We chat with author Jonny Garza Villa about Futbolista, which is a classmates-to-friends-to-lovers romance that’s equal parts raunchy, heartfelt, queer, and Mexican-American, centered on college football (the REAL football)!
Hi, Jonny! Welcome back! How has the past year been since we last spoke?
Thanks for having me back! It’s been such an incredible year, travelling and meeting so many wonderful readers, Canto Contigo receiving the Stonewall Book Award for 2025, and getting Futbolista ready to be out in the world. Very busy, but even more rewarding.
Your latest novel, Futbolista, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Bisexual realizations. Philosophy. Horny. Soc—I mean, football.
What can readers expect?
I think readers will see a lot of the same in terms of voice and aesthetic when it comes to JGV novels; it’s still very much a Mexican protagonist centered coming-of-age story that I hope they find humor in and maybe shed a tear or two about. It’s about realizing that we are continually growing (and sometimes growing necessitates us to be brave on behalf of ourselves), about falling in love, about fighting for your passions. Readers can expect a very cute, kiss at a party to classmates and study buddies to friends to lovers romance while at the same time getting a reflection on what it is to be a young, queer, brown athlete trying to make his space in the game that he loves just as much. Oh, and lots of Crocs and short shorts.
Where did the inspiration for Futbolista come from?
The titular Futbolista, Gabriel Piña, was actually a side character in my debut young adult novel, Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun. And he was a character that I just couldn’t stop thinking about. Those little hints at, like, “this boy . . . isn’t straight, right?” and my own sort of headcanon of, “he isn’t seeing it now, but when he gets to college, that bisexuality is going to become clear.” And then those becoming, what if I wrote that book? So Futbolista really is one of those moments where I as a writer get to keep telling the story of a character I didn’t want to be done with just yet and what his own coming out might look like, especially in the context of university and leaning more heavily into sports culture and, more specifically, male and Mexican sports culture.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
There’s a side character named Orlando Pérez who really became one of my favorite characters I’ve ever written, and I think (or, at least, hope) that readers will fall in love with him too. He started out purely as some comic relief, this boy who is very much allergic to cringe, and is carrying that nonsensicalness that is being around college freshmen athletes, but then quickly became someone who also was so much more than the jokester and the humor of this story. He became someone who Gabi could lean on, who has those surprising moments of real insight, and who genuinely cares for his friends. Any scene where I got to include Pérez was one of my favorites.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
I think the most difficult part of writing Futbolista was implementing the philosophy class components into the story. Like me, Gabi doesn’t necessarily enjoy philosophy class and, at first, I thought it would be cute to have a thing we shared, put a little bit of my own self into who Gabi is. What I soon regrettably realized was that this meant we needed on page moments of Gabi not enjoying philosophy class, which then turned into really tying in his whole arc to his philosophy class and me having to sort of independent study an Intro to Philosophy course so I could hopefully write something that felt real and knowledgeable in the subject.
Ultimately, I did end up really liking this tie in and Gabi’s relationship with his professor and even how Futbolista became a kind of contemporary romance take on “The Allegory of the Cave.” But next time I might just be quiet about the things I don’t enjoy personally. Otherwise I’m going to have to make the whole book about it. Lesson learned.
With this being your adult debut, can you tell us about the shift from writing YA to adult?
I think because it falls into this new adult space and is a college romance, there are, again, similarities here between Futbolista and the young adult books that came before it. Observationally, these characters are all in the same generation, so the way in which they speak and act will have some similarities. There will still be some youthfulness here, even when writing about actual adults. But I do think that that step from high school into college, one’s own idea of dreams and hopes and goals transition from an idealistic perspective to more realistic for both the better and worse; that everything we do in these moments will either lead us closer or close that door for good.
I think the biggest difference in shift definitely comes from the intimacy. In my young adult books, while I do consider them “sex positive,” I write those scenes so teenagers—especially queer teenagers—can see an example of physical intimacy that is founded on communication and consent and bodily autonomy. But with Futbolista, while those things are absolutely present, I got to be immoderate about it and unrestrained and spicy.
What are three sports romance reads you’ve enjoyed recently?
Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner, Never Have I Ever: Had a Bromance with a Teammate by Willow Dixon, and a reread of The Quarterback by Tal Bauer
What’s next for you?
We’re working on a couple projects right now that will hopefully become something book-shaped in the near future! Another new adult romance, this one taking place in San Antonio, and a young adult contemporary that I might be co-writing with one of my favorite people.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
In adult romance, Adib Khorram’s It Had to Be Him, and in young adult, Sonora Reyes’ The Golden Boy’s Guide to Bipolar.
