Gavi

Gavi with Barcelona in 2022

Personal information

Full name

Pablo Martín Páez Gavira^[1]

Date of birth

5 August 2004 (age 20)^[2]

Place of birth

Los Palacios y Villafranca, Spain

Height

1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)^[2]

Position(s)

Central midfielder

Team information

Current team

Barcelona

Number

6

Youth career

2010–2013

La Liara

2013–2015

Betis

2015–2021

Barcelona

Senior career*

Years

Team

Apps

(Gls)

2021

Barcelona B

3

(0)

2021–

Barcelona

103

(6)

International career^‡

2018–2020

Spain U15

4

(1)

2019–2020

Spain U16

7

(0)

2020–2021

Spain U18

3

(0)

2021–

Spain

27

(5)

Medal record

Men's football

Representing Spain
UEFA Nations League
Winner	2023 Netherlands
Runner-up	2021 Italy

*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:09, 22 April 2025 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 November 2023

Pablo Martín Páez Gavira^[a] (born 5 August 2004), known as Gavi,^[b] is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team.

In 2022, Gavi won the Golden Boy award and received the Kopa Trophy, awarded by France Football during the 2022 Ballon d'Or ceremony.

Early life

[edit]

Gavi was born in Los Palacios y Villafranca, Sevilla, Andalusia.^[1]^[4]

Club career

[edit]

In 2015, at the age of 11, he signed for Barcelona.^[9]^[10]

In September 2020, he signed his first professional contract with the Catalan club, and was promoted directly from the under-16 team to the under-19 team.^[11]^[12] He made his debut for Barcelona B on 21 February 2021, in the 6–0 home routing of L'Hospitalet, coming on as a substitute for Nico González in the 77th minute.^[13] He made his first start for Barça B the following 14 March in a 1–0 derby win against Espanyol B at the Ciutat Esportiva Dani Jarque.^[14]

2021–22 season

[edit]

Having featured twice for Barcelona B in the 2020–21 season, Gavi was promoted to the senior squad for pre-season friendlies with the first team ahead of the start of the new season.^[15]^[16] After good performances in wins against Gimnàstic de Tarragona and Girona, Gavi was reported to have pushed ahead of Riqui Puig in manager Ronald Koeman's squad selection.^[17]^[18] He continued this good run of form in a 3–0 win against German opposition VfB Stuttgart, earning comparisons with Barcelona legend Xavi.^[19]^[20]

On 29 August 2021, he played his first official match for Barcelona's first team in the 2–1 La Liga win over Getafe, replacing Sergi Roberto in the 73rd minute. On 18 December, he scored his first goal for the club and provided an assist in the 3–2 home win over Elche.^[21]

2022–23 season

[edit]

On 15 January 2023, Gavi scored a goal and provided two assists to be named man of the match in a 3–1 victory over Real Madrid in the Supercopa de España Final.^[22] On 31 January, a Spanish court ruled in favor of accepting Gavi's new contract with Barcelona until 2026, signed in September the previous year, despite opposition from La Liga president Javier Tebas who argued that the new deal would not fit in the club's salary limit that season.^[23] On the same day, Barcelona announced that Gavi would acquire the number 6 shirt, previously worn by his coach Xavi.^[24] On 21 March, a court ruling ordered that the new deal to be revoked as it would exceed the club's salary limit, and a return to his previous enrolment as a youth-team player with his old number 30 shirt.^[25]^[26]^[27]

On 20 June 2023, Barcelona managed to complete Gavi's registration to La Liga as a first-team player, subsequently extended his contract with Barcelona until June 2026, which contained a release clause of €1bn.^[28]

2023–present

[edit]

Gavi who had been injured since November 2023 came back to training on 12 September 2024.^[29] After 348 days since his injury, he made his return to action on 20 October 2024 in a 5-1 victory against Sevilla replacing his fellow teammate Pedri who handed him the captain's armband.^[30] Similarly, he also made an appearance in El Clásico as a substitute once again on 26 October 2024 where Barcelona won comfortably by 4-0 against Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. He picked up a yellow card in the 90th minute following a clash with Vinicius Jr.^[31] He scored his first goal of the season against Athletic Bilbao in the Supercopa de España semi final tie where he also assisted teammate Lamine Yamal in a 0-2 victory and eventually winning the cup.^[32] On 31 January 2025, he extended his contract with the club until 2030.^[33]

International career

[edit]

Gavi has represented Spain at under-15 and under-16 level.^[1]^[8]

