Guillermo Ochoa is an FM hero who only appears at World Cups

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Francisco Guillermo Ochoa
Photo Works / BigStock

Scrolling on Football Manager forums and other general football sites tends to lead you to some funny things. However, sometimes you see a statement that you think is daft but makes sense to you.

I recently came across one of those statements, as somebody wrote, ‘Guillermo Ochoa only seems to appear at World Cups’. Now, even as somebody who watches multiple leagues, I think that is not an entirely invalid thought!

However, I realised the person who wrote the sentence was obviously joking. It did get me thinking about Ochoa and how, in my (much) younger years, I used to sign him on Football Manager and just how good he was on the game.

Ochoa is one of my Football Manager cult heroes

Francisco Guillermo Ochoa
Светлана Бекетова, CC BY-SA 3.0 GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons

I first encountered Guillermo Ochoa in FM09 or FM10. At the time, he was a relatively young, unknown goalkeeper to most European football fans.

At that point, he had already made the Mexico squad for the 2006 World Cup, but as he wasn’t playing in a high-profile elite league, he wasn’t a household name.

I remember playing as Everton on FM, looking for a bargain goalkeeper, and Ochoa, who was still playing in his native Mexico with Club America, was always my first port of call.

Not only did he have excellent attributes, but he was also available at a bargain price, which are two excellent attributes for a player to have, especially when playing as a club without a massive transfer kitty.

Like most bargain players in FM, he would only get better and help the team win numerous trophies without having to be replaced until his mid-30s. In short, he was a Football Manager player’s dream.

How did his career pan out in real life?

Francisco Guillermo Ochoa
Victor Araiza, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Believe it or not, Guillermo Ochoa is still playing professionally in the Portuguese Primeira Liga with AVS despite being 39 years of age.

Going back to the beginning of his real-life club career, he started at Club America, making his debut in the Clausura in 2004. He went on to play for the Mexican giants until 2011, making 302 appearances.

The run was only interrupted by a loan move to San Luis, where he played just once but still picked up a Primera Division A: Apertura 2004 winner’s medal.

He also picked up a fair few pieces of silverware with Club America during his time with the club from Mexico City. He won the Primera Division A: Apertura in 2004, the Campeon de Campeones in 2005, and the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup in 2006.

Ochoa took his first furore into foreign lands in 2011 when he joined French top-flight club Ajaccio. He played all but two Ligue One games for the club over a three-season period.

He moved to Spain with Malaga in 2014 but made just six appearances for the Andalusians in his first season before appearing just 13 times in all competitions the following season.

Ochoa saw far more action on loan at Granada during the 2016/17 season. He was the team’s first-choice goalkeeper, playing all 38 games in La Liga and one in the Copa del Rey.

Francisco Guillermo Ochoa
Дмитрий Садовников, CC BY-SA 3.0 GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons

The following season, the Mexican international was once again on the move, but this time, he joined Belgian outfit Standard Liege on a permanent basis. He was Standard’s first choice, making 86 appearances in all competitions.

While in Belgium, Ochoa helped Standard win the Belgian Cup in 2017/18 and was named the club’s Player of the Year in 2018/19.

In 2019, Ochoa returned to his first Club America and stayed there for four years, making 127 competitive appearances for the Mexican club. Just as it looked like he would play out the rest of his career with the club, he made a somewhat surprising move to Serie A outfit Salernitana in December 2022.

Ochoa excelled in his first half-season with the club, helping Salernitana avoid relegation and, in the process, winning the club’s Player of the Year award. Unfortunately for Ochoa and his teammates, Salernitana couldn’t avoid relegation in his only full season with the club in season 2023/24.

With the Mexican out of contract in the summer of 2024, he set off on a new adventure, this time in the Portuguese top-flight with AVS, a club founded in 2023 after UD Vilafranquense moved from Vila Franca de Xira to Vila das Aves.

At the time of writing, Ochoa has made nine appearances for his new club, who are currently just above the league’s relegation zone.

A real-life Mexico and football icon

Francisco Guillermo Ochoa making save
Marcello Casal Jr/Agência Brasil, CC BY 3.0 BR, via Wikimedia Commons

Guillermo Ochoa is a Mexican football icon. He made his debut for El Tri in 2005 and has enjoyed an incredible international career that has spanned nearly two decades and 151 appearances. Only Claudio Suarez and Andres Guardado have made more international appearances for Mexico than Ochoa.

Not only did Ochoa appear in five World Cup squads for Mexico, appearing in three of them, but he also helped his national team win the CONCACAF Gold Cup on five occasions, in 2009, 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023.

As we have proven, Guillermo Ochoa definitely doesn’t just magically appear at World Cups. He has enjoyed a highly respectable playing career at club level, which is still going strong despite the fact that he will turn 40 this summer.

Not only was he an icon on Football Manager, but also in real life during his playing career, especially to the fans of the Mexico national and all the clubs he represented with pride.