64 Facts About Carlos Vela

Carlos Alberto Vela Garrido was born on 1 March 1989 and is a Mexican professional footballer who captains and plays for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC.

Carlos Vela made his debut with the senior Mexico national team in 2007 in a friendly match against Brazil, and scored his first goal for his country in a friendly against Guatemala.

Carlos Vela participated in Mexico's CONCACAF Gold Cup victory in 2009, and participated in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Carlos Vela rejected all subsequent call-ups for more than three years, including friendlies, World Cup qualifiers, and various major tournaments including the 2014 FIFA World Cup, citing various reasons for his refusals.

In November 2014, Carlos Vela made his return to the national team and participated in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Carlos Alberto Vela Garrido was born 1 March 1989 in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico to Enrique Vela, an iron welder from Campeche, and Nella Garrido, a stay-at-home mother from Tabasco.

Carlos Vela's father played semi-professional football but an injury caused by a torn ligament caused him to retire.

Carlos Vela learned a lot and made significant development and progress during his time spent there, according to Felix Alcala, his coach at the time.

In school, Carlos Vela played both basketball and football simultaneously, which caused many problems between his coaches.

Carlos Vela's father made him decide to focus on only one sport at the age of 12, in which Vela chose football.

Enrique Carlos Vela was frustrated at the fact that his son was not being scouted due to living in Cancun.

Guadalajara's youth system sent scouts to Cancun in 2001, where Carlos Vela caught their eye.

Carlos Vela was summoned to a youth tournament in Buenos Aires with Guadalajara as a small trial period with unpaid expenses.

In 2003, during a local competition held in Ciudad Victoria, Carlos Vela was seen and was presented with offers with local teams of the Primera Division.

Carlos Vela eventually joined Guadalajara in 2003, though he never received a call up to the club's first-team squad, thus not being able to make his professional debut in Mexico.

Since Carlos Vela's family lived in the then-recently-storm-stricken Cancun, he asked that the club help relocate them as a condition of his signing.

Carlos Vela had previously shown his great affection to his father, whose birthday fell on the day on which Mexico beat Brazil in the final of the U-17 World Cup, by carrying the cup to his father and dedicating his Golden Boot to him.

Carlos Vela had a successful stay there, creating many of Salamanca's 53 goals, eight of which he scored himself.

On 22 May 2008, Carlos Vela was granted a work permit that allowed him to play in England.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confirmed that Carlos Vela would be involved with the first team in the coming season and that he viewed Carlos Vela as a striker in Eduardo's mould.

Carlos Vela made his competitive debut for Arsenal on 30 August 2008 in their Premier League match against Newcastle United, coming on as a substitute for Robin van Persie in the 63rd minute.

Carlos Vela scored his first goal in the Premier League for Arsenal away to Portsmouth on 2 May 2009 making him just the second Mexican player to score a goal in the Premier League.

On 28 April, Carlos Vela was excluded from Arsenal's training session as a precaution due to the 2009 swine flu outbreak.

Carlos Vela returned to training the next day after being given the all-clear.

Carlos Vela renewed his contract with Arsenal on 10 December 2009.

On 4 May 2010, Carlos Vela played his 50th game in an Arsenal shirt, against Blackburn Rovers.

Carlos Vela scored his first goal coming in as a substitute for the Baggies in his third match for the club with a 92nd-minute equaliser against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 20 February 2011.

On 15 August 2011, Arsenal announced that Carlos Vela would be loaned out to Spanish club Real Sociedad, subject to a medical.

Carlos Vela scored twice, a header and a stoppage-time individual goal, to confirm Real Sociedad's progression to the group stages of the Champions League at Lyon's expense.

On 20 January 2014, it was announced that Carlos Vela had won La Liga Player of the Month for December after his performances against clubs such as Real Betis, Granada, Real Madrid, and Barcelona.

Carlos Vela was nominated at the season's LFP Awards for the Best Forward in the league, losing out to Cristiano Ronaldo.

On 24 June, Carlos Vela signed a four-year contract extension which will keep him at Real Sociedad until 2018.

Carlos Vela was ultimately fined by the club and ruled out for the team's next match against Celta Vigo.

On 8 August 2017, Real Sociedad announced an agreement with Major League Soccer for Carlos Vela to move to the league in 2018.

On 8 August 2017, it was announced that Carlos Vela had been signed by Los Angeles FC, becoming the first designated player of the team and officially joining the team on 1 January 2018.

Carlos Vela was voted as captain for the second consecutive season via social media for the 2019 MLS All-Star Game against Atletico Madrid.

Carlos Vela finished the season with a record 34 goals and 15 assists, for a combined record of 49 points, which earned him the MLS Golden Boot award as the league's top-scorer.

Carlos Vela finished the 2019 season by claiming the MLS Most Valuable Player Award for his performances, winning by a significant margin over Galaxy rival Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Atlanta United forward Josef Martinez.

Carlos Vela was included in the competition's best XI, having scored a total of five goals in the tournament.

On 17 April 2021, Carlos Vela played his first match against new MLS club Austin FC.

Carlos Vela played in the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship, held in Peru, where he helped Mexico to victory.

Carlos Vela subsequently finished as top scorer with five goals, claiming the Adidas Golden Boot.

Carlos Vela was part of the under-20 team that participated at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

In July 2009, Carlos Vela represented Mexico at the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Mexico advanced to the semi-finals against Costa Rica, where Carlos Vela would make his return in the 81st minute.

On 3 June 2010, Carlos Vela scored his first international goal against a team from Europe, in a friendly match against Italy.

Carlos Vela scored the first goal of the game with an assist from Giovani dos Santos.

Carlos Vela was omitted from that year's Gold Cup which Mexico went on to win.

Carlos Vela was included in the preliminary roster for the 2011 Copa America but Arsenal refused to allow him to go, citing that it wasn't a CONCACAF tournament.

Carlos Vela refused a call-up to participate in the 2012 London Olympics, which Mexico went on to win, due to wanting to establish himself with his new club Real Sociedad.

Carlos Vela declined a third time to join the national team in March 2013 for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers against the United States and Honduras due to personal reasons.

In September 2013, Victor Manuel Vucetich called him up for World Cup qualifiers against Panama and Costa Rica; however, Carlos Vela declined to come back to the national team.

In November 2014, after a three-year absence, Carlos Vela accepted a call up from Miguel Herrera to the national team for the friendly matches against the Netherlands and Belarus.

Carlos Vela was called up to participate in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, scoring in the team's opening match against Cuba on 9 July.

Carlos Vela would go on to appear in Mexico's final group stage match against Russia and third place play-off against Portugal.

In May 2018, Carlos Vela was named in Mexico's preliminary 28-man squad for the World Cup, and in June, was ultimately included in the final 23-man roster.

Carlos Vela appeared in all group stage matches and the round of 16 loss against Brazil.

Carlos Vela insisted on respecting Ferretti's decision and wished them luck.

In May, it was reported that Carlos Vela was not interested in being called up for the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Carlos Vela became a father in November 2016 to a son Romeo, with his Spanish girlfriend Saioa Canibano, whom he met during his time at Real Sociedad.

Carlos Vela became a father for a second time in October 2020 to a daughter India, with his wife Saioa.

On 4 March 2020, Los Angeles FC announced that Carlos Vela had obtained a green card, qualifying him as a domestic player for Major League Soccer roster purposes.

Carlos Vela appeared on the North American front cover of the FIFA 11 video game along with Kaka and Landon Donovan.

Carlos Vela would appear again on the FIFA 20 MVP Edition.