married

• Spouse

  : Karla Moro

• Children

  : Luciano Ochoa (Son), Luciana Ochoa (Daughter) and another last born daughter

• Networth

  : $5 million

Physical status

• Height

  : 6 feet 1 inches or 185 cm

• Weight

  : 176 pounds or 80 kg

• Build

  : Athletic

• Hair colour

  : Curly Black

• Eye colour

  : Dark Brown

• Sexuality

  : Straight

• Chest size

  : 43 inches or 109 cm

• Arms size

  : 14 inches or 36 cm

• Waist size

  : 35 inches or 89 cm

• Shoe size

  : 10 (US)

• Hair type

  : Wavy

• Hair length

  : Short hair (ear length)

• Hairstyle

  : Alternative

• Skin type

  : Normal

• Beard or moustache

  : Beardless

Football information

• Profession

  : Footballer

• Position

  : Goalkeeper

• Jersey number

  : 13

• Active years

  : 2004-present

• Current club

  : América

Guillermo Ochoa childhood

Francisco Guillermo Ochoa Magaña was born on 13th July 1985 to his mother Natalia Magaña Orozco and his father Guillermo Ochoa Sánchez in Jalisco, Mexico.

Later, his family moved to Mexico City in

Guillermo Ochoa childhood

. His family owned and ran a bakery while he helped them a lot in the bakery in his free time in addition to playing football.

As one of the

top facts about Guillermo Ochoa

, it is fascinating to mention that in return, he had his sibling's active involvement as they helped him in his playing when he often asked his sisters to pass him balls when there was no one else to play with him in the courtyard.

His dedication and passion for football saw him joining the eponymous capital club’s football academy, where he got his first nickname of “Memo,” which has stuck till today. The nickname is the shortened form of his full name since it was easier for his friend to call him in this way.

He started his professional playing at the football club America as his coach Leo Beenhakker, let him play in the main team. When he was 18 years old, his first-ever senior-level professional debut with Club América occurred in 2004.

His first win of the league title came in 2005 as he featured as the starting, first-choice goalkeeper of the club. He remained with the club until 2011 and made over 200 appearances for the team. 

Guillermo Ochoa professional career

During his span with his first professional club America, he led the team to win the 2005 Campeon de Campeones and the 2006 CONCACAF Champions Cup.

He also was granted the prestigious Golden Gloves award for 2006 and 2007 continuously. In 2007 October, he was named the candidate for the prestigious Ballon d’Or by France Football.

Likewise, he was one of the three players to be named who did not play in Europe. In 2008, being in top form, as he was a fantastic sight to watch, he led the Club América to win the InterLiga tournament with his stellar performance throughout the season.

His most spectacular match of the season took place with Monarcas Morelia, with his saving a late penalty kick. In accordance with several English newspapers like the Metro, it was speculated that European teams like

were interested in signing him.

He featured in his last game for Club América in the Clausura 2011, as the club reached the quarter-finals before being beaten by Monarcas Morelia.

Afterwards, he got contracted a 3-year deal with Ajaccio with an additional one-year option. As they got recently promotion to Ligue 1, he played in the first two friendly matches against

and Real Sociedad, losing both the games.

He made his official debut with the team in August 2011 against Toulouse, although they were beaten. In his first season with the club, he made 8 clean sheets, 43 saves, and 151 blocks.

In the next season, there came rumours of the clubs like Sevilla and Fenerbahçe being interested in him. But it did not reach a solid agreement. In the 2012-13 season, he found the opportunity of playing against big-name teams like Paris Saint-Germain and Valenciennes.

He finished the season with 12 clean sheets and was called Player of the Season by the fans. He featured in his 100th match in Europe for Ajaccio and lost 0-2 to Nice. He finally played his last match for Ajaccio against Bastia which ended up in their loss.

Then he joined the La Liga Club Málaga and got contracted a three-year deal with them. But he did not get any appearances for the club despite having made the deal.

He went back to the substitute bench after playing a few matches because Carlos Kameni was the first choice of goalkeeper for the club manager, Javi Gracia.

Many speculated that he would go to

for a  £4 million deal, but it did not happen as Málaga expressed pleasure to have retained Ochoa and insisted that he was a “professional.” In 2016, with Carlos Kameni injury, his official debut in La Liga occurred as it was the first league appearance for him in over a year.

