Angelique Montserrat Saldivar Pavón (born 20 September 2006) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a left-back or left-winger for Liga MX Femenil side Club América and the Mexico national team.
Montse Saldivar was born on 20 September 2006 in the Benito Juárez Municipality of the state of Quintana Roo. As a child, she tried multiple sports before choosing football.[1]
Saldívar initially played football with boys in Cancún before being noticed by former Mexico national team player Iris Mora, who offered Saldívar the opportunity to join her newly created football academy with the goal of developing her skills and giving her a path into professional football, which she accepted.[2]
In 2018, Mora invited her former national team coach and then Club América manager, Leonardo Cuéllar, to observe and scout players from her academy. Saldívar impressed Cuéllar enough that he requested Club América to sign her so that she could be integrated as part of their soon-to-be-created U-15 and U-17 teams, which were planning to participate in the upcoming youth division of Liga MX Femenil. However, due to a major delay in the creation of this youth division, the club declined to sign her.[2]
In 2020, Saldívar received an invitation from Club América manager, Leonardo Cuéllar, to a training tryout with América's first-team after successfully completing a previous tryout at a scouting event in Mexico City. Just as their previous meeting in 2018, Saldivar impressed Cuellar enough during the tryout that he once again requested América to sign her.[1] Saldivar also had an offer to join America’s main rival, Chivas, which was the club that the her family supported, but she declined it.[3]
Saldívar officially joined América in 2021 and was initially integrated with the U-17 side. She was promoted to America's first-team ahead of the Liga MX Femenil's Apertura 2021 tournament on 16 July 2021.[4] Saldivar made her professional debut with América at age 14 on 16 August 2021, in an away match against Pachuca in which she was part of the starting line-up.[5] By debuting at 14, she became the youngest Club América Femenil player to have debuted professionally, a record that can't be broken as Liga MX Femenil does not longer allow players under 15 to play professionally. While Saldivar did had a successful debut tournament, becoming even a regular in the team starting lineups, she subsequently received less play time under head coach Ángel Villacampa, who relegated her to be mostly a sub.
After having a successful display during the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, Saldivar began to get more playing time with América, this time as a winger rather than as a left-back, which was the only position that she had played on for América since her debut. Subsequently, Saldivar’s breakthrough season with América came during the Clausura 2025 tournament, in which she became a key player for the team by scoring 12 goals and being one of the players with the most minutes played, and helping the team reach the final of the tournament[6]
Saldivar has been part of the Mexico women's national football team program since the U-17 level. She was part of the Mexico U-17 team that participated on the 2022 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship and 2022 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.[7][8]
Since 2023, Saldivar has been part of the Mexico U-20 team.[9] She was part of the Mexico team that participate at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, in which she started all four games that Mexico played during this tournament, and scored one goal and gave three assists.[10] Saldivar was called again to play for U-20 team during the 2025 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, heping Mexico reach the final of the competition by becoming the top scorer of the tournament. Due to her performance throughout the competition, CONCACAF awarded Saldivar the top-goal scorer and best-player awards.[11][12]
Saldivar was called to the senior national team for the first time on 18 October 2024, for friendlies against Venezuela and Thailand.[13] She made her debut with the senior team on 26 October 2024, in the match against Venezuela.[14] She scored her first goal with the senior team during the 2025 Pinatar Cup, in a match against Chinese Taipei on 19 February 2025.[15]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup [a] | League Cup [b] | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Club América | 2021–22 | Liga MX Femenil | 22 | 1 | — | — | — | 22 | 1 | |||
| 2022–23 | 10 | 1 | — | — | — | 10 | 1 | |||||
| 2023–24 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 26 | 1 | ||||
| 2024–25 | 35 | 17 | — | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 17 | |||
| 2025–26 | 9 | 9 | — | — | 2 | 1 | 11 | 10 | ||||
| Career total | 100 | 29 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 107 | 30 | ||
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 19 February 2025 | Pinatar Arena, San Pedro del Pinatar, Spain |  Chinese Taipei |
3–0 | 4–0 | 2025 Pinatar Cup |
| 2. | 4–0 |
Club América
Mexico U-20
Individual
