Rodrigo Bentancur facts for kids
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Bentancur lining up for Uruguay in 2017
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Rodrigo Bentancur Colman | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 25 June 1997 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Nueva Helvecia, Uruguay | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Central midfielder | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Current team
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Tottenham Hotspur | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Number | 30 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2009–2015 | Boca Juniors | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2015–2017 | Boca Juniors | 51 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2017–2022 | Juventus | 133 | (2) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2022– | Tottenham Hotspur | 84 | (8) | |||||||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017 | Uruguay U20 | 14 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2017– | Uruguay | 70 | (3) | |||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:35, 25 May 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 01:30, 11 June 2025 (UTC) |
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Rodrigo Bentancur Colman (born on June 25, 1997) is a professional footballer from Uruguay. He plays as a central midfielder for the English club Tottenham Hotspur and for the Uruguay national team.
Rodrigo started his football journey in 2009 with the youth team of Boca Juniors in Argentina. He joined the main team in 2015. With Boca Juniors, he helped them win two Primera División titles and a Copa Argentina. In 2017, he moved to the Italian club Juventus. There, he won three Serie A titles in a row, along with other trophies. In January 2022, Bentancur joined Tottenham Hotspur in England. He helped them win the UEFA Europa League in May 2025.
For his country, Rodrigo was part of the Uruguay U20 team that won the 2017 South American U-20 Championship. He first played for the senior Uruguay team in 2017. He represented Uruguay at the FIFA World Cup in 2018 and 2022. He also played in the Copa América in 2019, 2021, and 2024.
Contents
Early Life and Family
Rodrigo Bentancur was born on June 25, 1997, in Nueva Helvecia, Uruguay. His parents are Roberto Bentancur and Mary Colmán. He has a younger brother named Damián. When he was little, Damián couldn't say "Rodrigo," so he called him "Lolo," which became Rodrigo's nickname. Rodrigo has family roots from Ireland, Spain, and Switzerland.
When Rodrigo was four years old, his mother passed away. To honor her, he always wears the number 30 shirt, which was her birthday. His father, Roberto, later married Cecilia Agredi. She is from Argentina and has Italian family. Rodrigo and Damián also have two half-sisters, twins named Cande and Mica.
Rodrigo loved football from a young age. In 2009, he joined the youth academy of Boca Juniors. This happened after a scout for the club, Horacio Anselmi, saw him play.
Club Career
Playing for Boca Juniors
Rodrigo played his first game for the main Boca Juniors team on April 12, 2015. It was a league match against Nueva Chicago. He came into the game as a substitute. During his time at Boca, he made a memorable mistake in a game against San Lorenzo. He accidentally passed the ball to an opponent, who scored the winning goal.
In July 2015, Bentancur was part of a deal involving Carlos Tevez and Juventus. Juventus got the chance to sign Bentancur later. On April 21, 2017, Juventus officially bought Bentancur. He signed a five-year contract that started on July 1, 2017. Boca Juniors also gets 50% of any money if Juventus sells him in the future. Rodrigo then went back to Argentina to finish the 2016–17 season with Boca Juniors.
Playing for Juventus
Bentancur officially joined Juventus on July 1, 2017. He played his first game for the club on August 26, 2017. He came on as a substitute in a 4–2 win against Genoa in Serie A. On October 6, 2018, Rodrigo scored his first goal for Juventus. It was in a 2–0 away win against Udinese. While playing for Juventus, Italian newspapers sometimes called him Principe, which means "Prince."
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Playing for Tottenham Hotspur
On January 31, 2022, Bentancur moved to the Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. He played his first game for Spurs on February 5 in an FA Cup match against Brighton & Hove Albion. Tottenham won that game 3–1. Nine days later, he made his Premier League debut.
On September 18, 2022, Bentancur scored his first goal for Tottenham. It was in a Premier League game against Leicester City, which Spurs won 6–2. Later that season, he scored his first UEFA Champions League goal against Sporting CP. Three days later, he scored a winning goal in injury time against AFC Bournemouth, helping Spurs come back from being 2–0 down to win 3–2. Two weeks after that, he scored two goals in one game against Leeds United, securing a 4–3 victory for Spurs.
On February 11, 2023, Bentancur got a serious knee injury during a match against Leicester City. This injury meant he could not play for the rest of that season.
