Recorded at AVANCE Global 2026 in Las Vegas.
He arrived at Club América more than 25 years ago as a forward. Life would eventually lead him somewhere else entirely: to become, arguably, the most important Mexican goalkeeper in history.
After a whirlwind summer playing in his sixth and final World Cup, perhaps his most meaningful yet, in front of his home crowd at the historic Estadio Azteca, Memo Ochoa sat down with The Latino Majority at AVANCE Global 2026.
The pressure of standing in goal taught him that mistakes are inevitable. More than that, they are necessary.
“You have to learn from mistakes, learn to live with them, and get back up the next day. You start from zero. As the years go by, you learn how to let them go and not carry that weight with you,” he says.
Soccer and the Latino community in the United States are difficult to separate. A jersey, whether América, Chivas, or Cruz Azul, can carry the identity and nostalgia of millions of Latinos. That community has also been a fundamental part of Ochoa’s career.
“Now, as I reach the end of my career, I’ve tried, and will continue trying, to give some of that affection back by helping, finding ways to be closer to them, and seeing how we can support communities here in the United States.”
But life extends beyond soccer. After being the hero before a roaring stadium or the villain in the biggest match of the year, what remains is what happens beyond the pitch. And Ochoa has been preparing for that chapter for some time: becoming an entrepreneur and playing new games, now without a ball at his feet, or rather, in his hands.
“It’s something I started building a while ago, preparing for life after my career and looking for different types of investments,” he says.
Among them is One Sport, a project that begins on the field but aims to reach far beyond it.
“So much attention goes to professional soccer, but underneath it there is a huge community of kids who play and sometimes don’t have the opportunity to be seen. They don’t have a clear path if they want to become professionals someday.”
For Ochoa, however, success does not necessarily mean producing the next professional soccer player.
“Everyone wants to go pro. Not everyone will. But if you help a kid who might otherwise be out on the street […] or help them get on a path toward a serious job, well, that’s already a success story.”
That is where Ochoa seems to find himself in this new chapter: reflective, mature, and grateful. Records, after all, are meant to be broken. Someday, another Mexican goalkeeper may play not six but seven World Cups, or conquer some of Europe’s biggest clubs. Ochoa’s focus today, then, is somewhere beyond the numbers: legacy.
“The same thing I did as a player: leave a legacy. Now, as a person, I want to leave a legacy through sports, something that, someday, people can remember me for: as someone who helped through sports, who tried to improve society and the community… or at least tried to.”