Therefore they loaned him to Granada for the 2016 season. His debut for Granada was in a match against

which was ended up in a draw.

He finished the season for Granada with featuring in every minute of the game for the entire season and was honoured to become the player with the most saves in the top five leagues in Europe.

Likewise, he was also the player with the most goals conceded as he was named the Player of the season by the fans once more time.

At the end of his season with

, he made a two-year deal with the Belgian Club Standard Liège. Becoming their first-choice goalkeeper, he featured in 38 out of the 40 total games the club played. In the next season, he played all the matches and spent all the minutes in the field for Standard Liège.

Yet, in 2019, he indicated that he is not interested in playing for Standard Liège anymore and did not resign his contracts with them. In August 2019, he came back to his first club, America and got contracted a three and a half year deal with the club.

Although the transfer details were not revealed explicitly, he was assumed to be the highest-paid Mexican player in Liga MX with an annual salary of $1.5 million. His first match upon return was against Tigres UNAL which was ended up in a draw.

Besides, in the 2020-21 season, he was seen sporting a captain’s armband and jersey number 13, although he initially chose jersey number 6 when he signed.

At the international level, he played for the Mexican Football Team on various occasions as he debuted on the team list in 2004 for Greece Olympics.

Among all of them, it suffices to mention that he has featured in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Copa America, 2010 World Cup Qualification, 2014 FIFA World Cup, where he even managed to win Man of the Match as he also played in the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games

Guillermo Ochoa personal life

Concerning our top facts about Guillermo Ochoa, if we delve into his personal life affairs, we would suggest that he dated Mexican actress, singer and songwriter Dulce María in 2005, but soon just after a year, they broke up for undisclosed reasons.

When he moved to France, he began dating another Mexican model and designer Karla Mora. She is the most devoted fan of Guillermo and admires him so passionately irrespective of the results of his matches.

After they dated for about 3 years, on February 8, 2013, Karla Mora got pregnant and gave birth to their first child and daughter. At that time, the couple had not married yet.

They also welcomed their second child, their only son in 2015. It seems that it did not take long for the couple to choose the names of their first two children.

Their son's name is Luciano and their daughter, Lucciana. Memo also wrote the name of the girl on football boots. They got married on 8 July 2017 in Spain, as they welcomed their third child which is their second daughter in May 2019.

Guillermo Ochoa net worth

If we provide further insight into

top facts about Guillermo Ochoa

, it is worth mentioning that as an outstanding footballer his annual salary, consisted of his prize money and sponsorships, is estimated to be around 2.275 million USD.

Guillermo Ochoa net worth

in 2021 is indicated to be 5 Million. His primary income source is from being a professional footballer. However, he has made a whopping amount of money from a disproportionate number of his prizes as well as his sponsorship deals.

As he is going through his final years of football profession his current market value is €1.80m, but when he was younger his market value reached the peak of €8.00m in 2009. During his football journey, he made 539 appearances and played around 48.542 minutes in his spans with various clubs.

Guillermo Ochoa social media

In the notion of our

top facts about Guillermo Ochoa

, his social media activity is especially noticeable. He has around 3 million Twitter followers, being one of the most followed Mexican footballers on the popular social network.

Likewise, as far as

Guillermo Ochoa Social media

activity is concerned, he has racked up around 2 million and 4 hundred thousand followers on his Instagram account under the username of

. His posts are considerably in line with his football profession and some other personal affairs.

Among his most recent activity, after América was eliminated in the Liga MX by the main rival Chivas de Guadalajara, there came some rumours that Ochoa has received interesting offers from Rayados de Monterrey.

Among the circulation of these rumours, he reacted on his social networks and published an image that grabs considerable attention indicating the fact that he is taking everything very easy and that he is taking advantage of their days off, out of any negotiations.

Guillermo Ochoa untold facts

As one of the other amazing top facts about Guillermo Ochoa, it is pertinent to note that there is a personal story behind choosing his jersey number 13 despite being an unlucky number. That is actually his date of birth which is on 13th July.

In addition, once Ochoa, along with 5 other players tested positive for drugs (clenbuterol which is a fat-burner) and therefore was suspended during the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

However he fought the accusation, saying that the drug was from contaminated meat he had eaten, so the league lifted his suspension.

He also once appreciated AC Ajaccio for believing him even in such a situation as he said: [They were] the only club who offered me a chance after the doping affair of which I was accused”.

Read More:

Follow

for the