On 30 September 2021, Gavi received a surprise call-up to the senior Spain national team by the manager Luis Enrique. He made his debut in their UEFA Nations League semi-final win against Italy on 6 October, becoming the youngest player to ever represent Spain at senior level.^[34]^[35] In the final against France on 10 October, Spain ultimately suffered a 2–1 defeat.^[36] On 5 June 2022, he scored his first senior goal in the Nations League away against the Czech Republic, becoming the youngest player to ever score representing Spain at senior level.^[37]

Gavi was named in Spain's squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, in which he started in all four matches.^[38] With his goal against Costa Rica in Spain's first game of the tournament, Gavi became the third youngest player (only behind Pelé and Manuel Rosas) to score in a World Cup match.^[39]

On 15 October 2023, Gavi scored the only goal in a 1–0 away win over Norway during the Euro 2024 qualifying, securing his national team's qualification to the major tournament.^[40] A month later, on 19 November, he sustained an ACL injury in his right knee and a damaged meniscus during a UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying match against Georgia, which would force him to miss both the Euro 2024 finals and the 2024 Olympic Games for Spain.^[41]

Style of play

[edit]

Graham Hunter of ESPN hailed Gavi as a highly promising young player in 2021, comparing him to former Barcelona midfielders Xavi and Andrés Iniesta due to his dribbling, anticipation, intelligence, vision, passing, first touch, close control, change of pace, and quick reflexes.^[42] Following his performance in Spain's semi-final victory over Italy in the 2021 Nations League Finals, Italian defender Emerson Palmieri described Gavi as a player who "has huge potential".^[35]

Career statistics

[edit]

Club

[edit]

As of match played 30 April 2025^[43]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			Copa del Rey		Europe		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Barcelona B	2020–21	Segunda División B	2	0	—		—		—		2	0
	2021–22	Primera División RFEF	1	0	—		—		—		1	0
	Total		3	0	—		—		—		3	0
Barcelona	2021–22	La Liga	34	2	1	0	11^[c]	0	1^[d]	0	47	2
	2022–23	La Liga	36	2	5	0	6^[e]	0	2^[d]	1	49	3
	2023–24	La Liga	12	1	0	0	3^[f]	1	0	0	15	2
	2024–25	La Liga	21	1	4	1	9^[f]	0	2^[d]	1	36	3
	Total		103	6	10	1	29	1	5	2	147	10
Career total			106	6	10	1	29	1	5	2	150	10

^ Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpaβlo maɾˈtim ˈpaeθ ɣaˈβiɾa];^[3]
^ pronounced [ˈɡaβi]
^ Six appearances in UEFA Champions League, five appearances in UEFA Europa League
^ ^a ^b ^c Appearance(s) in Supercopa de España
^ Five appearances in UEFA Champions League, one appearance in UEFA Europa League
^ ^a ^b Appearances in UEFA Champions League

International

[edit]

As of match played 19 November 2023^[44]

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Spain	2021	4	0
	2022	13	3
	2023	10	2
Total		27	5

As of match played 15 October 2023

Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Gavi goal^[44]

List of international goals scored by Gavi
No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	5 June 2022	Sinobo Stadium, Prague, Czech Republic	8	Czech Republic	1–1	2–2	2022–23 UEFA Nations League A	^[45]
2	17 November 2022	Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan	13	Jordan	2–0	3–1	Friendly	^[46]
3	23 November 2022	Al Thumama Stadium, Doha, Qatar	14	Costa Rica	5–0	7–0	2022 FIFA World Cup	^[47]
4	12 September 2023	Nuevo Los Cármenes, Granada, Spain	23	Cyprus	1–0	6–0	UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	^[48]
5	15 October 2023	Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway	25	Norway	1–0	1–0	UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	^[49]

Honours

[edit]

Barcelona

La Liga: 2022–23^[50]
Copa del Rey: 2024–25
Supercopa de España: 2023,^[51] 2025^[52]

Spain

UEFA Nations League: 2022–23

Individual

Kopa Trophy: 2022^[53]
Golden Boy: 2022^[54]
IFFHS Men's World Youth (U20) Team^{[broken anchor]}: 2022,^[55] 2023^[56]
IFFHS Men's Youth (U20) UEFA Team: 2022,^[57] 2023^[58]
Trofeo Aldo Rovira: 2021–22^[59]

