45 facts about Carlos Salcido that every Chivahermano should know. | OneFootball

This Wednesday, April 2, is a very special day for one of Chivas' great legends. We're talking about Carlos Salcido, who was formed in the Rojiblanca youth academy, conquered Holland, made history with the Mexican National Team and was a multi-champion with the team of his love.

Today, on his 45th birthday, we want to acknowledge the impressive legacy he left on the fields and, below, we present 45 facts you should know that reflect a little of the great professional career of our beloved Salcido.

1- At the age of 13, Carlos emigrated from Ocotlán to Guadalajara to an aunt's house; he started working as a car wash for 2 years, but the use of rubber boots affected the skin on his feet and so he left that job; afterwards, he went through several jobs until he found his destiny in soccer in a very peculiar way.2- At the age of 19, he worked in an auto parts business, which suddenly closed and when he found himself without a job, some friends invited him to attend a friendly match against El Oro, but when the team from his neighborhood was not completed, he entered to play at the last minute and his talent was discovered by the golden coach Ramón Candelario.3- After following him in the 1999-2000 campaign when he was already playing for Oro, Chivas acquired his card; once in the red-and-white institution, José Luis Real gave him the right to play as a defender, since he played as a recovery midfielder.4- Due to the lack of economic resources, he walked 2 hours from his home, located in Tlaquepaque, to the Verde Valle facilities to train with El Tapatío.5- He tried to emigrate 3 times as an undocumented immigrant to the United States, where his older brothers worked, but he did not succeed; however, thanks to his soccer career he was able to be reunited with them.6- He made his debut in the First Division with Guadalajara on July 22, 2001 in a match against La Piedad, substituting Omar Bravo at 69'.7- He only played one League game in the 2001 Winter Tournament, but in that same semester, coach Óscar Ruggeri gave him activity in 2 matches of the Giants' Cup and another of the Merconorte Cup.8- He met his wife Faviola a month before her 15th birthday; after 3 months they became sweethearts and he promised her that when they reached the age of majority they would get married; their marriage began when Carlos was not yet involved in soccer. "She is my right leg," says Salcido.9- He was able to share the field with his idol Benjamín Galindo, as he participated in the last official duel of the 'Maestro' on August 1, 2001 against Comunicaciones of Guatemala and, curiously, he did so in the first official match of Benjamín Galindo Jr. on April 7, 2018 against Veracruz.10- Between his first and second stints with Chivas in First Division he played 3 Finals with the Tapatío: 2 in Second Division (Winter 2001 and Summer 2002) and another in First A (Summer 2003).11- Eduardo 'Yayo' de la Torre was the coach who returned him to the maximum representative of the Rebaño Sagrado for the Apertura 2003; it was then when he entered the dressing room and when he put on his training clothes he said to himself "in my f... life I'll never take this shirt off again".12- He used his first salary as a player to pay part of the debt for the land where his mother, who died when he was only 9 years old, was buried.13- It took him 13 matches to score his first goal in the maximum circuit; he scored the second goal in the 3-1 win against Veracruz in the Apertura 2003.14- With El Tri he made his debut on September 8, 2004 in a match against Trinidad and Tobago in the Concacaf World Cup qualifiers; with the National Team he registered 122 games and 10 goals, and also played in 3 World Cups.15- Recently, Salcido said in a podcast that the first time he called him to play for El Tri, Ricardo Lavolpe didn't know his name and instead of Salcido, he called him Cirilo.16- In his own words, the most difficult opponents he faced were Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Adriano, Raúl, Thierry Henry and José Saturnino Cardozo.17- His most memorable goal with Mexico was in the 2005 Confederations Cup against Argentina; at 58' he launched a counterattack on the left flank, evaded Zanetti's sweep, entered the area, cut back to Heinze, shot right-footed and after a slight deflection by Coloccini, the ball ended up in Germán Lux's goal.18- He won the Golden Ball in the category of best full-back in the 2004-05 cycle, although he did not attend the awards ceremony because he was on vacation after a busy first half of the year, competing in the League, Copa Libertadores, World