There is much written about the footballing career of Fernando Torres, but the footballer is notoriously private when it comes to his more personal life. However, here’s a brief overview of of what is know about his early years.
Torres was born in Fuenlabrada – a city located in the Madrid Metropolitan Area, within Spain’s Community of Madrid – on the 20th March, 1984. He spend his early years living with his parents, Flori Sanz and Jose Torres, as well as an older brother, Israel, and sister, Mari Paz. He became interested in football from an early age and joined his first team, Parque 84, at the age of just five, and his parents started travelling with him to daily training sessions. His grandfather was a proud Atlético Madrid supporter, although not a particularly enthusiastic football fan, and influenced the choice of club which Torres himself would also come to support.
Torres actually began playing football in the position of goalkeeper, but at age seven he started to play striker for the neighborhood club, Mario’s Holland, as part of an indoor league. By age ten, he had begun to play for an 11-side team, known as Rayo 13.
It was whilst playing with Rayo 13 that Torres managed to scored 55 goals in a season, becoming one of the team’s three players to earn a trial with Atlético Madrid. He might not have been old enough to play games at sites like partypoker, or even to travel alone – but he was about to launch his professional footballing career. In 1995, aged just 11-years-old, Torres managed to impress footballing scouts, and earn himself a place within Atlético’s youth system.
Three years later, he won his first significant youth title playing as part of an under-15’s team in the Nike Cup. After being voted the best player in Europe for his age group, Torres signed his first professional contract with Atlético in 1999. After playing within the youth team for a year, he was able to take part in the club’s Honor Division ages just 16.