Federico Valverde

Federico Santiago Valverde Dipetta (Spanish pronunciation: [feðeˈɾiko βalˈβeɾðe]; born 22 July 1998) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid, which he captains and the Uruguay national team. Considered one of the best midfielders in the world, he is known for his versatility, work rate, pace and shooting. Valverde mainly plays as a central midfielder but is also able to play as a right-back.

Valverde began his professional career with Peñarol in 2015, winning the Uruguayan Primera División in his first season. In 2016, he joined Real Madrid, initially playing for the club's reserve team. He made his first-team debut in 2017 and has since gone on to make over 300 appearances for the club, winning three La Liga titles, two FIFA Club World Cups, two UEFA Champions League titles, two UEFA Super Cups, and the Copa del Rey.

Valverde made his international debut for Uruguay in 2017, and has since represented his country at three Copa América tournaments (2019, 2021, 2024) and two FIFA World Cups (2022, 2026).

Valverde was born on 22 July 1998 in Unión, a neighbourhood in the capital city of Montevideo, to Julio Valverde and Doris Dipetta. He has one older brother, Diego, and two step-brothers, Pablo and Matías Castro. Valverde is of Spanish and Italian descent and became a naturalised Spanish citizen in 2020 after receiving his Spanish passport. Valverde started his youth career with his local neighbourhood club, Estudiantes de la Unión. He then tried out for Peñarol a few years later and was scouted by Néstor Gonçalves.

Valverde spent most of his youth career with Peñarol, where he quickly made an impression. He made his club debut on 23 July, one day after his 17th birthday, in an international friendly against Cruzeiro which they won 3–1. He later made his senior debut for the club on 16 August 2015 in their first fixture of the 2015–16 season against Cerro, during which he was guided and mentored by his childhood idol and teammate, Diego Forlán.

He became part of the Uruguayan national youth teams and attracted the interest of European clubs, including Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

In July 2016, Valverde was transferred from Peñarol to Real Madrid, initially being assigned to their reserve team Castilla. Two months later, he made his debut for Castilla against Real Unión, in a game which his team eventually lost. He became a regular member of the Castilla line-up his debut season, and scored his first goal against Albacete in December 2016.

In regards to his growing importance to the team, Santiago Solari, his coach at Castilla, said on 29 January 2017, "I'm very happy with him. He has adapted very well to the club and country. Valverde always generates a lot of football in midfield."

On 22 June 2017, Valverde was loaned to La Liga side Deportivo de La Coruña for one year. He made his debut in the competition on 10 September, replacing Fede Cartabia in a 2–4 home loss against Real Sociedad. Valverde contributed with 24 league appearances during the campaign, as the side suffered relegation.

Upon returning from loan, Valverde impressed new manager Julen Lopetegui during the 2018–19 pre-season and was definitively assigned to the first-team. On 23 October 2018, Valverde made his official Real Madrid debut in the UEFA Champions League Group stage against Viktoria Plzeň at the Bernabéu at just 20 years old. He made 25 appearances and won the FIFA Club World Cup in his first season with the first team.

With the return of Zinedine Zidane to the dugout and the departure of Marcos Llorente, Valverde broke through to become a key squad player during the 2019–20 season. On 9 November 2019, he scored his first goal for Real Madrid, in a 4–0 away win over Eibar in La Liga.

On 12 January 2020, Valverde tackled Álvaro Morata during the Supercopa de España Final against Atlético Madrid, committing a professional foul and stopping play with Morata clean through on goal. Valverde was sent off, but his actions stopped what was a likely goal, forced a penalty shootout which Real Madrid won, and earned him the Man of The Match award and widespread praise. Atlético Madrid manager Diego Simeone later referred to the tackle as "the most important play of the game". He made 33 appearances during the league season, as Real Madrid won the 2019–20 La Liga.

On 27 September, Valverde scored Real Madrid's first goal of the 2020–21 season away to Betis in La Liga in an eventual 3–2 win and was selected as the 'King of The Match'. This was also his 50th La Liga match for Los Blancos. One month later on 24 October, Valverde scored against Barcelona at the Camp Nou in just five minutes in an eventual 3–1 league win. He became just the second Uruguayan to score in El Clásico (after Luis Suárez) and the first for Real Madrid. One week later, Valverde scored again, against Huesca, in a 4–1 league win at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium. This was his third goal of the season, meaning he had already scored more than in the entirety of the previous campaign.

