Approaching his 41st birthday, goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa is set to link up with the Mexican national team ahead of what will be his sixth FIFA World Cup – a record he could break this summer along with Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina’s Lionel Messi.
The soon-to-be free agent has spent the past season in Cyprus playing for AEL Limassol, marking the tenth team and seventh different league of his professional career.
A 152-time international, Ochoa is now heading back home, with the Mexican national team stating on Tuesday, “that starting tomorrow, the process of incorporating players from European leagues into the Mexican National Team, led by Javier Aguirre, will begin.
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Ochoa and Lionel Messi could both appear in their sixth World Cups this summer alongside Cristiano Ronaldo -Credit:Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
“The first player to join the training camp at the High-Performance Center is AEL Limassol goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. He is the first of seven players from European leagues who will join the national team in the next two weeks for the preparation matches.”
Commemorating his return to the national team, for whom he last played in November 2024 in the first leg of their CONCACAF Nations League Finals quarter-finals win over Honduras, Ochoa shared a photo posing in a Mexico jersey, captioned, “Putting this shirt back on was never routine… it was a privilege.
“Today marks the start of my final training camp. But this time, I see it differently. With a fuller heart, more scars, more memories… and the same dream of that boy who once imagined defending this badge.
“I’ve lived through impossible nights, endless stadiums, anthems that still give me chills, and moments that changed my life for ever. And yet… every time Mexico calls, something inside me starts anew.
“Perhaps football measures the years. But passion never learned to count the time. I’m home. I’m with my national team. And as long as there’s a chance to fight for this country… my soul will be there first. Onward to the WC 2026.”
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For Ochoa, 2026 may not only mark his final World Cup, but his final professional games, having told TUDN in April, “It could be the end for me after the World Cup. It’s hard, without a doubt but I don’t think it’ll be that hard for me to say goodbye,” via Reuters.
He went on to add, “You reach a point when your head and your body tell you that you’ve given it your all, and you can leave with a clear conscience.”
Ochoa will be the third goalkeeper to join Mexico’s ongoing training camp, alongside Raul Rangel of Chivas and Carlos Acevedo of Santos Laguna. Aguirre had already called up 20 Liga MX-based players, including eight players under consideration for the 2030 World Cup cycle, for a pre-World Cup training camp.
El Tri have three friendlies to get through before they kick off the U.S., Mexico, and Canada co-hosted tournament in Mexico City on June 11 against South Africa.
First up will be Ghana on May 22 at Estadio Cuauhtémoc in Puebla City, before taking on Australia at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on May 30. They will then return south of the border to face Serbia on June 4 at Estadio Nemesio Díez Riega in Toluca.
