Fabián Ruiz

The season in numbers

Ligue 1

30 games, 4 goals, 5 assists

Champions League

46 PSG games before his 1st UCL goal, scored in the semi-final 2nd leg

UCL final

8/10, full 90 minutes in the Vitinha-Ruiz-Neves triangle

Club World Cup

Goal at 19' vs Atlético, brace at 6' and 24' vs Real Madrid

Ballon d'Or 2025

24th

The quiet one

Born in Los Palacios y Villafranca, Andalusia, on April 3, 1996, Fabián Ruiz joins Real Betis's academy at eight. Pro debut in the Segunda in 2014, promotion to La Liga, then transfer to Napoli in summer 2018 for 30 million euros. Four Italian seasons, a title missed by a whisker, and a move to Paris on August 30, 2022, for around 23 million euros, five-year deal, shirt 8.

In Paris, he is never the player they put on the cover. Under Galtier, he rotates. Under Luis Enrique from 2023 onward, he becomes one of the three midfielders in the 4-3-3. Not Vitinha, not Neves. The third. The one who plays between the lines, cleans up in transition, orients the ball without anyone really noticing. At Spain's Euro 2024, the national team does the same. Ruiz scores against Croatia and Georgia, lifts the trophy, lands in the Team of the Tournament. Nobody hands him the Player of the Tournament award, which goes to Rodri.

Luis Enrique, who had handed Ruiz his senior Spain debut back in March 2019, has stopped downplaying the case. February 2025: 'A complete midfielder. I should have taken him to the 2022 World Cup.' Later: 'He is one of the best players I have in midfield, for the way he plays with his teammates, between the lines, and off the ball.'

Arsenal, 27th minute

May 7, 2025. Paris host Arsenal in the second leg with a one-goal cushion from the Emirates. A tense match. Paris need to score early to settle it. In the 27th minute, a cross drops on the left. Ruiz steps forward, chest-control, full volley. The ball clips Saliba on the way, Raya goes the wrong side. 1-0 Paris.

It is his first Champions League goal. Not at PSG. In his career. Forty-six European matches came before this one. Hakimi will add a second at 72 off a Dembélé lay-off. Paris win 2-1, 3-1 on aggregate. Munich final booked.

The match numbers say what Ruiz's numbers always say: nothing spectacular, everything essential. 93% passing accuracy, four interceptions, two tackles. And a goal. One. The one that sent Paris to the final.

Key moments

Five moments from a season where Fabián Ruiz, who no magazine puts on its cover, scored three decisive goals in the knockout phases of two major competitions.

1. 2022-08-30

   Signs from Napoli

   Paris sign Ruiz for around 23 million euros. Five-year deal, shirt 8. He arrives with Luis Enrique already sold on his profile since the Spain debut in March 2019.

2. 2024-07-14

   Euro 2024, champions with Spain

   Spain win Euro 2024. Ruiz scores against Croatia and Georgia. Named in the Team of the Tournament. Rodri is voted Player of the Tournament.

3. 2025-05-07

   Arsenal second leg, 1st UCL goal

   Parc des Princes, 27th minute. Volley deflects off Saliba. 1-0 Paris. First UCL goal in 46 career matches. PSG win 2-1 and book the final.

4. 2025-05-31

   Munich, 8 out of 10

   Final won 5-0. Ruiz plays 90 minutes in the Vitinha-Ruiz-Neves triangle. L'Équipe 8/10: 'With him, the others are better.' Sports Illustrated give him the same 8.

5. 2025-07-09

   Real Madrid, CWC semi-final brace

   Club World Cup semi-final. Ruiz opens at 6 off Dembélé's press, doubles his tally at 24. PSG 4-0 Real Madrid. Two goals against Real in one match.

Munich, and the summer that finally spoke

Between the semi and the final, one week. Also between the semi and the final, the Coupe de France. May 24, Reims beaten 3-0, Ruiz in midfield. L'Équipe rate him 8 again. Their line: 'Conscientious, never the gesture too many, the Spaniard was exactly right. He ran transitions through his passing and his forward runs. With that jubilant feeling that he is always in the right place and always makes the right choice.'

May 31, 2025, Allianz Arena. Luis Enrique names a Vitinha-Ruiz-Neves midfield. The three of them cover the whole half of the pitch. Ruiz plays all 90 minutes, intercepts, recycles, jumps opposing lines. L'Équipe rate him 8 out of 10. The summary is four words: 'With him, the others are better.' Sports Illustrated give him the same 8. Ruiz gives no long interview in the days after.

Then comes the Club World Cup, summer 2025. New format, tight turnaround, PSG goals from everywhere. On June 15, group stage against Atlético, Ruiz opens the scoring in the 19th minute. PSG win 4-0. On July 9, semi-final against Real Madrid. In the 6th minute, Dembélé harasses Asencio, wins the ball, feeds Ruiz who finishes low. 1-0. In the 24th minute, Ruiz doubles his own tally. PSG win 4-0 in a match nobody had expected to be so lopsided in the French side's favour. Two goals in one match against Real. One of the quietest standout individual performances of the summer.

Across the 2024-25 Champions League, he will have played 17 matches, scored one goal, and won the competition. At the Club World Cup, 7 matches, 3 goals. The 2025 Ballon d'Or lands him 24th. No nomination in the UEFA Team of the Season. No nomination in the UNFP Ligue 1 Team of the Year. The player who scored three times in the knockout phases of two major competitions will get neither collective accolade. He will keep going.

The player nobody talks about

With the 2024-25 season closed, Ruiz said one sentence about Luis Enrique that tells you more than all the tactical pieces combined. 'I lived the best season of my career thanks to him.' That's not end-of-year politeness. It's a statement of fact.

He is the player his teammates seek out first at the final whistle in Munich. The player French press doesn't write long profiles of, and the one foreign tactical analysts put in their Champions League XI without hesitation. The player Luis Enrique treats as the second-best midfielder in the world after Vitinha. And the player who will close this historic season with a tripled trophy line, a Spain trophy on the shelf, and the same quietness he brought to Paris on day one.