Hector Herrera’s dream of becoming a professional footballer was fulfilled in July 2011. Just one year later, the Mexican would be winning Olympic gold after beating Brazil at the London 2012 Games. Here are 7 things about the footballer you should know.
Hector Herrera: Bio, Childhood, Networth, Personal Facts, and Career
1. Quick Facts:
- Full name: Héctor Miguel Herrera López
- Born: Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
- Date of birth: April 19, 1990
- Age: 31
- Height: 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
- Position: Midfielder
- Current team: Atlético Madrid
- Number: 16
2. Who is Hector Herrera?
Hector Herrera is a professional Mexican soccer player. He plays as a midfielder and his current team is the Atlético Madrid club of the Spanish First Division and the Mexican national team.
Herrera was a fundamental piece in obtaining the gold medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games. At the event, he was awarded the Meilleur Joueur (Best Player), the most outstanding player of the tournament.
He currently holds the record of being the footballer with the fastest red card in history in the Champions League, in the 6th minute after two yellow cards.
3. Nicknamed Zorrillo(Skunk) or Zorro(Fox), he first played football for C.F. Pachuca’s youth sides:
Born in Rosarito, Baja California, Herrera began playing soccer in the youth teams of C. F. Pachuca.
Hector Miguel Herrera López is the youngest of three brothers and since he was little he started playing soccer playing on the soccer stadium located in Emiliano Zapata dirt field. Although he has always been good at sports, Hector always knew that his dream was to be a professional footballer.
Hector’s first opportunity came when he was only 16 years old. The soccer player traveled to a state tournament and a viewer from Club Pachuca invited him to join his U17 team.
Despite being very close to his mother, Hector made the decision to move to the city of Tampico and continue his sports career.
4. Hector Herrera’s valuation:
The first year of his training, Herrera had no salary and his income was limited, however, the birth of his son brought him and his wife Chantal good luck as he achieved promotion to the Second Division team.
When he began to attract attention, some European clubs such as Manchester United or Udinese Calcio approached him. He was listed as one of the five cheapest Pachuca footballers with a value on his card of $927,000. Compared to the rest of his teammates, Hector was a bargain for any team on the Old Continent. Then Porto appeared. It was 2013. Pachuca opened the negotiations and in the end the agreement was closed for 10.8 million dollars, an operation that benefited both groups.
After playing for the Mexico U-23 and Mexico national team, he became valued at $16 million as a midfielder in 2012.
5. Hector Herrera’s inspiration/role models:
Hector Herrera mentions three players as his references and inspiration: Juan Román Riquelme, Andrés Iniesta, and Cuauhtémoc Blanco, of whom he has said: “He was a reference in Mexican football for everything he did on the field, for his charisma and mischief”.
6. Personal life:
His wife is Chantal Mayo with whom he has two children: David and Valentina.
7. Career in short:
Hector Herrera made his professional debut with the Second Division of Cuautla Club when he was just 17 years old. From there, he went to Tampico Madero.
His life took a turn when in 2011 he was taken to Pachuca by the Tuzos coach at that time: Efraín Flores, who detected his talent as he saw him play with the lower divisions of Pachuca.
Herrera debuted with a loss for his team on July 23, 2011, in a match against Santos Laguna. In that tournament, he won the award for being the best rookie of the Apertura 2011. From that moment on, he became one of the promising players in Mexican soccer, whose talent quickly took off.
On June 28, 2013, Herrera was signed by Porto, the Portuguese club. In this way, the player fulfilled his dream of going to play in the professional league but after a brief stay with Porto B, he was taken to the first team, and little by little he was obtaining an important place.
With Porto, Herrera won two Portuguese Super Cups in 2013 and 2018, and a Liga in 2018, ending archrivals Benfica’s dominance that had been crowned for four consecutive years.
He became captain and team leader based on great performances and a cold temper on the court. Before the leap to the EU, one of the great achievements of Hector Herrera was the Gold Medal achieved with the Under-23 National Team at the London Olympic Games in 2012, beating Brazil in the grand final. Héctor was one of the pillars of that team led by Luis Fernando Tena. To the previous achievement we must add his good participation in the World Cups of Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018, where he became a benchmark of the Tricolor box. Even the English defender Rio Ferdinand, a former Manchester United player, praised the Mexican midfielder, saying: “If I were a club coach, I would definitely hire him because he is a midfielder who doesn’t cost much, he would be a Mexican bomb that I would put in my Priority list”.
On July 3, 2019, his transfer to Atlético Madrid club was announced after being released from F.C. Porto. The Mexican footballer signed a three-season contract with the Spanish team and in a Champions League match he entered a change in the 70th minute and in a corner kick in the 89th minute he got up to finish with his head and put the ball between the same posts. to save the tie and debut with the mattress against Juventus.
Herrera will be one of the important reinforcements of Atlético Madrid football club for the following season in which the Colchoneros (aka Atletico Madrid) will continue fighting to overthrow the hegemony of Barcelona and Real Madrid in the Spanish League.