References

[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c Gavi at WorldFootball.net
^ ^a ^b "Squad List: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Spain (ESP)" (PDF). FIFA. 18 December 2022. p. 27. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 December 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
^ In isolation, Martín and Gavira are pronounced [maɾˈtin] and [ɡaˈβiɾa] respectively.
^ Navarro, Cristina (6 September 2021). ""El equipo de Gavi"" ["Gavi's Team"]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 August 2022.
^ Hart, Simon (8 December 2021). "Gavi: The FC Barcelona youngster with undone laces who was 'born' for the big stage". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
^ Cala, Rafael (8 October 2021). "La Liara reivindica a Gavi: "Era Oliver Atom"" [La Liara vindicates Gavi: "He was Oliver Atom"]. estadiodeportivo.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 October 2021.
^ "A special fixture for Gavi". FC Barcelona. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
^ ^a ^b Navarro, Alicia (4 December 2018). "Gavi, el maestro de La Masía" [Gavi, the maestro of La Masía]. vavel.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 August 2021.
^ Sanderson, Tom (30 July 2021). "FC Barcelona Preseason Has Seen Coach Ronald Koeman Find New 'Golden Boys'". forbes.com. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
^ Kulig, Jacek (19 May 2020). "Scouting report on Pablo Paez 'Gavi' - the little maestro from La Masia". tribuna.com. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
^ "Young star Gavi signs new contract with Barcelona". sport.es. 7 September 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
^ Soldevila, Adrià (3 June 2021). "Gavi: La Masia wonderkid set to be the future of Barcelona's midfield". goal.com. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
^ "Gavi becomes 14th Under-19s player to debut for Barça B under Garcia Pimienta". FC Barcelona. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
^ Rogé, Albert (14 March 2021). "La fiesta 'juvenil' del Barça B hunde al RCD Espanyol B". sport.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 November 2021.
^ Sharma, Rik (2 August 2021). "Gavi, Demir & the Barcelona wonderkids impressing Koeman in pre-season". goal.com. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
^ Bona, German (17 July 2021). "Gavi, puro arte y mucho duende". sport.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 August 2021.
^ Martínez, Ferran (22 July 2021). "Gavi se creció entre los mayores en su debut". mundodeportivo.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 August 2021.
^ Clark, Gill (27 July 2021). "Koeman Prefers Barcelona Teen To Riqui Puig: Report". heavy.com. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
^ König, Kosta (2 August 2021). "16-year-old Barca kid Gavi stuns fans with fantastic performance, gets compared to Xavi". tribuna.com. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
^ Law, Joshua (2 August 2021). "Gavi & a delicate touch that showed he could well be Barcelona's new Xavi". planetfootball.com. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
^ "First goals for Gavi and Jutglà". FC Barcelona. 18 December 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
^ "Barcelona ease past Real Madrid to win Spanish Super Cup as PSG lose again". The Guardian. 15 January 2023.
^ Marsden, Sam; Llorens, Moises (31 January 2023). "Court ruling allows Barcelona to register Gavi's new contract; LaLiga to appeal". ESPN.
^ "Gavi to wear the number 6 jersey for Barça". FC Barcelona. 31 January 2023.
^ Marsden, Sam; Llorens, Moises (21 March 2023). "Barcelona to appeal court's decision to reverse Gavi's registration - source". ESPN.
^ Ballús, Pol. "Gavi could leave Barcelona for free after court ruling". The Athletic. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
^ "Dear Gavi, here's why you should join [insert club name] on a free transfer". The Athletic. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
^ "Barcelona complete Gavi registration with La Liga". OneFootball. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
^ "Gavi returns to Barcelona training after ACL tear". ESPN. 12 September 2024. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
^ "Gavi returns after 348 days out". FC Barcelona. 20 October 2025.
^ "Vinicius Jr makes Ballon d'Or taunt to Gavi after Barcelona midfielder tried to provoke Real Madrid winger during closing stages of El Clasico". GOAL. 27 October 2024.
^ "Athletic Club 0-2 FC Barcelona". FC Barcelona. 9 January 2025.
^ "Gavi, blaugrana until 2030". FC Barcelona. 31 January 2025.
^ "Italy 1 Spain 2". BBC Sport. 6 October 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
^ ^a ^b Lowe, Sid (8 October 2021). "How 17-year-old Gavi became Spain's present and future". ESPN. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
^ "Spain vs. France – Football Match Report". ESPN. 10 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
^ "Gavi becomes youngest ever goalscorer for Spanish national side". FC Barcelona. 6 June 2022. Archived from the original on 12 June 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
^ "Spain at the 2022 World Cup: who is in Luis Enrique's 26-man squad?". Reuters. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
^ Furniss, Matt (23 November 2022). "The Youngest Players to Score at a World Cup". The Analyst. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
^ "Norway 0-1 Spain: Gavi goal seals qualification for La Roja and secures Scotland's spot at Euro 2024". Eurosport. 16 October 2023.
^ Sanderson, Tom (19 November 2023). "FC Barcelona Star Gavi Tears ACL And Is Out For Rest Of Season, AS Reports". Forbes. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
^ Hunter, Graham (28 September 2021). "Ansu Fati and Gavi are Barcelona's future rising from the depths of a lost season". ESPN. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
^ "Gavi: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Gavi". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
^ "Czech Republic vs. Spain 2–2: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
^ "Jordan vs. Spain 1–3: Summary". Soccerway.
^ "Spain vs. Costa Rica 7–0: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
^ "Spain vs. Cyprus 6–0: Summary". Soccerway.
^ "Spain vs. Norway 1–0: Summary". Soccerway.
^ "FC Barcelona, Liga champions 2022/23!". FC Barcelona. 14 May 2023.
^ "Spanish Super Cup: Barcelona beat Real Madrid". BBC Sport. 15 January 2023.
^ "FC Barcelona win the Super Cup in a final for the history books (2-5)". Real Federación Española de Fútbol. 13 January 2025. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
^ "Gavi (Barça), vainqueur du Trophée Kopa 2022". l'équipe. 25 October 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
^ "DIRETTA Il Golden Boy 2022 è Gavi!". Tuttosport. 21 October 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
^ "IFFHS MEN'S WORLD YOUTH (U20) TEAM 2022". 12 January 2023.
^ "IFFHS MEN'S YOUTH (U20) WORLD TEAM 2023". IFFHS. 5 January 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
^ "IFFHS MEN'S CONTINENTAL YOUTH (U20) TEAMS 2022 - UEFA". 26 January 2023.
^ "IFFHS MEN'S YOUTH (U20) UEFA TEAM 2023". 5 February 2024.
^ FCBarcelona (9 February 2023). "Alexia and Gavi receive the Aldo Rovira award for the 2021/22 season". fcbarcelona. Retrieved 10 February 2023.

