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Entertainment

Who is Álvaro García Pascual, the former Marshall University now Sevilla player in LaLiga?

By Giancarlo Cornejo December 29, 2024
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There’s a new former NCAA player in Europe.
The18

The NCAA has just provided another talent to a top European league.

Álvaro García Pascual, a 22-year-old Spanish attacker currently playing for Sevilla in LaLiga, is the most recent case of the American collegiate soccer system sending one of their talents to a league outside of Major League Soccer. Most specifically, Europe.

Who is Álvaro García Pascual, the former Marshall University now Sevilla player in LaLiga?

García Pascual, born in Benalmádena, Málaga, played in the youth categories of various Málaga clubs and moved to the U.S. at the age of 16. In the United States, García Pascual attended Northwood School in Lake Placid, New York, becoming the captain of their soccer team and was named to the East All-American team.

After completing high school, Pascual went back to Spain, but quickly came back to the U.S. in 2021 in pursuit of a higher education. Álvaro combined his studies in International Business Administration and Management with his passion for football to play for Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina, later making the jump to Marshall University two years later.

The Malaga-born, standing at 6”3’ and 200 lbs, continued his impressive form on the college soccer scene in West Virginia. 

In 14 games, he scored eight goals and provided four assists, helping Marshall win the 2023 Sun Belt Conference tournament. In the tournament final, García scored twice, earning both the MVP of the match and MVP of the tournament honors.

In the summer of 2024, he made the decision to return home to Andalucía and signed with Sevilla, though initially placed on the C team and spending the 2024-25 preseason with Sevilla Atlético, where he made an immediate impact and earned a spot as a regular starter. 

When Isaac Romero was suspended, one of Sevilla’s regular first-team center-forwards, García was called up to the first team — coming on as a second-half substitute against Celta Vigo, making his professional European debut in front of 40,000 fans at the Estadio Municipal de Balaídos.

It wasn’t until eight days later when García broke headlines in the United States, making an appearance at the Santiago Bernabéu against none other than Real Madrid, coming on for about 20 minutes in front of 80,000 fans.

Living. The. Dream.

NCAA players to Europe: a recurring pattern in the 21st century

Álvaro’s rise to stardom is the most recent case of an NCAA player making the jump from the American collegiate level to a top league in Europe, with Canadian national team’s Tajon Buchanan going from playing with Syracuse University to signing with Inter Milan in Serie A.

The Marshall University alumni, however, is one of, if not the only case of a player making the direct jump from college to a top-flight league in Europe in less than a year, with García’s start to his career being one straight out of a Goal: The Dream Begins movie plot. Let’s hope he follows the script and signs for Real Madrid two years later.

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