Carlos Armando Gruezo Arboleda (; born 19 April 1995) is an Ecuadorian professional

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 plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

and the Ecuador national team. He is the son of Carlos Armando Gruezo Quiñónez. He is described by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

's official website as "a technically adept

holding midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and a precise passer of the ball".

Club career

Gruezo began his career with Independiente del Valle before joining Ecuadorian club

Barcelona SC Barcelona Sporting Club () is an Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil, known best for its professional football team. Internationally known as Barcelona de Ecuador, in Ecuador it is simply referred as Barcelona, El Idolo (BSC) or Barce. T ...

. Gruezo went on trial for

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

in their pre season friendlies in South Africa. On 30 January 2014, he signed a four-year contract with Stuttgart. He scored his first goal for the club in a 4–1 victory over Freiburg on 28 November 2014, becoming the first Ecuadorian to score in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

. In 2015 however, he lost his spot in the starting lineup and only had a few more appearances for Stuttgart. He moved to

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...

on 23 January 2016. On 2 July 2019, Gruezo returned to Germany, joining

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg () or Augsburg, is a German football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The team was founded as ...

on a five-year-deal. On 31 January 2023, Gruezo returned to the United States, joining

on a three-year deal.

International career

Gruezo played for the Ecuador U17 national team at the

2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fourteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, and the eleventh played since the change in age limits from under 16s to Under 17s in 1991. It was held in Mexico with games being played amongst various venues ...

and at the

2013 South American Youth Championship The 2013 South American Youth Football Championship ( es, ''Campeonato Sudamericano Sub-20 ''Juventud de América'' Argentina 2013'', italic=unset, pt, ''Campeonato Sul-Americano Sub-20 ''Juventude da América'' Argentina 2013'', italic=unset, re ...

. He made his debut for the senior national team on 17 May 2014, coming in as a second-half substitute for

Christian Noboa Christian Fernando Noboa Tello (; born 9 April 1985) is an Ecuadorian footballer who plays for Russian Premier League club PFC Sochi and the Ecuador national team as a central midfielder. Club career Emelec Christian started out at Emelec. ...

against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. On 6 June, he was named in Ecuador's squad for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Personal life

In February 2019, Gruezo obtained a U.S. green card, which qualified him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Ecuador's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gruezo goal.''

Honours

Barcelona S.C. **

Serie A de Ecuador The Liga Pro Betcris, simply known as the Liga Pro, or the Serie A, is a professional football league in Ecuador. At the top of the Ecuadorian football league system, it is the country's premier football competition. Contested by sixteen clubs, i ...

: 2012 FC Dallas ** US Open Cup: 2016 **

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...

: 2016

References

External links

* * 1995 births Living people People from Santo Domingo de los Colorados Association football midfielders Ecuadorian footballers Ecuador international footballers 2014 FIFA World Cup players Copa América Centenario players 2019 Copa América players 2021 Copa América players C.S.D. Independiente del Valle footballers Barcelona S.C. footballers VfB Stuttgart players FC Dallas players FC Augsburg players San Jose Earthquakes players Bundesliga players Ecuadorian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Designated Players (MLS) Major League Soccer players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in the United States 2022 FIFA World Cup players {{Ecuador-footy-midfielder-stub