Fernando Cáceres

Fernando Cáceres
Personal information
Full nameFernando Gabriel Cáceres
Date of birth7 February 1969
Place of birthSan Isidro, Argentina
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing positionCentre back
Youth career
Argentinos Juniors
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1986–1991Argentinos Juniors113(5)
1991–1993River Plate71(11)
1993–1996Zaragoza91(3)
1996Boca Juniors15(1)
1996–1998Valencia51(0)
1998–2004Celta198(3)
2004Córdoba11(0)
2004–2006Independiente46(0)
2006–2007Argentinos Juniors0(0)
Total596(23)
National team
1992–1997Argentina24(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Fernando Gabriel Cáceres (born 7 February 1969) is an Argentine retired footballer who played as a central defender.

He played for several clubs in the Primera División and La Liga during his professional career, spending 11 years in the latter competition and appearing in 340 games.

Cáceres represented the Argentine national team at the 1994 World Cup and two Copa América tournaments.

Club career

Born in San Isidro, Buenos Aires, Cáceres began playing professional football at Argentinos Juniors and in 1991 was transferred to Club Atlético River Plate where he won his first title, the 1991 Apertura.

He then moved to Spain to play for Real Zaragoza, where he won the Copa del Rey in 1994 and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup the following year.[1] An undisputed starter from the beginnings, he amassed well over 100 official appearances in only three seasons of play.

Cáceres returned to Argentina for a brief spell at Boca Juniors, before moving back to Spain in late 1996 and sign for Valencia CF, where he stayed until the end of the 1997–98 campaign. Aged almost 29 he joined Celta de Vigo, helping to the Galicians' La Liga and European consolidation. In six seasons with the club he played 218 matches in all competitions, scoring five goals[2] most notably contributing with 33 appearances in 2002–03 as his team qualified for the first time ever to the UEFA Champions League.[3]

In late 2004, after a four-month spell with Córdoba CF in the second division, Cáceres returned to his country once again after signing with Club Atlético Independiente, joining a select group of players who played for River Plate, Boca Juniors and Independiente. In 2006 he rejoined Argentinos Juniors, the club where he began his career 20 years earlier, seeing out his career at 38.

International career

Cáceres won the South American Under-17 Football Championship in 1985. At full international level, he earned 24 caps for the Argentina national team,[2] and was also part of the squad that won the 1993 Copa América[4] and the one that took part in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Honours

Club

River Plate

Zaragoza

Country

Personal life

On 1 November 2009, Cáceres was shot in the head in an attempted robbery while driving his car in a Buenos Aires suburb. He was kept in a drug induced coma for eight weeks.[5][6]

He got out of the coma on 29 December, moving to a hospital in Ciudadela,[7] where he began to slowly recover.[8][9]

References

  1. ↑ "1994/95: Nayim's bolt from the blue sinks Arsenal". UEFA.com. 1 June 1995. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Fernando Gabriel Cáceres – Defensor (Fernando Gabriel Cáceres – Defender); Independiente 1905 (Spanish)
  3. ↑ "Fernando Cáceres" (in Spanish). Yo Jugué en el Celta. 22 April 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  4. ↑ "Copa América 1993". RSSSF. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  5. ↑ Parte médico confirma que Fernando Cáceres continúa grave (Medical report confirms Fernando Cáceres is still in serious condition); Triunfo (Spanish)
  6. ↑ Former Argentina defender Caceres shot, in coma; ESPN Soccernet, 1 November 2009
  7. ↑ Cáceres recuperó el habla tras recibir un balazo (Cáceres regained speech after being shot); Medio Tiempo, 30 December 2009 (Spanish)
  8. ↑ Fernando Cáceres ya respira por sus propios medios (Fernando Cáceres already breathing by himself); Marca, 24 November 2009 (Spanish)
  9. ↑ "Caceres back from the brink". FIFA.com. 7 February 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2014.

External links