Cup qualifying, Confederations Cup and Gold Cup.19- He was the first Mexican player to be acquired by a Dutch club; before Salcido, only Joaquín del Olmo had played for a team in the Netherlands, but he was on loan with Vitesse.20- The language was a test to overcome in Holland. With coach Ronald Koeman, he spoke in Spanish, but the difficulty in communicating was with his teammates, who, upon hearing him repeatedly pronounce 'pinche', used that word on the field to ask him to pass the ball.21- Another situation he overcame in his adaptation process in Eindhoven was his diet, since for a month he ate fast food (hamburgers and fried chicken) until the Peruvian Jefferson Farfán invited him to the Spanish restaurant Patio Azul and thus improved his nutritional condition.22- He got his first tattoo when he accompanied Farfan himself to get one, because after looking at the catalogs in the studio he decided to engrave the name of his children on his arms.23- In his first season with PSV he played 33 of the 34 Eredivisie matches; he was only absent on Matchday 9 because he traveled to Mexico for the birth of his daughter Jocelyn.24- Won a League Bicampeonato (2006-2007 and 2007-2008) and a Supercup (2008) in Holland.25- Played 21 UEFA Champions League games, all of them complete, with PSV Eindhoven.26- After 4 years with PSV he moved to the Premier League with Fulham. The contract was for 3 years, but after a good sporting campaign (23 league games) he decided to leave England when he was the victim of a robbery at his home.27- With Chivas at international level he played 15 games in the Copa Libertadores, also with all the minutes played.28- The only title he won with the Senior National Team was the 2011 Gold Cup after defeating the United States in the Final.29- Carlos was on the verge of not attending the 2012 Olympic Games, however, he was considered by Luis Fernando Tena near the event and when asked about his availability, his answer was "professor where you say frog and I'll jump".30- At the age of 32, he won the Gold Medal at the Olympic Games.31- In fact, Salcido acknowledged that the most exciting moment of his career was when he heard the national anthem at full volume during the award ceremony in London.32- The only time he scored more than one goal in a match was in Day 15 of CL13, when he scored a brace against Pachuca. The goalkeeper was Rodolfo Cota, who would later become his teammate in the Rebaño Sagrado.33- On August 29, 2014, he announced his retirement from the National Team; his last match with El Tri was on June 29 of that year against Holland in the World Cup in Brazil.34- On December 20, 2014, he inaugurated the Carlos Salcido Sports Complex in his native Ocotlán, a project he has developed with educational facilities and a franchise that has been competing in the Third Division since the 2017-2018 campaign.35- In winning the 2015-16 MX Super Cup, he wore the captain's badge during the match, but at the awards ceremony, he gave up the position to Omar Bravo to lift the trophy in the title celebration.36- In the Clausura 2017 he assumed the starting position from Matchday 9 and that allowed him to fulfill his dream of lifting a League trophy with his Chivas, a fact that was even more special because he also did it in the Cup the same semester.37- PSV Eindhoven organized a tribute to him in the match on Matchday 15 against Excelsior and named him the club's ambassador in Mexico. Salcido played 169 official games with the team.38- He played together with his son Carlos Jovanni Salcido as players in Chivas; his firstborn as a member of the Under 13 and Under 15 categories.39- The last match he played with the red-and-white jersey was on December 18, 2018 against Esperance Tunisia in the Club World Cup. He came on at the start of the second half for Alan Cervantes.40- Played as a starter in 95 percent of his Liga and Liguilla matches with Chivas, 211 out of 222.41- The closing of his career as a player was on November 23, 2019, against the team of his love at the Akron Stadium; that day his former Rojiblancos teammates included him in the Rebaño's starting eleven.42- In his career in Mexican soccer, he registered 2 tournaments with all matches completed: Apertura 2004 and Clausura 2012.43- His track record in Mexican soccer was 2 Leagues (AP11 and CL17), 3 MX Cups (CL14, AP15 and CL17), 1 MX Super Cup (2016) and also won the Concacaf in 2018.44- Wore 5 jersey numbers with Guadalajara: 21 (Winter 2001), 26 (2003-04), 5 (2004-06), 30 (2014-15) and 3 (2015-18). 3 is his favorite number.45- In 2024, Carlos Salcido was inducted into the International Soccer Hall of Fame along with another Chivas legend, Omar Bravo.