Rodrigo returned to play on October 27, 2023, in a win against Crystal Palace. However, on November 26, he injured his ankle ligaments. Even though he was expected to be out for a long time, he returned to play against Bournemouth on December 31, 2023. Bentancur was the team captain for the first time on January 5, 2024, in an FA Cup win against Burnley. He scored his first goal since his injury return on January 15, 2024, in a 2–2 draw against Manchester United. In November 2024, he received a seven-game suspension from the English FA for a comment he made.
On May 21, 2025, he was part of the Tottenham Hotspur team that won the UEFA Europa League. They defeated Manchester United in the final.
International Career
Rodrigo Bentancur was a key player for the Uruguay national under-20 team. They won the 2017 South American U-20 Championship and finished fourth at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
In September 2017, Bentancur was called up to the Uruguay senior team for the first time. He made his international debut on October 5, coming on as a substitute in a 0–0 draw against Venezuela.
In May 2018, Bentancur was chosen for Uruguay's team for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. He played in Uruguay's first match on June 15, a 1–0 win over Egypt. In the Round of 16, he helped set up a goal for Edinson Cavani in a 2–1 win against Portugal. Uruguay was knocked out of the tournament by France in the quarter-finals.
Bentancur also played for Uruguay in the 2019 and 2021 Copas Américas. In both tournaments, Uruguay reached the quarter-finals.
On February 2, 2022, Bentancur scored his first goal for Uruguay in a 4–1 win against Venezuela. In November 2022, he was part of the team for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. He started all three group matches for Uruguay. Uruguay won their last group match 2–0 against Ghana, but they were still eliminated from the tournament.
How He Plays Football
Bentancur is a skilled and versatile midfielder. He can play in many different midfield positions. He is good at controlling the ball and passing it accurately. He can also win the ball back from opponents and create chances for his teammates to score.
He is known for his calm play and quick thinking. Because of his talent and maturity, he is seen as a very promising young player.
Personal Life
Rodrigo Bentancur has been in a long-term relationship with Melany La Banca since 2015. Melany is from Argentina and Uruguay. They have a daughter together.
Career Statistics
Club Appearances
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Boca Juniors | 2015 | Argentine Primera División | 18 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 25 | 0 | ||
| 2016 | Argentine Primera División | 11 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | — | 19 | 1 | |||
| 2016–17 | Argentine Primera División | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 22 | 0 | |||
| Total | 51 | 1 | 9 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | – | 66 | 1 | ||||
| Juventus | 2017–18 | Serie A | 20 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 0 | |
| 2018–19 | Serie A | 31 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 2 | ||
| 2019–20 | Serie A | 30 | 0 | 5 | 1 | — | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 1 | ||
| 2020–21 | Serie A | 33 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 45 | 0 | ||
| 2021–22 | Serie A | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 0 | ||
| Total | 133 | 2 | 13 | 1 | — | 31 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 181 | 3 | |||
| Tottenham Hotspur | 2021–22 | Premier League | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 18 | 0 | |||
| 2022–23 | Premier League | 18 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | — | 26 | 6 | ||
| 2023–24 | Premier League | 23 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 25 | 1 | |||
| 2024–25 | Premier League | 26 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 0 | — | 44 | 2 | ||
| Total | 84 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 19 | 1 | — | 113 | 9 | |||
| Career total | 268 | 11 | 27 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 56 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 360 | 13 | ||
International Appearances
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uruguay | 2017 | 4 | 0 |
| 2018 | 13 | 0 | |
| 2019 | 12 | 0 | |
| 2020 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 12 | 0 | |
| 2022 | 9 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 11 | 2 | |
| 2025 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 70 | 3 | |
- Scores and results list Uruguay's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bentancur goal.
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 February 2022 | Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay |  Venezuela |
1–0 | 4–1 | 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2 | 27 June 2024 | MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, United States |  Bolivia |
5–0 | 5–0 | 2024 Copa América |
| 3 | 13 July 2024 | Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, United States |  Canada |
1–0 | 2–2 (4–3 p) | 2024 Copa América |
Trophies and Awards
Boca Juniors
- Argentine Primera División: 2015, 2016–17
- Copa Argentina: 2014–15
Juventus
- Serie A: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20
- Coppa Italia: 2017–18, 2020–21
- Supercoppa Italiana: 2018, 2020
Tottenham Hotspur
- UEFA Europa League: 2024–25
Uruguay U20
- South American Youth Football Championship: 2017
Uruguay
- Copa América third place: 2024
See also
In Spanish: Rodrigo Bentancur para niños
