Luis Suárez (Uruguayan footballer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal information
Luis Suárez

Full name	Luis Alberto Suárez Diaz
Date of birth	January 24, 1987 (1987-01-24) (age 21)
Place of birth	Salto, Uruguay
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Ajax
Number	16
Youth clubs
2003–2005	Nacional
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2005–2006 2006–2007 2007–	Nacional FC Groningen Ajax	29 (12) 35 (14) 39 (19)
National team²
2007–	Uruguay	09 0(6)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10:12, 20 March 2008 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of 22:03, 29 May 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Luis Alberto Suárez Diaz (born January 24, 1987 in Salto) is a Uruguayan footballer who currently plays for Ajax and the Uruguay national football team.

[edit] Early Career

In his homecountry, Uruguay, Suárez played for Club Nacional de Football. At that time, he was considered as one of the biggest talents of the country. During the time with the Uruguayan club, he became national champion of Uruguay in 2006. After a success season, the Netherlands football club FC Groningen purchased him for approximately 800,000 Euros.

For the first season playing in the Europe, Suárez displayed a good performance at FC Groningen. His impressive play attracted the other European clubs. Eventually he was sold a year later on August 9, 2007, when Ajax paid 7.5 million euros for Suárez.

[edit] Ajax

Yet, the transfer of Suárez was not even. The deal was unlikely to go through as the player lost a case before the Dutch Football Association's arbitration committee that would prevent him from going to Ajax. However that same day Ajax let Groningen know they would be willing to pay more for him at this stage. Without Suárez in the line-up Ajax won the Johan Cruijff-schaal prior to the start of the 2007-08 Eredivisie season.

Luis Suárez had his official debut for the team in the UEFA Champions League qualifier against SK Slavia Praha in which he won a penalty kick for Ajax, but it was missed by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. In his Eredivisie debut for the club he scored one goal, made three assists and won another penalty, helping Ajax overclass newly promoted De Graafschap 8-1. In his home debut at the Amsterdam ArenA, he scored a further two goals against SC Heerenveen to maintain his excellent start to his Ajax career. He then scored a hatrick for the club in the league match against Willem II, to take his tally for Ajax to 14 goals in 27 appearances.

[edit] National Career

Suárez made his debut for the Uruguayan national football team on February 8, 2007 in a 3-1 win against Colombia. He was sent off in the 85th minute after receiving a second yellow card for dissent. After that, he has continued participating with the Uruguayan national football team, becoming a starter in the first four games of the FIFA 2010 World Cup Qualifiers. He has scored 2 goals in 4 games, against Bolivia and Chile.