Alexis Sánchez

Early career

Sánchez had a brief stint with a Universidad Católica Academy based in Rancagua in 1999, being coached by the Chilean former international footballer René Valenzuela. In addition to this, he represented the Escuela Bernardo O'Higgins team from Tocopilla in national championships.

Cobreloa

Born in Tocopilla, Sánchez was a product of C.D. Cobreloa's prolific youth ranks where he was teammate of current Chile national team players such as Charles Aránguiz and Eduardo Vargas. In February 2005, Sánchez was promoted to the senior first team by manager Nelson Acosta. Sánchez's made his debut against Deportes Temuco on 12 February and scored his first professional goal in a 2–1 victory over Deportes Concepción on 18 March. He played his first Copa Libertadores game against Once Caldas aged 16, which made him one of the youngest players on debut for the tournament. After an impressive season with Cobreloa, Sánchez caught the attention of Serie A club Udinese, which signed him for a £1.7 million fee, on 21 April 2006. Udinese, however, began a maturation project with Sánchez and immediately loaned him to Chilean giants Colo-Colo in a season-long deal.

Colo-Colo

Sánchez debuted for Colo-Colo on 23 June 2006 in a 1–1 draw with Antofagasta; he scored his first goal on 29 October during the Chilean football derby against Universidad de Chile in a 4–2 win. His good performances allowed him to break into the starting lineup after successfully…

In his early career, Sánchez took part with Chile at under-15 level in the 2004 South American Championship and with Chile U17 in the 2005 South American Championship. Sánchez made his international debut for the Chile national team against New Zealand on 27 April 2006. He was called up by the coach José Sulantay to represent the Chilean under-20 team at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup held in Canada, where they finished third. After his participation in the youth championship, Sánchez scored his first senior international goal in a 2–1 loss against Switzerland on 7 September 2007. He scored three times during La Roja's successful 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign and appeared on every match during the tournament finals. He then participated in the 2011 Copa América, scoring once in a 1–1 group stage draw with Uruguay, as Chile reached the quarter-finals. On 15 November 2013, Sánchez scored both goals as Chile beat England 2–0 at Wembley, repeating the achievement of national team legend Marcelo Salas in 1998.

2014 World Cup

Sánchez scored four times in Chile's qualification campaign for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. On 13 June 2014, Sánchez scored Chile's opening goal of the 2014 World Cup, and provided an assist, in a 3–1 defeat of Australia in Cuiabá. During the round of 16, Sánchez scored the equalising goal in a 1–1 draw against the hosts Brazil. However, he was one of three Chileans to fail to convert their kicks in the penalty shoot-out, having his shot…

Sánchez is a quick, creative, intelligent and hard-working player with an eye for goal, who is known in particular for his energy, strength, technical skills and work-rate on the pitch. Although naturally right-footed, due to his ability with either foot, he is capable of playing anywhere along the front line, on either flank, or through the centre of the pitch: throughout his career, he has excelled as a supporting striker, as a winger, as a false-9, and even as an attacking midfielder; he has also been deployed in a more advanced, central role, as a main striker, due to his physicality and ability to score from powerful long-distance strikes. A talented forward, Sánchez is gifted with excellent dribbling skills, flair, finishing, vision and acceleration, which enables him to successfully take on opponents with feints in one on one situations, create space, and either score goals himself or set-up his teammates from through balls, long-range passes, or one-twos. Owing to his ability to place shots, he is also effective from set-pieces. In his prime, he was considered by pundits to be one of the best left wingers in Europe, alongside Neymar and Eden Hazard.

Sánchez had a statue erected in his honour within his native town of Tocopilla in March 2017. In October 2015, Sánchez was named as a brand ambassador for Huawei. In February 2017, Sánchez signed a sponsorship deal with Pepsi. In June 2022, he announced the purchase of land in Mendoza in Argentina, Maule Region in Chile and Friuli in Italy for his undertaking called Alma Soul, focused on wine production. In July 2024, Sánchez graduated as a football instructor at INAF (National Football Institute). In December of the same year, he graduated as a football manager at the same institution.