Born in Mexico, schooled in New Zealand and on the verge of stardom at one of the biggest clubs in French football.
Earlier this month, Eugenio Pizzuto, a footballer with a unique Kiwi connection, landed a “dream” move to Ligue 1 club Lille after playing a starring role for beaten finalists Mexico at last year’s Under-17 World Cup in Brazil.
It is far-flung from where he was six years ago, when Pizzuto was living in Wellington, studying at Scots College and training at the Wellington Phoenix Football Academy alongside future All Whites Liberato Cacace, Joe Bell and James McGarry.
Now the 18-year-old midfielder will now be going toe-to-toe with megastars such as Kylian Mbappe and Neymar in a competition that supplied two of this year’s Champions League semi-finalists after signing for a club with a decent history of developing some of the world’s best players, most notably Real Madrid’s Belgian ace Eden Hazard.
“Normally the academy gave us tickets to go and watch the games, so why not? We had the whole team saying let’s watch football and hang out. I went every week to watch them play,” Pizzuto told Stuff, before rattling off the names of his former Phoenix heroes.
“In every part of the world if you’re in an academy you watch the first team train and play. It just helps you mentally saying ‘I want to get there and be where they are.’ I think it helps a lot.”
Born and raised in Mexico, Pizzuto had always aspired to play professional football in his home country but his fledgling career took a surprise turn when he was scouted by Jess Ibrom, a coach from the Christchurch-based Asia Pacific Football Academy.
APFA would later relocate to Wellington and become what is known today as the Phoenix Academy.
“Our model was not only to recruit the best talent we could find in New Zealand but also abroad; South-East Asia, Latin America and other countries. Mexico, we had good links there, and we would go over on a regular basis and watch players,” Ibrom said.
“The profile of the Mexican player is so different to the normal Kiwi player but when you mix them in the same training group it really, really accelerates all of their development.”
Pizzuto said he was encouraged to attend the week-long trial by a coach from his school. There were 150 players in attendance all up, but he immediately caught Ibrom’s eye.
“When I was 10 years-old the director of my school over in Mexico knew that I loved football very much and randomly he knew about a tryout for APFA, which was then in Christchurch. Jess Ibrom was the coach and he was coming to Monclova so I thought let’s give it a go. I went when I was 10, they told me you’re in, you and your brother can come any time. But we waited two years. I left my house when I was 12.”
Keen to develop his skills in a completely different environment from other players his age in Mexico, Pizzuto flew to Wellington after his 12th birthday and enrolled at Scots College. He trained with the Phoenix Academy multiple times a week.
“The whole idea was I can improve my football because I wanted to be a footballer,” he said.
“But idea was just to stay one or two years, it was never to have a career over there. It was to develop, to experience a whole different culture, to live by myself and to grow personally and football-wise.
“The academy was linked to Scots College so that’s how I ended up there, but it was amazing. The people, the culture, it was very different to Mexico and gave me a whole new perspective of how everyone lives their life.
“I was 12 so I was the youngest guy in the team and I trained with guys 17, 16, 15 from different parts of New Zealand, Asia and stuff like that. It helped me in every aspect.”
