Alejandro Enrique Cíchero Konarek (; born April 20, 1977) is a former Venezuelan

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defender.

Career

Born in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

, Cichero joined the youth system of

Trujillanos Fútbol Club Trujillanos Fútbol Club is a Venezuelan football team playing at the top level, the Primera División Venezolana. It is based in Valera. Their home stadium is Estadio Luis Loreto Lira. At the end of the 2006–2007 season Trujillanos fini ...

in 1988, being promoted to the first team in 1996 and helping them reach the

Copa CONMEBOL The Copa CONMEBOL ( en, CONMEBOL Cup) was an annual football cup competition organized by CONMEBOL between 1992 and 1999 for South American football clubs. During its time of existence, it was a very prestigious South American club football cont ...

Playoff in his second season. In 1998, he moved to Europe, joining Benfica, who immediately loaned him to

Cagliari Calcio Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari (), is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. In the 2022-23 season, they compete in Serie B. As of 2021–22, the team is temporarily playing their home games at the 16,416-seat ...

in the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

, playing thirteen matches over the course of the 1998–99 season. He then spent two seasons in the

Portuguese Second Division Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

— the third tier of Portuguese football. First in 1999–2000 at

Oliveira do Bairro S.C. Oliveira do Bairro Sport Clube is a Portuguese football club based in Oliveira do Bairro, Aveiro District. Founded in 1922, it currently competes in the fourth tier Terceira Divisão The Terceira Divisão Portuguesa (in English: ''Portuguese Th ...

and then at Benfica's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

, where he made one bench appearance on the first team in a 2–1 win against

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

. In 2002, he returned home, playing the 2001–02 season at

Deportivo Italchacao Deportivo Miranda Fútbol Club (previously named Deportivo Italia Fútbol Club, Deportivo Italchacao, Deportivo Petare Fútbol Club and Petare Fútbol Club) is a Venezuelan football club based in Caracas. Formed in 1948 as "Deportivo Italia F.C ...

, before spending an 18-month span in the

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , en, First Division Professional League, local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional Association football, ...

, in three clubs. In 2004, he returned to Europe, joining

PFC Litex Lovech Litex ( bg, Литекс) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Lovech, which currently competes in the Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Sports Club. The club's home ground is the Gradski Stadion ...

in the Bulgarian league, where he would stay until 2008, helping the team finish third in 2005–06, as well progressing to the Round of 32 in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. The 31-year-old then joined Chinese team,

Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C. Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Jinan, Shandong and their home stadium is th ...

, immediately conquering his first title, the

2008 Chinese Super League The 2008 Chinese Super League (known as the Kingway 2008 Chinese Super League for sponsorship reasons) was the 5th season since the establishment of the Chinese Super League and the 15th season of the professional football league in China. Super L ...

. After two seasons, he returned to his native hometown, to play for

Caracas FC Caracas Fútbol Club is a Venezuelan football team based in Caracas. The club has won twelve First Division titles making it the most successful in Venezuelan football history. They are nicknamed ''Los Rojos del Ávila'', or the "Reds from Áv ...

. In July 2010, the

Venezuelan Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

international, moved to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, reuniting with former national team manager,

Richard Páez Richard Alfred Mayela Páez Monzón known as Richard Páez (born 31 December 1953) is a Venezuelan football manager former coach of Deportivo Cuenca from Ecuador and of the Venezuela national football team. Playing career Club Born in Mérid ...

Millonarios Millonarios Fútbol Club is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium. Millonarios was initially created in 1937 by students f ...

. In 2013, the 36-year-old, came out of retirement to play one more season, joining

Deportivo Anzoátegui ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable), an aerial lift station in Ecatepec, Mexico * Deport ...

International career

He played in the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

and

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

editions of

Copa America Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

. He has made over 40 appearances for the Venezuela national team since 2002.

International goals

, - , 1. , , June 1, 2007 , , José Pachencho Romero,

Maracaibo ) , motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal") , anthem = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_alt = ...

,Venezuela , , , , 1–1 , , 2–2 , , Friendly , - , 2. , , June 30, 2007 , , Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristóbal, Venezuela , , , , 1–0 , , 2–0 , ,

2007 Copa América The 2007 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, known simply as the 2007 Copa América or 2007 Copa América Venezuela, was the 42nd edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The c ...

Personal life

He is the son of Mauro Cichero who was a professional football player and represented Venezuela in the 1980 Olympics. His brothers,

Gabriel In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር� ...

and Mauro, are also professional football players.

Honors

Champion of the Chinese Super League with Shandong Luneng Taishan FC in 2008 Champion of the Venezuelan 1st Division with Caracas FC in 2009-10

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cichero, Alejandro 1977 births Living people Footballers from Caracas Association football defenders Venezuelan people of Italian descent Venezuelan people of Polish descent Venezuelan footballers Venezuela international footballers 2004 Copa América players 2007 Copa América players Trujillanos FC players Cagliari Calcio players S.L. Benfica B players Deportivo Italia players Central Español players C.A. Cerro players Club Nacional de Football players PFC Litex Lovech players Shandong Taishan F.C. players Caracas FC players Millonarios F.C. players Deportivo Anzoátegui players Categoría Primera A players Uruguayan Primera División players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Chinese Super League players Venezuelan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Colombia Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Expatriate footballers in Uruguay Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Expatriate footballers in Portugal Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate footballers in Italy Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in China Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in China