 Malagón withMexico in 2025 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Luis Ángel Malagón Velázquez | ||
| Date of birth | (1997-03-02)2 March 1997 (age 28) | ||
| Place of birth | Zamora, Michoacán, Mexico | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | América | ||
| Number | 1 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2012 | Santos Laguna | ||
| 2013 | Real Zamora[1] | ||
| 2014–2020 | Morelia | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2016–2020 | Morelia | 10 | (0) |
| 2020–2022 | Necaxa | 72 | (0) |
| 2023– | América | 110 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2018 | Mexico U21 | 5 | (0) |
| 2019–2021 | Mexico U23 | 6 | (0) |
| 2023– | Mexico | 19 | (0) |
Medal record | |||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 8 November 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 18 November 2025 | |||
Luis Ángel Malagón Velázquez (born 2 March 1997) is a Mexican professionalfootballer who plays as agoalkeeper forLiga MX clubAmérica and theMexico national team.[2]
Born inZamora, Michoacán, Malagón started his career in theSantos Laguna youth system, joining at the age of 12, and playing for their under-15 side sporadically through the 2012 calendar year. Malagón was then let go by the Torreón squad due to his lack of discipline,[3] and joined his local clubReal Zamora, making 33 league appearances in theLiga Premier de México.[4] This would allow him to be spotted by scouts on Michoacán's top clubMonarcas Morelia.
After impressing in the Mexican lower divisions, Malagón was spotted by Monarcas, and joined their academy for the 2014–15 season. He went on to make 48 appearances across several of Monarcas' youth squads across the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons, until being promoted to the first team. In the 2015–16 season, Malagón was third in the pecking order, behindCirilo Saucedo andCarlos Felipe Rodríguez who split time in the league. Despite this, Malagón was given a chance to play in the cup competition, where he made his first team debut on 16 February 2016 againstNecaxa in which he conceded the winning goal in the 88th minute, losing 1–0. Despite making his professional debut, Malagón was still primarily playing for the reserved, making appearances for Monarcas under-20 squad and their third-tier team, with Rodríguez andSebastián Sosa sharing goalkeeper duties on the first team. Malagón would again be given the chance to play for the first team on the 2018–19 season, when he was given the opportunity to start on another cup match. During that season he firmly cemented himself as Monarcas' backup goalkeeper, making appearances on the cup and was given the chance to make hisleague debut on 5 April 2019, againstPuebla, after Sosa went down with an injury.[5] He had 3 saves and the match ended in a 1–1 tie. After that season he proceeded to split time with Sosa, until cementing himself as a starter for the latter half of the 2019–20 campaign which was cut short due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[6][4]
In June 2020 Malagón completed a move toClub Necaxa, afterHugo González's contract with the club ended, leaving on a free transfer toC.F. Monterrey. He made his debut on July 24, 2020, suffering a loss in the league againstTigres UANL.[7] He quickly cemented himself as the starter across the 2020–21 campaign, with the only games he didn't play coming due to international duty, and an injury he suffered whilst playing for the national team.[8]
Malagón remained Necaxa's starter throughout the 2021–22 season, being praised for his performances despite Necaxa's poor performance in the first half of the season. This included an impressive performance on October 4, against Tigres, in which Malagón made 8 saves, reaching the mark of 100 saves with the club.[9] In the latter half of the season, Necaxa's performances improved, and with Malagón still at a high level, they finished in the 9th position in the league, earning a spot in therepechaje stage of the playoffs. They facedCruz Azul, but were knocked out on penalties after a 1–1 draw in regular play.[10] Throughout the 2021–22 campaign Malagón played 27 matches, keeping 8 clean sheets in the process.
In the summer of 2022, Hugo González was brought back to Necaxa, fueling speculation about Malagóns future with the club, but Malagón stayed with the Aguascalientes side, welcoming the competition for the number one spot within the organization.[11]
In December 2022, as former number one,Guillermo Ochoa departed to Italian clubSalernitana, Malagón completed a transfer toClub América. It was confirmed that Malagón would wear the #33 shirt for the remainder of the campaign. He would make his unofficial debut later that month.[12]
Though initially serving as a backup forÓscar Jiménez, Jiménez's poor performances and a string of yellow cards for time-wasting early in 2023 saw Malagón given the chance to start against Tigres on March 11,[13] making his official debut for the club, keeping a clean sheet en route to a 2–0 win.[14] Malagón would keep starting throughout the remainder of the season, cementing himself as América's starting goalkeeper, with an impressive penalty save in the dying minutes of an April 8 match against Monterrey, sealing a 2–1 victory for América.América would be knocked out on the Clausura 2023 semifinals by rivalsGuadalajara.