External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gavi (association football player).

Profile at the FC Barcelona website
Profile at the Royal Spanish Football Federation website (in Spanish)
Gavi – UEFA competition record (archive)

v t e FC Barcelona – current squad
1 Ter Stegen 2 Cubarsí 3 Balde 4 Araújo 5 Martínez 6 Gavi 7 Ferran 8 Pedri 9 Lewandowski 10 Fati 11 Raphinha 13 Peña 14 Torre 15 Christensen 16 Fermín 17 Casadó 18 Víctor 19 Yamal 20 Olmo 21 De Jong 23 Koundé 24 García 25 Szczęsny Coach: Flick

v t e Spain squad – 2022 FIFA World Cup
1 Sánchez 2 Azpilicueta 3 García 4 P. Torres 5 Busquets (c) 6 Llorente 7 Morata 8 Koke 9 Gavi 10 Asensio 11 F. Torres 12 Williams 13 Raya 14 Balde 15 Guillamón 16 Rodri 17 Pino 18 Alba 19 Soler 20 Carvajal 21 Olmo 22 Sarabia 23 Simón 24 Laporte 25 Fati 26 Pedri Coach: Luis Enrique

Awards

v t e Kopa Trophy
France Football magazine award
2018: Mbappé 2019: De Ligt 2020: not awarded 2021: Pedri 2022: Gavi 2023: Bellingham 2024: Yamal
Ballon d'Or additional awards (Ballon d'Or Féminin, Yashin Trophy, Gerd Müller Trophy, Sócrates Award, Super Ballon d'Or, Ballon d'Or Dream Team)

v t e Golden Boy award winners
2003: Van der Vaart 2004: Rooney 2005: Messi 2006: Fàbregas 2007: Agüero 2008: Anderson 2009: Pato 2010: Balotelli 2011: Götze 2012: Isco 2013: Pogba 2014: Sterling 2015: Martial 2016: Sanches 2017: Mbappé 2018: De Ligt 2019: Félix 2020: Haaland 2021: Pedri 2022: Gavi 2023: Bellingham 2024: Yamal

v t e Aldo Rovira Trophy
Men's winners 2009–10: Messi 2010–11: Messi 2011–12: Abidal 2012–13: Messi 2013–14: Mascherano 2014–15: Messi 2015–16: Suárez 2016–17: Messi 2017–18: Messi 2018–19: Piqué 2019–20: Ter Stegen 2020–21: Pedri 2021–22: Gavi 2022–23: Ter Stegen 2023–24: Yamal
Women's winners 2020–21: Putellas 2021–22: Putellas 2022–23: Bonmatí 2023–24: Bonmatí

Gavi (footballer)

Gavi (footballer)