Federico Valverde

Peñarol

Valverde spent most of his youth career with Peñarol, where he quickly made an impression. He made his club debut on 23 July, one day after his 17th birthday, in an international friendly against Cruzeiro which they won 3–1. He later made his senior debut for the club on 16 August 2015 in their first fixture of the 2015–16 season against Cerro, during which he was guided and mentored by his childhood idol and teammate, Diego Forlán. He became part of the Uruguayan national youth teams and attracted the interest of European clubs, including Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

Real Madrid

In July 2016, Valverde was transferred from Peñarol to Real Madrid, initially being assigned to their reserve team Castilla. Two months later, he made his debut for Castilla against Real Unión, in a game which his team eventually lost. He became a regular member of the Castilla line-up his debut season, and scored his first goal against Albacete in December 2016. In regards to his growing importance to the team, Santiago Solari, his coach at Castilla, said on 29 January 2017, "I'm very happy with him. He has adapted very well to the club and country. Valverde always generates a lot of football in midfield."

Loan to Deportivo La Coruña

On 22 June 2017, Valverde was loaned to La Liga side Deportivo de La Coruña for one year. He made his debut in the competition on 10 September, replacing Fede Cartabia in a 2–4 home loss against Real Sociedad.…

Youth

Valverde was awarded the Silver Ball at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup as Uruguay finished fourth in the tournament. In 2017, Valverde was caught up in a controversial gesture after making a "slant eyes" celebration after scoring in the Under-20 World Cup. Valverde denied that the celebration was racist but stated that it was in homage to his first agent, Edgardo "El Chino" Lasalvia. FIFA called on Uruguay to explain Valverde's actions, as well as a celebratory photo of the squad in which several Celeste players made the same gestures.

Senior

Valverde was first called up to the Uruguay senior squad in August 2017. The same year on 5 September, he marked his debut with his first goal against Paraguay. Valverde was named in Uruguay's provisional 26-man pool for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but left out of the final 23-man squad. Valverde was included by manager Óscar Tabárez in the final 23-man Uruguay squad for the 2019 Copa América in Brazil. In the quarter-finals against Peru on 29 June, a goalless draw after regulation time had the match go to a penalty shoot-out, Uruguay lost 4–5 and was eliminated from the competition. He was also included in the final 23-man squad for the 2021 Copa América and 2022 FIFA World Cup. In June 2024, Valverde was named to Uruguay's squad for the 2024 Copa América. In the team's second group match against Bolivia, he scored a goal in Uruguay's 5–0 win. Uruguay reached the semi-finals of the tournament, losing 1–0 to a ten-man…

Valverde was born on 22 July 1998 in Unión, a neighbourhood in the capital city of Montevideo, to Julio Valverde and Doris Dipetta. He has one older brother, Diego, and two step-brothers, Pablo and Matías Castro. Valverde is of Spanish and Italian descent and became a naturalised Spanish citizen in 2020 after receiving his Spanish passport. Valverde started his youth career with his local neighbourhood club, Estudiantes de la Unión. He then tried out for Peñarol a few years later and was scouted by Néstor Gonçalves.

Valverde's previous nickname was Pajarito (baby bird), but now refers to himself as Halcón (falcon), alluding to his growth as a professional footballer. "Everyone joined the Halcón thing, and I liked it, it was very funny to me. There were people who got angry because they wanted to keep calling me Pajarito, but I'm the Halcón now," said Valverde in an interview. Valverde is in a relationship with Argentinian journalist and presenter Mina Bonino. They have two sons, Benicio, born in 2020, and Bautista, born in 2023. Valverde allegedly punched Villarreal player Álex Baena in the Santiago Bernabéu car park following a 3–2 defeat in La Liga match on 8 April 2023. The incident was alleged to have been caused by a comment Baena made to Valverde about Bonino's miscarriage scare. On 3 July, the case against Valverde was dismissed as a magistrates' court found no evidence of criminality.