Before the footballer, there is David | OneFootball

From Huelva to the First Division, the journey of the 18-year-old from Huelva shaped by football, his family, and faith.

There are stories in football that begin long before a player sets foot in a First Division stadium. They begin at home, in a city, on a football pitch and, above all, in a family. Davinchi’s is one of them. Behind the player we know today as Davinchi is David Cordón Mancha, a boy from Huelva who began chasing a dream from a very young age and who, at just 18, has already had to travel a much longer road than it might seem.

Huelva as the starting point

You can’t talk about Davinchi without talking about Huelva. That’s where he was born, where he started playing football and where he began to grow both as a person and as a footballer. Along the way he also spent time in the Real Betis academy before returning to Recreativo de Huelva, his hometown club, where he would eventually make the step up to the first team.

But behind any young footballer who starts to stand out, there is a side we rarely see. Leaving home as a child means much more than changing clubs. It meanslearning to live far from your parents, getting used to new teammates, new coaches and new routines. It means growing up too soon and learning to deal with moments of loneliness while chasing a dream.

In that process, family becomes a refuge. And for Davinchi, it has always been one of the fundamental pillars of his journey.

A family always there

Football can give you many things, but it can also take away time with the people you love most. Travel, training, camps and matches are all part of a routine that a boy has to learn to accept far too early.

That is why Davinchi’s family has played such an important role. They have been there behind his first steps, his decisions and also the moments when things have not been so easy.

And within that family there is one figure impossible to separate from his story: his father, David Cordón, one of his greatest sources of support and a key person in his life. In January 2026, he died in the Adamuz rail accident. May he rest in peace.

Davinchi had to face an enormous loss just as his professional career was beginning. Getafe stood by the player and his family in those days, but there are pains that no club, no match and no victory can heal. Since then, his father has been part of a story that can no longer be told without also speaking of everything he meant to him.

The boy who started turning heads

In Huelva, Davinchi began to show that he had something different. At just 16 years old, he made his debut for Recreativo’s first team and did so in the best possible way: he scored a goal and provided an assist against Mérida.

That was much more than a good debut. It was the moment when an academy prospect began to become a reality. His progress led him to play 32 matches that season and also to come into the plans of Spain’s youth national teams.

Suddenly, that boy who had started out playing football in Huelva was attracting attention far beyond his city.

The move to Getafe

In the summer of 2025, the next step came. Getafe placed their faith in Davinchi, and the young full-back swapped Huelva for Madrid. Once again, it was time to start over.

New club, new city, new teammates and a completely different level of demand. The leap from Primera Federación to LaLiga was enormous, but it did not take Davinchi long to achieve another dream. On August 17, 2025, he started against Celta at Balaídos and made his LaLiga debut at 17. Getafe won 0-2, and that boy from Huelva had reached the top flight.

God as guide and strength

There is another element that is part of the way Davinchi understands his journey: faith. God holds an important place in his life and in the way he faces both the good moments and those that are much more difficult.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1)

Perhaps that way of understanding football and life is especially important now. He has had to leave home, adapt to new places, make the leap to the top flight and, above all, overcome the loss of his father while he is still building his future.

His story began long before Getafe. It began in Huelva, continued in the Betis academy, grew again at Recreativo and took him to the First Division. Along the way he has had his family as support, a faith that stays with him and a father whose mark will remain forever.

Perhaps one day we will look back and understand that this moment was simply one more stage. No one knows how far Davinchi will go. But at 18, what truly matters is that he still has almost the whole road ahead of him.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.