Marcelo Flores
Canadian footballer (born 2003)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marcelo Flores Dorrell (born 1 October 2003) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Liga MX club UANL and the Canada national team.
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Flores with UANL in 2025 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Marcelo Flores Dorrell | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 1 October 2003 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Georgetown, Ontario, Canada | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Positions | |||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | UANL | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 20 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| Guelph SC | |||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2019 | Ipswich Town | ||||||||||||||||
| 2019–2022 | Arsenal | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | Arsenal | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | → Real Oviedo (loan) | 13 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2023– | UANL | 62 | (12) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Mexico U16 | 5 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021 | Mexico U20 | 6 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2023–2024 | Mexico U23 | 6 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | Mexico | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2026– | Canada | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 10:31, 11 February 2026 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 20:19, 31 March 2026 (UTC) | |||||||||||||||||
Early life
Flores was born in Canada to a Canadian mother of English descent and Mexican former footballer, Rubén Flores. He was raised in Georgetown, Ontario.[1] As his father was the manager of the Cayman Islands women's national football team, Flores spent some time on the islands, where he was invited to a training camp by Ipswich Town youth development coach Steve Foley.[2] He impressed during the week long camp, and joined the Ipswich Town academy.[3]
In 2019, Flores joined the Arsenal academy on a free transfer.[3] He made a bright start to the 2020–21 campaign with Arsenal's under-18s, scoring three goals in two games.[4]
Club career
Arsenal
After training with the first team, he signed his first professional contract in October 2020.[5][6][7] Shortly after, he was included in The Guardian's "Next Generation 2020", highlighting the best young players in the world.[8] He was called up to the Arsenal first team for the first time on 4 April 2022, making the bench for their match against Crystal Palace, although he did not appear in the match as a substitute.[9][10][11]
Loan to Real Oviedo
On 20 July 2022, Flores joined Segunda División club Real Oviedo on a season-long loan.[12] On 15 August, he made his professional debut in a league match against FC Andorra in a 1–0 loss, coming on as a substitute.[13]
UANL
On 10 September 2023, Mexican club UANL reached an agreement with Arsenal to sign Flores.[14] Seven days later, Flores made his debut with the club in a 2–0 away victory against Atlas.[15] On 20 April 2024, Flores scored a hat-trick, all within 10 minutes, against Necaxa in a 5–2 home victory.[16]
International career
Mexico youth and senior
Flores was eligible to play for either Canada, England or Mexico. He was first called up to the England under-16 side in 2019,[17] but decided to join up with the Mexico under-16 team that same year, playing every game at the Montaigu Tournament.[18]
In December 2020, Flores accepted a call up to a Canada camp that would take place in January 2021,[19] but later pulled out to remain with Arsenal.[20] On 18 June 2021, Flores was named to Canada's provisional 60-man squad for the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup.[21]
In September 2021, Flores featured for Mexico's under-20 side in a double-header against Spain.[22] In November, Flores was called up by Luis Ernesto Pérez to participate at the 2021 Revelations Cup, scoring two goals in three appearances, where Mexico won the competition.[23] Later that month, senior national team manager Gerardo Martino expressed the possibility of calling up Flores for the friendly match against Chile on 8 December.[24] On 29 November, Arsenal confirmed that Flores had received his first senior call up.[25]
Flores eventually made his senior national team debut in a friendly match against Chile, making his debut as an 83rd-minute substitute in the 2–2 draw.[26] In May 2022, Flores committed to representing Mexico internationally, as he was still eligible to switch to representing Canada or England, having only participated in friendlies.[27] On 11 June, he appeared in a 2022–23 CONCACAF Nations League match against Suriname.[28] However, he was still eligible to file a one-time switch in June 2025 as he met the requirement of no more than 3 caps which were earned before the age of 21.
In 2024, he was named to Mexico's final 26-man squad for the 2024 Copa América. However, then Mexico manager Jaime Lozano did not give Flores any playing minutes which would have cap-tied him permanently.[29][30]
Canada
In November 2025, Flores was called up to a camp with Canada as a training player, during a pair of international friendlies.[31] In January 2026, he was named to the Canada senior team for a training camp and friendly against Guatemala,[32] but ultimately he chose to not attend the camp and remained at his club.[33]
On 11 February 2026, Flores' request to switch international allegiance to Canada was approved by FIFA.[34][35] On 28 March 2026, Flores made his debut for Canada, coming on as a substitute in a friendly against Iceland.[36]
Personal life
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 11 February 2026[39]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Arsenal U21 | 2021–22 | — | — | — | 1[b] | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 2023–24 | — | — | — | 1[b] | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Real Oviedo (loan) | 2022–23 | Segunda División | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 15 | 0 | ||
| UANL | 2023–24 | Liga MX | 25 | 6 | — | 3[c] | 1 | 1[d] | 0 | 29 | 7 | |
| 2024–25 | Liga MX | 27 | 2 | — | 5[c] | 0 | 4[e] | 1 | 36 | 3 | ||
| 2025–26 | Liga MX | 10 | 4 | — | 2[c] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 4 | ||
| Total | 62 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 77 | 14 | ||
| Career total | 75 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 94 | 15 | ||
- Includes Copa del Rey
- Appearances in EFL Trophy
- Appearances in CONCACAF Champions Cup
- Appearance in Campeones Cup
- Appearances in Leagues Cup
International
- As of match played 31 March 2026[40]
Honours
UANL
Mexico U20
Mexico
- CONCACAF Nations League third place: 2022–23[42]
Individual
- Revelations Cup Best Player: 2021[43]
