Édgar Benítez facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Édgar Benítez

Personal information
Full name	Édgar Milciades Benítez Santander
Date of birth	(1987-11-08) 8 November 1987 (age 37)
Place of birth	Repatriación, Caaguazú, Paraguay
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	UCV
Number	33
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2007	Libertad	32	(2)
2008	→ Sol de América (loan)	37	(21)
2009–2013	Pachuca	85	(21)
2011–2012	→ Cerro Porteño (loan)	44	(11)
2012–2013	→ Toluca (loan)	38	(6)
2013–2015	Toluca	71	(15)
2015–2018	Queretaro	71	(8)
2018–2019	Libertad	47	(12)
2020	Guaraní	18	(1)
2021	Sportivo Luqueño	18	(4)
2021–2022	Alianza Lima	31	(2)
2023	General Caballero JLM	15	(0)
2023–	UCV	32	(3)
International career‡
2006–2007	Paraguay U20
2008–2017	Paraguay	56	(9)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18 September 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 2 June 2017

Édgar Milciades Benítez Santander (born 8 November 1987) is a football player from Paraguay. People often call him Pájaro, which means "bird" in Spanish. He plays as a midfielder for a team in Peru called UCV. Édgar also has Mexican citizenship.

He has played for the Paraguay national football team 56 times since 2008. He even played for his country in the FIFA World Cup 2010 and two Copa América tournaments. In 2006, he won the Milk Cup with Paraguay's under-20 team.

Playing Career

Club Teams

Édgar Benítez started his football journey at Club 12 de Octubre. Then, in 2005, he joined Libertad. There, he helped his team win the Paraguayan 1st division championship. Even though he was mostly a substitute player, he contributed to their success.

In 2008, he moved to Sol de América. He quickly became a key player and one of the team's top goal scorers.

On December 1, 2008, it was announced that Benítez would play in the Mexican League for Pachuca CF. He played his first game for C.F. Pachuca on January 2 in the Interliga 2009 tournament. He scored his first goal for the club in a big 4–0 win. He ended that tournament as the top scorer with 4 goals in 4 games. This helped Pachuca get a spot in the qualifying round for the Copa Libertadores 2009.

After 2009, he was often used as a substitute player for Pachuca. He played regularly in their matches, including the Bicentenario 2010 tournament. On February 20, 2010, he started a game against Chiapas and scored two goals. This helped Pachuca get a 2–2 draw. In June 2015, Queretaro announced that Benítez would join their team for the next season.

National Team Appearances

Édgar Benítez has also had a great career playing for his home country, Paraguay.

In the 2006 Milk Cup, which is a youth football tournament, he scored a goal in the 60th minute. This helped Paraguay's under-20 team win 2–0 against the USA.

He played his first international match for the senior Paraguay national football team in 2008. Because he played so well for Sol de América, he was called up to the national team. He had a good debut in a 2010 World Cup qualification match against Peru, which Paraguay won 1–0.

He was part of Paraguay's team for the 2015 Copa América. In that tournament, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win against Jamaica on June 16, 2015.

He also scored a goal for Paraguay in a 2–2 draw against Brazil. This was during the qualifying games for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Overall, he scored 9 goals for the national team.

Awards and Trophies

Édgar Benítez has won several championships and cups throughout his career:

Alianza Lima

• Peruvian Primera División: 2021, 2022
• Peruvian Torneo Clausura: 2021

Libertad

• Paraguayan Primera División: 2006, 2007

Pachuca

• CONCACAF Champions League: 2009–10

Cerro Porteño

• Paraguayan Primera División: 2012 Apertura

Querétaro

• Copa MX: Apertura 2016
• Supercopa MX: 2017

See also

In Spanish: Édgar Benítez para niños