On 24 August 2021, Valverde extended his contract until 2027. On 12 January 2022, he scored Real Madrid's third goal in a 3–2 win over Barcelona in extra time of the Supercopa de España semi-final, a tournament which Madrid eventually went on to win. On 28 May, he assisted Vinícius Júnior to score the winning goal in a 1–0 win over Liverpool in the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final to clinch a record 14th UEFA Champions League title for Real Madrid.

On 14 September 2022, he scored his first Champions League goal in a 2–0 victory over RB Leipzig. In the 2022–23 season, he netted 12 goals in all competitions, fulfilling his coach Carlo Ancelotti's pre-season prediction that he would score more than 10 goals. On 9 November 2023, Valverde extended his contract with Real Madrid until 30 June 2029.

On 9 April 2024, he scored a first-time volley in a 3–3 draw against Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-finals, which eventually earned him the honour of Goal of the Season. Following the victory in the Champions League final, it was announced that he would be allocated the number 8 shirt after Toni Kroos' following his retirement.

In the 2025–26 season, with the departures of Luka Modrić and Lucas Vázquez, Valverde was promoted as vice-captain of the team. On 11 March 2026, he scored the first hat-trick of his career in a 3–0 win over Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.

On 7 May 2026, a fight broke out between Valverde and his teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni which required him to get stitches and taken to hospital after sustaining a cut during the scrap. It was reported that his teammates found Valverde lying on the ground, covered in blood and semi-conscious, and that he suffered partial memory loss after hitting his head. Following the altercation, Real Madrid launched a disciplinary investigation. The proceedings concluded with both players issuing mutual apologies to one another. Consequently, the club imposed a fine of €500 000 on each player and officially closed the internal inquiry.

Valverde was awarded the Silver Ball at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup as Uruguay finished fourth in the tournament.

In 2017, Valverde was caught up in a controversial gesture after making a "slant eyes" celebration after scoring in the Under-20 World Cup. Valverde denied that the celebration was racist but stated that it was in homage to his first agent, Edgardo "El Chino" Lasalvia. FIFA called on Uruguay to explain Valverde's actions, as well as a celebratory photo of the squad in which several Celeste players made the same gestures.

Valverde was first called up to the Uruguay senior squad in August 2017. The same year on 5 September, he marked his debut with his first goal against Paraguay. Valverde was named in Uruguay's provisional 26-man pool for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but left out of the final 23-man squad.

Valverde was included by manager Óscar Tabárez in the final 23-man Uruguay squad for the 2019 Copa América in Brazil. In the quarter-finals against Peru on 29 June, a goalless draw after regulation time had the match go to a penalty shoot-out, Uruguay lost 4–5 and was eliminated from the competition. He was also included in the final 23-man squad for the 2021 Copa América and 2022 FIFA World Cup.

In June 2024, Valverde was named to Uruguay's squad for the 2024 Copa América. In the team's second group match against Bolivia, he scored a goal in Uruguay's 5–0 win. Uruguay reached the semi-finals of the tournament, losing 1–0 to a ten-man Colombia; in the third-place play-off match against Canada, Uruguay won 4–3 on penalties after a 2–2 draw following extra-time to capture the bronze medal, with Valverde netting his team's first spot kick.

On 31 May 2026, Valverde was named in Uruguay's 26-man squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Uruguay were eliminated in the first round of the tournament following a 1–0 defeat to Spain in their final group match, finishing with only two points following draws against Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde.

Valverde's previous nickname was Pajarito (baby bird), but now refers to himself as Halcón (falcon), alluding to his growth as a professional footballer. "Everyone joined the Halcón thing, and I liked it, it was very funny to me. There were people who got angry because they wanted to keep calling me Pajarito, but I'm the Halcón now," said Valverde in an interview.

Valverde is in a relationship with Argentinian journalist and presenter Mina Bonino. They have two sons, Benicio, born in 2020, and Bautista, born in 2023.

La Liga Team of the Season: 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25

UEFA La Liga Revelation Team of the year: 2019–20

La Liga Player of the Month: September 2022

FIFA Intercontinental Cup Silver Ball: 2024

The Athletic La Liga Team of the Season: 2024–25