Amani Aguinaldo

Aguinaldo attended Ateneo de Davao Grade School until grade 6 and transferred to the High School Department Far Eastern University's FERN College in Quezon City where he attended high school.[3] Aguinaldo is taking Sports Science at the University of the Philippines Diliman. As of December 2014, he is on his second year.[4]

After Aguinaldo was scouted by Coach Kim Chul-soo and program director Vince Santos both from Far Eastern University, which prompted him to transfer to Far Eastern University – FERN College where he attended high school. He played a year with the Far Eastern University at the college level before moving to the University of the Philippines.[3]

He was later signed with the Loyola Meralco Sparks where he debuted as a substitute player at Loyala's stint at the 2012 Singapore Cup. He later transferred to Global.[3] in 2013. In 2018, he moved to another Filipino club Ceres-Negros. Ceres-Negros placed him on loan to Malaysian club PKNP where he played in the 2019 Malaysia Super League. In January 2020, he was signed for Thai club Trat ahead of the 2020 Thai League 1 season.[5]

Aguinaldo is an only child of Ariel and Maida Aguinaldo who both had roots to Davao. His name Amani is derived from an African title meaning both "warrior" and "peace". He was born in Las Piñas, but due to his parent's professions his family moved to Cebu and then Davao City where Aguinaldo spent most of his childhood, before moving back to the Manila area where he attended high school. Aguinaldo took up football from his father at the age of five, and nine years later he was called up to the Philippines U-14 by future Loyola coach Kim Chul-soo. At the age of 16 Aguinaldo was selected to play for the u-21 side at the 2012 Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy. During the tournament Aguinaldo was roomed with twins Marwin and Marvin and became good friends with both. His favorite teams are Manchester City, Bayern Munich, A.C. Milan, and Real Madrid, although his favorite footballer is Lionel Messi.[3][14]