Marco Freixa
|
File:Freixa.png Freixa with Borar during a match against Dahrzor United in 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Marco Freixa Ruiz | ||
| Date of birth | 18 February 2000 | ||
| Place of birth | Mazar, Qal'eh | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75m) | ||
| Position(s) | Winger / Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Borar | ||
| Number | 11 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2007-2016 | FC Serkhes Youth | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2016–2017 | FC Serkhes 02 | 46 | (20) |
| 2017– | Borar | 82 | (39) |
| International career | |||
| 2018-– | Qal'eh national football team | 11 | (10) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Marco Freixa Ruiz (ˈfɾexa; FRAY-sha, born 18 February 2000) is a Veleazan-Qalehi professional footballer who plays as a winger and forward for Qal'eh National League club Borar and the Qal'eh national football team. Considered one of the best upcoming footballers in Aeia, Freixa is known for his pace, dribbling ability and finishing finesse.
Freixa was introduced to the public eye by his hometown club FC Serkhes 02, whose youth system he has risen up in and become renowned in the club's ranks for his exquisite skill and finishing ability. Freixa made his professional debut for the club in a match against Koluk Daraq in 2016, aged just 16. Getting regular first team football due to the club's lack of a suitable left winger, Freixa quickly became a household name when he finished 6th in the 2016 QNL top goalscorers, netting 14 goals that year. Freixa went on to lead Serkhes to two successive Qal'eh Cup semi-finals appearances, both against Dahrzor United, the furthest the club has ever got in the domestic competition. Freixa's 2017 season went much the same and during the January transfer window of the 2017 season he relocated to mainland Qal'eh when he was sold to Borar for 45 million Zaar (~€20 million). Freixa led Borar to a Qal'eh Cup win and a second place finish in the 2017-18 season, breaking the top 2 deadlock between Dahrzor United and Al-Nadja that had lasted twelve years. Freixa was named QNL Young Footballer of the Year in 2018 and was runner-up for Qalehi Footballer of the Year in the same year, losing out to international teammate Mohammed Reza Qanbari.
With 10 goals in 11 caps for the Qal'eh national team, including an historic hattrick against Juznia in his Copa debut[1], carrying the team to a 5-1 victory in the match, Freixa has the highest goals-per-game ratio in the entire team, with 0.91 goals per game, alongside 5 assists.
Early Life
Marco Freixa Ruiz was one of five children born to a Qalehi father and Veleazan mother living in Mazar, a town in the Qalehi-administrated Kasahgan Peninsula. He often played futsal and street football on the streets of Mazar, and he credits his early exposure to the urban iterations of football with how he attained his renowned skill and dribbling ability. He went to his first FC Serkhes game when he was 4 and joined their youth program at the age of 7. When he began earning additional income when he was 14, his parents relocated to a wealthier part of Mazar, which allowed him to continue with the youth program and led him to being signed by the professional first team when he was 16, making his debut shortly after.
Club Career
FC Serkhes
Youth
Freixa was scouted by FC Serkhes on the streets from a young age, a common tradition in Qalehi football scouting. He was offered a contract by the club in 2007 when he was inducted into their youth program. One of the few players to lead a successful career coming from a youth program in the Kasahgan Peninsula, Freixa did not meet any prominent Qalehi footballers whilst he was at the youth program, although did get some training sessions with Qalehi midfield legend Omid Afshar. Aged 15, Freixa visited the Dahrzor United youth program, meeting now-teammate Aziz Khaledi in the process, whom he became good friends with.
2016: Debut season
Freixa made his professional debut on on January 19, 2016, against Koluk Daraq in a QNL league match, aged just 16 years old. He was brought on with 20 minutes remaining and got one assist in a 4-0 win against the team. He scored his first goal for the team against Palas two weeks later in a 3-2 loss, a low shot from the outside of the box, which would come to be one of his signature scoring methods. In the Qal'eh Cup quarterfinals against Karan Club, Freixa scored twice, including a decisive 89th minute goal, to send Serkhes through to the semi-finals of the domestic tournament for the first time in the club's history. In his first season, Freixa scored 14 goals in 31 games.