Thomas Garcia

Bogota gave Colombian football another midfielder before it gave him a fixed position: at Once Caldas, Thomas Garcia now wears the number 19 shirt for a club that still holds the domestic title it won in 2024, a trophy earned before he arrived.

Garcia's early development ran through the academy system at America de Cali, where he spent his formative years before his contract there expired. He joined Once Caldas as a free agent, moving in initially through the club's Sub-20 setup rather than straight into the first team. That step up came within months: by 2025 he had been promoted into the senior squad picture.

His first appearance in an official competition for the first team came in the Copa Colombia, in a match Once Caldas won comfortably, 5-0 against Formadores Quasar. Since then he has continued to feature from the bench, including an appearance against Deportes Tolima in February 2026, when he came on as a substitute and picked up a yellow card in the second half.

He is not the only Garcia in the Once Caldas dressing room. His brother, Mateo Garcia, plays in the same position for the same club, giving the pair a shared path through the squad rather than separate stories.

There is no senior call-up to the Colombia national team on his record yet, and no individual honours to date. What stands out instead is the shape of his move: a free transfer after his academy contract lapsed, an initial spell with the youth side of his new club, and a promotion earned rather than assumed.