Santiago Giménez

Santiago Tomás Giménez (born 18 April 2001) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Eredivisie club Feyenoord. Born in Argentina, he represents the Mexico national team.

Cruz Azul
On 2 August 2017, Giménez made his professional debut with Cruz Azul in a Copa MX group stage match against Tigres UANL in a 1–1 draw. Two years later, on 28 August 2019, he made his Liga MX debut against Tijuana in a 3–2 loss. He would score his first goal with the club on 2 February 2020, in a league match against Toluca in a 3–3 tie, scoring within the first two minutes of the match.

In May 2021, Cruz Azul won its ninth league championship, ending a 23-year drought of league titles.

In August, scoring in 4 separate league matches, Giménez was named Liga MX Player of the Month. He won the award again the subsequent month. On 26 June 2022, at the Supercopa de la Liga MX against Atlas, he scored in the match, ending at 2–2 and going into penalties, where he successfully converted his shot as his team won the cup.

2022–23: Debut season and Eredivisie champion
On 29 July 2022, Giménez joined Feyenoord on a four-year contract.

He scored his first goal for the club on 27 August, scoring the second goal in the club's 4–0 win over FC Emmen while also providing the assist for Jacob Rasmussen to score the club's third goal. On 8 September, he made his UEFA Europa League debut against Italian club Lazio in that season's edition in a group stage match, coming on as a substitute at the 64th minute and scoring twice in the club's 4–2 loss. On 3 November, after coming on as a substitute, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory in the return game against Lazio in the Europa League group stage, securing Feyenoord's first-place finish in the group and directly qualifying to the round of 16.

Feyenoord went on to win the 2022–23 Eredivisie, with Giménez scoring 15 goals in 32 matches, including the second goal in a 3–0 win over Go Ahead Eagles to secure the league title.

2023–24: Individual success and KNVB Cup champion
In August 2023, Giménez extended his contract with Feyenoord for one year.

Giménez began the 2023–24 season on 4 August in the Johan Cruyff Shield, playing 62 minutes as PSV Eindhoven defeated them 1–0 to win their third consecutive title. On 20 August, Giménez scored his first goal of the season in a 2–2 draw against Sparta Rotterdam. In the following games, on 27 August and 3 September, Giménez scored two braces, one in a 6–1 win against Almere City and another in a 5–1 away win against Utrecht. On 27 September, Giménez completed a hat-trick in a 4–0 away win over Ajax by scoring the first and second goals on 24 September, and scoring the third on 27 September after the game was originally abandoned on the 24th. He won the Eredivisie Player of the Month award for September.

In the Champions League, Giménez was suspended for the first two group stage matches, having received a red card against Roma in the Europa League quarter-final second leg from the previous season. He made his Champions League debut on 25 October, scoring the first and third goal in a 3–1 home win over Lazio. On 25 November, he scored his second hat-trick of the season in a 4–2 Rotterdam derby win over Excelsior at the Stadion Woudestein, ending his six-game goal drought. On 7 December, following Feyenoord's 3–1 win over Volendam, Giménez scored his 31st Eredivisie goal in a calendar year, surpassing previous record holder Luis Suárez who scored 30 goals in 2009. With 31 goals for the year 2023, Giménez set a record for the number of goals scored in the Eredivisie in a calendar year.

On 21 April 2024, he assisted Igor Paixão to score the winning goal in a 1–0 win over NEC Nijmegen in the KNVB Cup final to clinch a fourteenth KNVB Cup title for Feyenoord. On 5 May, he came off the bench against PEC Zwolle and scored twice as well as an assist in a 5–0 win, putting an end to his 7-game goal drought. Due to injuries and lack of form, he missed the rest of the season. In his second season with the club, Giménez made 30 league appearances and scored 23 goals (26 goals in 40 appearances across all competitions) as the team finished second in the league, trailing to PSV by seven points.

International career
Despite having the option of representing Argentina, his country of birth, Giménez decided to represent Mexico after becoming a naturalized Mexican citizen, stating "I feel more Mexican than Argentine," having lived in Mexico for the majority of his life since his father moved there. He has been called up by Mexico's U-15, U-18, U-20, and U-23 teams. He made 3 appearances with the Mexico U16s at the 2016 International Dream Cup.

In September 2020, Giménez received his first senior national team call up by Gerardo Martino for a training camp. That same month, it was reported that the Argentina under-20 coach Fernando Batista was interested in calling him up.

On 27 October 2021, Giménez made his senior debut for Mexico in a friendly match against Ecuador. On 8 December, he scored his first goal for Mexico in a friendly match against Chile that ended at a 2–2 draw.

In October 2022, Giménez was named in Mexico's preliminary 31-man squad for the World Cup, but did not make the final 26.

On 16 July 2023, Giménez scored the only goal in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final against Panama.

Personal life
Santiago is the son of footballer Christian Giménez, who also played with Cruz Azul. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Giménez moved to Mexico at the age of three with his father after he was transferred to Primera División side Veracruz. His paternal grandfather is from Paraguay and he is of Italian ancestry through his mother's side. He is a devout Christian and was baptized in January 2019. Giménez is engaged to Mexican model Fer Serrano.

International

 * Scores and results list Mexico's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Giménez goal.

Honours
Cruz Azul
 * Liga MX: Guardianes 2021
 * Copa MX: Apertura 2018
 * Campeón de Campeones: 2021
 * Supercopa de la Liga MX: 2022
 * Supercopa MX: 2019
 * Leagues Cup: 2019

Feyenoord
 * Eredivisie: 2022–23
 * KNVB Cup: 2023–24

Mexico
 * CONCACAF Gold Cup: 2023

Individual
 * Liga MX All-Star: 2021
 * Liga MX Player of the Month: August 2021, September 2021
 * Eredivisie Team of the Month: April 2023, September 2023, October 2023
 * Eredivisie Player of the Month: September 2023
 * Eredivisie Talent of the Month: April 2023
 * CONCACAF Gold Cup Mark of a Fighter Award: 2023