Imanol Machuca

Imanol Machuca's career took a strange turn away from the pitch in 2025, when he was capped once by Malaysia in an Asian Cup qualifier against Vietnam. FIFA later ruled that the ancestry documents supporting that call-up had been forged, handing him a one-year suspension and voiding the result; the Court of Arbitration for Sport partially upheld his appeal, narrowing the ban to international matches while leaving the fines and forfeits in place. He remains uncapped by Argentina.

On the pitch, the forward from Roldán came through the Talleres academy before settling at Unión de Santa Fe, where he made his senior debut in 2020 and went on to make 77 league appearances, scoring nine goals. That form took him to Fortaleza in 2023, where he was runner-up in the Copa Sudamericana that same year and won the Copa do Nordeste in 2024, adding five goals in 47 appearances for the Brazilian club.

In January 2025 he moved to Vélez Sarsfield on loan, with an option for the club to buy half his economic rights. The switch has brought silverware: Machuca won both the Supercopa Argentina and the Supercopa Internacional in the 2024/25 season, though game time has been limited to 19 appearances and a single goal so far.

A right-footed forward standing 1.70 m tall, the loan arrangement leaves his long-term future unsettled.