Ariel Silvio Zárate Riga (born 13 July 1973) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder, and a manager. Only having made his debut in the

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

in his own country well past his 30s, he spent the vast majority of his professional career in Spain, mainly with

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

which he represented in three full La Liga seasons.

Career

After completing his formation at Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires-born Zárate began playing professionally in Mexico with Club Toluca. He then had a stint with lowly A.S.D. Riccione 1929 of Italy and spent seven years in Spain, with

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., known simply as Cádiz, is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the La Liga, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20 ...

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

(helping the Andalusia team achieve promotion to La Liga in 1999), Elche CF and Xerez CD. Subsequently, Zárate returned to Argentina, playing for modest clubs

Deportivo Morón Club Deportivo Morón is an Argentine sports club located in the city of Morón, Buenos Aires. Deportivo Morón's football team currently plays in Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Argentine football league system. The club was fo ...

, C.S.D. Tristán Suárez and All Boys. He helped the latter to the Primera B Metropolitana championship in his first season. As All Boys returned to the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

after an absence of nearly 40 years, Zárate made his debut in the competition in a 0–1 home loss against Racing Club de Avellaneda for the campaign's '' Apertura'', aged 37 years and 25 days. Following his retirement, he acted as their general manager.

Personal life

Zárate's son luca debuted in admiral Brown yesterday and "el chino " had three brothers, all footballers: younger Rolando and Mauro and older Sergio, with all of them eventually representing the Argentina national team. Ariel's nephew, Tobías, also became a professional footballer.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zarate, Ariel 1973 births Living people Argentine sportspeople of Chilean descent Argentine people of Calabrian descent Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine footballers Association football midfielders Argentine Primera División players Primera Nacional players Deportivo Morón footballers All Boys footballers Liga MX players Deportivo Toluca F.C. players A.S.D. Riccione 1929 players La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Cádiz CF players Málaga CF players Elche CF players Xerez CD footballers Argentine football managers Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Zárate family