Rodolfo Arruabarrena facts for kids
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Rodolfo Martín Arruabarrena | |||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 20 July 1975 | |||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Marcos Paz, Buenos Aires, Argentina | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Left-back | |||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||||
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Current team
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Al-Taawoun (manager) | |||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||
| 1985–1992 | Boca Juniors | |||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||
| 1993–2000 | Boca Juniors | 178 | (11) | |||||||||||||
| 1996 | → Rosario Central (loan) | 15 | (0) | |||||||||||||
| 2000–2007 | Villarreal | 219 | (11) | |||||||||||||
| 2007–2008 | AEK Athens | 16 | (0) | |||||||||||||
| 2008–2010 | Tigre | 67 | (2) | |||||||||||||
| 2010 | Universidad Católica | 13 | (0) | |||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||
| 1995–2006 | Argentina | 5 | (0) | |||||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | Tigre | |||||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | Nacional | |||||||||||||||
| 2014–2016 | Boca Juniors | |||||||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | Al Wasl | |||||||||||||||
| 2018 | Al-Rayyan | |||||||||||||||
| 2018–2020 | Shabab Al Ahli | |||||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | Pyramids | |||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | United Arab Emirates | |||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Al-Taawoun | |||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||
Rodolfo Martín Arruabarrena (born July 20, 1975) is an Argentine football manager and former player. He is currently the manager for the Saudi Pro League club Al-Taawoun. Rodolfo played as a left-back. He spent most of his playing career with Boca Juniors in Argentina and Villarreal in Spain.
Contents
Rodolfo's Club Career
Playing in Argentina
Rodolfo Arruabarrena, also known as "El Vasco" (The Basque), started his professional football journey in 1993. He played for Boca Juniors, one of Argentina's biggest clubs. He stayed there until 2000. For a short time in 1996, he played on loan for Rosario Central. After returning to Boca, he became a regular player in the team.
While playing for Boca Juniors, Rodolfo helped his team win several important tournaments. They won the Argentine first division in 1998 (Apertura) and 1999 (Clausura). He also won the Copa Libertadores in 2000. This is a very important club competition in South America. He played 178 games for Boca and scored 7 goals.
Playing in Spain with Villarreal
In the middle of 2000, Rodolfo moved to Spain to play for Villarreal. He was a very reliable player as a left-back. Because of his strong performance, he often became the team's captain. He holds the record for the most appearances in La Liga (Spain's top league) for Villarreal, with 178 matches. Villarreal is also known as El Submarino Amarillo, which means "The Yellow Submarine."
Rodolfo scored important goals in the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League. His goals helped Villarreal beat teams like Rangers F.C. from Scotland and Inter Milan from Italy. This helped Villarreal reach the semi-finals in their very first season in this big European competition.
With Villarreal, he also won the UEFA Intertoto Cup twice, in 2003 and 2004. He played over 200 games for the Spanish team in total.
Playing in Greece with AEK Athens
On May 3, 2007, Rodolfo signed a three-year contract with AEK Athens, a top club in Greece. He said that the manager, Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, and the club president, Demis Nikolaidis, helped him decide to join the team.
In his time at AEK, Rodolfo helped set up goals for his teammates. He assisted Rivaldo in his debut game and also helped Ismael Blanco score in a UEFA Cup match. He played 25 games for AEK in one season. However, he got a serious injury halfway through that season. In July 2008, the AEK Athens manager said that Rodolfo was no longer part of the team's plans.
Rodolfo's International Career
Rodolfo Arruabarrena played five matches for the Argentina national team. He also played several games for Argentina's youth teams. His first game for the senior national team was against Chile in 1994. He played a few more games in 1995 and one against England in 2000.
He was not called to play for the national team again until September 2006. At that time, manager Alfio Basile called him for a friendly match against Spain. He was also called up for another friendly game against France in February 2007. He was on the bench for a friendly match against Chile in April 2007 but did not play.
National Team Appearances
Rodolfo played for Argentina in these years:
| National team | Year | Games Played | Goals Scored |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 1994 | 2 | 0 |
| 1995 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1996 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1997 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1998 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1999 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2001 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 5 | 0 | |
Rodolfo's Managerial Career
After his playing career, Rodolfo Arruabarrena became a football manager. He has managed several clubs in different countries.
- He started managing Tigre in Argentina from 2011 to 2012.
- Then he managed Nacional in Uruguay in 2013.
- He returned to his former club, Boca Juniors, as manager from 2014 to 2016.
- He also managed clubs in the United Arab Emirates, including Al Wasl (2016–2018) and Shabab Al Ahli (2018–2020).
- He managed Al-Rayyan in Qatar in 2018.
- He managed Pyramids in Egypt from 2020 to 2021.
- From 2022 to 2023, he was the manager of the United Arab Emirates national team.
- Since 2024, he has been managing Al-Taawoun in Saudi Arabia.
Honours and Achievements
As a Player
With Boca Juniors
- Argentine Primera División: 1998 Apertura, 1999 Clausura (These are titles for winning the top league in Argentina)
- Copa Libertadores: 2000 (A major South American club competition)
- Copa de Oro: 1993
With Villarreal
- UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2003, 2004 (A European club competition)
With Universidad Católica
- Chilean Primera División: 2010 (Winning the top league in Chile)
As a Manager
With Boca Juniors
- Argentine Primera División: 2015
- Copa Argentina: 2014–15 (An Argentine cup competition)
With Al-Rayyan
- Sheikh Jassim Cup: 2018 (A Qatari cup competition)
With Shabab Al Ahli
- UAE President's Cup: 2018–19 (A cup competition in the UAE)
- UAE League Cup: 2018–19
- UAE Pro League runner-up: 2018–19 (Finished second in the UAE's top league)
See also
In Spanish: Rodolfo Arruabarrena para niños
