From Pioneer to champion and Bundesliga Legend: the Pavel Pardo story

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Pavel Pardo made the leap across the Atlantic Ocean to the Bundesliga to become the first Mexican to play in the German top flight, and serve as a pioneer whose footsteps were followed by 'Chicharito' and Marco Fabian.

Pardo made his name in his home town of Guadalajara where he joined Atlas before moving across the city to Tecos for a year. He headed to the capital in early 1999 to join Club America where he won the 2006 CONCACAF Champions Cup, backing up with silverware the quality Stuttgart had seen in him playing for his country at the 2005 Confederations Cup and at the World Cup in Germany the following year.

He was not the only one to have impressed. Ahead of the 2006/07 season, he and compatriot Ricardo Osorio jetted off on the adventure that would lead them to the Bundesliga title less than 12 months later.

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