Guillermo Ochoa Cuts Salary to 480,000 Euros for AEL Limassol
Guillermo Ochoa left Liga MX for AEL Limassol in Cyprus and accepted a far smaller salary as he pushes for a place at the 2026 World Cup. The 40-year-old goalkeeper moved after earning about $3.5 million dollars annually with América and now receives around 480,000 euros a year.
Ochoa’s Cyprus move
That drop is the central trade-off in his move. Ochoa left América in January 2023 and is now playing in a league ranked 17th in Europe by UEFA coefficient, ahead of Scotland and Sweden in the ranking cited for the story.
He is not making this switch for comfort. He is trying to stay in Javier Aguirre’s final list, and the move keeps him in Europe while he chases a sixth World Cup appearance.
Memo’s World Cup record
Ochoa’s case rests on more than his passport stamp. He was a substitute in every match at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and again in South Africa in 2010, then started playing in Brazil in 2014.
Since then, he has played 11 consecutive World Cup matches for Mexico across Brazil 2014, Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022. In those games, he has totaled 990 World Cup minutes and four clean sheets.
Javier Aguirre’s final list
The financial hit is the friction point. Ochoa gave up a salary that put him among the best-paid players in Liga MX for the 2022-2023 season, but the move gives him a European platform while he tries to keep adding to his World Cup numbers in 2026. For Mexico, the decision now comes down to whether his record and experience are enough to win one of the spots in Aguirre’s final squad.