After spending his first season with the designated squad number 33, it was announced that Malagón would wear the number 1 shirt for the 2023–24 season.
Malagón did not play in the first two matches of the season, as he was coming back from international duty forMexico in the2023 Gold Cup, with Óscar Jiménez taking his place. He would come back to the starting lineup on matchday 3, a 1–1 draw againstAtlas.[15] He would be the starting goalkeeper for the remainder of the season, only losing his place to Jiménez on matchday 16, after being rested againstClub Tijuana. Malagón was also in goal for América's fourLeagues Cup matches, as they finished second in the group and were knocked out byNashville on penalties, with Malagón's winning save getting called back as VAR determined he stepped over the goal line.[16]
Malagón would also be in goal for all of América's six matches in theliguilla, including both legs of the Apertura 2023 final, where América beat Tigres 4–1 on aggregate, to lift their 14th league title, and Malagón's first in his career. Malagón kept a clean sheet in the second leg, making three saves, including a key header fromAndré Pierre Gignac.[17]
On 25 September, theCampeones Cup was played againstMLS Cup 2023 winnersColumbus Crew. Following a 1–1 draw, the match went into a penalty kick shootout where Malagón contributed two saves as América won the series 5–4.[18][19]
Malagón's performances led him to be nominated by theIFFHS for best goalkeeper of the year, the only nominee among 20 to not play in a European league.[20]
Malagón was called up byJaime Lozano to participate with theunder-23 team at the2019 Pan American Games,[21] with Mexico winning the third-place match.[22] He also participated at the2020 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship. In the final group stage match against theUnited States, Malagón suffered an elbow injury, causing him to miss the rest of the tournament.[23] Mexico went on to win the competition. He was subsequently called up to participate in the2020 Summer Olympics.[24] Malagón won thebronze medal with the Olympic team.
In December 2021, Malagón received his first call-up to thesenior national team byGerardo Martino,[25] and made his debut nearly two years later underDiego Cocca on 7 June 2023, in a friendly match againstGuatemala. In the2023 Nations League quarter-finals, Malagón played in both legs againstHonduras, helping Mexico qualify for the2024 Copa América and theNations League finals. He kept a clean sheet in the second leg and saved a penalty in theshoot-out to be victorious 4–2.[26][27]
In the2024 Nations League quarter-finals, Malagón started in the second leg match against Honduras at theEstadio Nemesio Díez inToluca. After Mexico initially fell 2–0 to Honduras inSan Pedro Sula, he kept a clean sheet as Mexico won 4–0, securing a 4–2 aggregate victory and qualifying for the2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup and theNations League finals.[28] On 20 March 2025, in thesemi-final match againstCanada, Malagón recorded another clean sheet in Mexico's 2–0 win, making a crucial save againstcaptainAlphonso Davies to qualify for thefinal.[29] In the final, Malagón started as Mexico defeatedPanama 2–1 atSoFi Stadium inInglewood to win the country's first-everNations League title.[30] He went on to win the Golden Glove as the tournament's best goalkeeper for making 4 saves and keeping a clean sheet in the final tournament.[31]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Morelia | 2015–16 | Liga MX | – | 3 | 0 | – | – | 3 | 0 | |||
| 2018–19 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | – | – | 12 | 0 | ||||
| 2019–20 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – | 9 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 10 | 0 | 14 | 0 | — | — | 24 | 0 | ||||
| Necaxa | 2020–21 | Liga MX | 26 | 0 | – | – | – | 26 | 0 | |||
| 2021–22 | 28 | 0 | – | – | – | 28 | 0 | |||||
| 2022–23 | 18 | 0 | – | – | – | 18 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 72 | 0 | — | — | — | 72 | 0 | |||||
| América | 2022–23 | Liga MX | 11 | 0 | – | – | – | 11 | 0 | |||
| 2023–24 | 41 | 0 | – | 8[a] | 0 | 4[b] | 0 | 53 | 0 | |||
| 2024–25 | 42 | 0 | – | 4[a] | 0 | 5[c] | 0 | 51 | 0 | |||
| 2025–26 | 15 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 2[b] | 0 | 17 | 0 | |||
| Total | 109 | 0 | — | 12 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 132 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 191 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 228 | 0 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 2023 | 4 | 0 |
| 2024 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2025 | 12 | 0 | |
| Total | 19 | 0 | |
América
Mexico U23
Mexico
Individual
