Emmanuel Ochoa
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Emmanuel Ochoa | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 5 May 2005 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Salinas, California, United States | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Cruz Azul | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 30 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| El Camino | |||||||||||||||||
| 2017–2019 | Santa Cruz Breakers | ||||||||||||||||
| 2019–2024 | San Jose Earthquakes | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2024 | San Jose Earthquakes | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2024 | → The Town FC | 44 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2025– | Cruz Azul | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | United States U15 | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021 | Mexico U18 | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022 | United States U19 | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Mexico U20 | 12 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 12:11, 7 February 2026 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 01:05, 11 October 2025 (UTC) | |||||||||||||||||
Emmanuel "Emi" Ochoa (born 5 May 2005) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Liga MX club Cruz Azul and the Mexico national under-20 team.[1] Born in the United States, he is a youth international for Mexico.
Club career
Early career
Born in Salinas, California, Ochoa started his career with local side El Camino before joining the Santa Cruz Breakers.[2][3]
San Jose Earthquakes
He joined the San Jose Earthquakes academy in 2019, before being promoted to the first team ahead of the 2020 season.[4]
Ochoa made national sports headlines in November 2019 when, at only 14 years and 191 days old, he signed as a Homegrown Player for the San Jose Earthquakes, making him the youngest ever Homegrown Player in Major League Soccer history.[1][2][4] He is also the second youngest player to register for an MLS team, behind Freddy Adu, and at the time of his signing was considered to be the best goalkeeper of his age group in the country.[5][6][7]
Cruz Azul
On 17 January 2025, Cruz Azul announced the signing of Ochoa.[8] He made his debut on 6 February 2026, keeping a clean sheet in a 3–0 away victory over Canadian side Vancouver FC during the CONCACAF Champions Cup.[9]
International career
Born in the United States, Ochoa is of Mexican descent. He has represented the United States at under-14 and under-15 level.[1][2][10][11] He is also eligible to represent Mexico.[6] On March 9, 2020, Ochoa received a call up to the Mexico U-16 side, his first for any of Mexico's national team squads.[12] He played in a scrimmage match against the youth team of Puebla on March 12, 2020.[13][14]
In August 2021, Ochoa was called up to the Mexico under-18 squad, and made his debut in a 2–1 loss to the Republic of Ireland under-17s.[15][16]
In 2025, Ochoa was called up by coach Eduardo Arce to represent Mexico at the FIFA U-20 World Cup held in Chile.[17]
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 12 February 2026[18]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | Continental[b] | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| San Jose Earthquakes | 2021 | MLS | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| 2024 | — | 1 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Total | — | 1 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | |||||
| The Town FC | 2022 | MLS Next Pro | 15 | 0 | — | — | — | 15 | 0 | |||
| 2023 | 18 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | 20 | 0 | ||||
| 2024 | 11 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 44 | 0 | — | — | 4 | 0 | 48 | 0 | ||||
| Cruz Azul | 2024–25 | Liga MX | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| 2025–26 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| Total | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 44 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 51 | 0 | ||
- ^ Includes U.S. Open Cup
- ^ Includes CONCACAF Champions Cup
Honours
Cruz Azul
Mexico
References
- ^ a b c "Emmanuel Ochoa". mlssoccer.com. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ a b c "Emmanuel Ochoa". sjearthquakes.com. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ "San Jose Earthquakes sign 14-year-old goalkeeper Emmanuel Ochoa". mlssoccer.com. 11 November 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ a b "Earthquakes sign 14-year-old keeper, youngest homegrown player in MLS history". sfchronicle.com. 11 November 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ "'It feels really good': Star keeper Ochoa latest Salinas talent to sign with Earthquakes". thecalifornian.com. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ a b "San Jose signs Emmanuel Ochoa, 14, second-youngest MLS signing after Freddy Adu". espn.co.uk. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ "Earthquakes sign 14-year-old to Major League Soccer contract". mercurynews.com. 11 November 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ @cruzazul (17 January 2025). ""Un joven portero con mucho potential. El seleccionado de México Sub20, Emmanuel Ochoa, es nuevo jugador de La Máquina. ¡Bienvenido a La Noria!"" ["A young goalkeeper with a lot of potential. The Mexico U20 national team member, Emmanuel Ochoa, is a new player for La Máquina. Welcome to La Noria!"] (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 March 2025 – via X (formerly Twitter).
- ^ Pereira Garcia, Emiliano (4 February 2026). "Cruz Azul se estrena en Concachampions 2026 y Emmanuel Ochoa debuta en la Máquina" ["Cruz Azul makes its debut in the 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup and Emmanuel Ochoa makes his debut for La Máquina"]. juanfutbol.com (in Spanish).
- ^ "Eighty Players Called in for YNT U-14 TID West Region Mini-Camp". ussoccer.com. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
- ^ "U-15 Boys' National Team Heads to Poland for UEFA Development Tournament". ussoccer.com. 17 October 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
- ^ "Página Oficial de la Selección Nacional de México". miseleccion.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 March 2020.
- ^ "La SNM Sub-16 se impuso al Club Puebla" [The SNM Sub-16 prevailed over Club Puebla]. miseleccion.mx (in Spanish). 11 November 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
- ^ "NEWS: Emi Ochoa called to Mexico U-18 National Team". sjearthquakes.com. 31 August 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
- ^ "MLS homegrown trio called into Mexico youth national team camps". mlssoccer.com. 31 August 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
- ^ "REPORT – Ireland U17 2–1 Mexico U17". fai.ie. 5 September 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
- ^ "Convocatoria Oficial de México Sub-20 para el Mundial de Chile". MiSeleccion.mx (in Spanish). 10 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
- ^ Emmanuel Ochoa at Soccerway