Álvar Gimeno Soria was born on 15 December 1997 in Valencia, the son of Yolanda Soria and Toni Gimeno.[1] Gimeno and his parents migrated to New Zealand when he was twelve-years-old after his father pursued the sport rugby union in the country.[1] Settling in Christchurch, he attended St Thomas of Canterbury College where he excelled in sports playing for the Burnside under-12 rugby side and being personally coached by former Spain international, David Monreal.[2]
Professional career
2015–17
Due to studying INEF at the Technical University of Madrid, Gimeno signed with Complutense Cisneros.[3] He made his professional debut in the División de Honor competition at 17-years-old.[4] He made the match-day fifteen at fly-half against Pozuelo at Valle de las Cañas in September 2015.[5] Gimeno became the youngest rugby player to debut in the league.[5] He reached the semi-finals after overcoming a narrow 25–23 quarter-final victory over Santboiana during the 2015–16 season.[6] Gimeno later sustained an injury after the pain and discomfort that accompanied him throughout the Cisneros campaign and decided to undergo surgery.[7]
Gimeno gained selection honours after being announced in the 27-man Spain national team on 31 May ahead of the 2016 World Rugby Nations Cup.[8] He was one of six potential debutants named.[9] Unavailable to injury, Gimeno was replaced by Jaime Mata and would miss selection in the national squad for the remainder of their campaign in Bucharest, Romania.[10] He was called up for a second time with the national team to play the first friendly match of the 2016 end-of-year internationals against Tonga.[11] He debuted for Spain alongside Matthew Foulds, Kalokalo Gavidi and Fabien Perrin in November, replacing Thibaut Alvarez off the bench in the 69th minute.[12] Gimeno received a yellow card for a dangerous tackle in his second test match against Uruguay.[13]
In September 2016, Gimeno returned to play for Complutense Cisneros in the opening week of the 2016–17 División de Honor season against Ciencias Rugby Sevilla.[14] At season's end, he scored three career tries and featured in the playoffs against Santboiana.[15] His performance at domestic level saw his inclusion in the Spain national sevens team in preparation for the 2017 Hong Kong Sevens qualification tournament.[16]
While there was interest from other professional clubs for Gimeno, he signed a deal with Valladolid after coach Diego Merino Rodríguez confirmed the signing in May 2017.[17] He made his first professional appearance for Valladolid starting in the outside centre position against Barcelona after defeating the side 35–18 in early September.[18] The following week, Gimeno's second consecutive match, he scored his first try for the club during 2017–18 season against Hernani at Landare Toki.[19] Gimeno attributed to Valladolid's División de Honor campaign and their championship and top of the table success after being selected in the side's starting lineup at centre.[20] It was the club's seventh title win.[21]