Christian Eduardo Giménez (born 13 November 1974) is an Argentine former

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 striker.

Career

Born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Giménez started his career as a 17-year-old in the Argentine lower leagues, playing for

Club Atlético San Miguel Club Atlético San Miguel is an Argentina, Argentine sports club from San Miguel, Buenos Aires The club's headquarters are located in San Miguel while its association football, football stadium is erected in Los Polvorines district of Malvinas Ar ...

. In 1995, he was signed by the

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

, but he only played for them for one season before being loaned out to fellow Argentine team Nueva Chicago. In 1997, Boca Juniors sold Giménez to Swiss team

FC Lugano FC Lugano is a Swiss football club based in Lugano. The club was refounded as AC Lugano in 2004 as a result of relegation and the financial situation of FC Lugano, which was founded in 1908. In 2008, the club reverted to its original name, FC Lu ...

, in 2001 he was sold to fellow Swiss outfit

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

. Giménez made his debut for Basel on 18 July 2001 in the 3–3 draw with

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

and his first goal for the club followed during the 3–1 home win against the Young Boys on 11 August. Giménez was to end the season as the top scorer in the Swiss league. It was with Basel that he had the most success, winning several titles and awards:

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

titles in 2002, 2004 and 2005, and

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

s in 2002 and 2003. In 2001, 2002 and 2005 he was also the top scorer in the division. In 2005, he moved to

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

, and after a difficult year he signed a one-year loan agreement with German

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 ...

club

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

, on 4 August 2006. He was transferred to Hertha BSC on 27 May 2007, the agreement was revealed in April. He signed a three-year contract, which ran until 2009, but he was sold two years early. In 2007, he was signed by

Club Toluca Deportivo Toluca Fútbol Club S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Club Deportivo Toluca, is a Mexican football club, playing in the Primera División de México, the top-flight of Mexican football. Toluca's stadium, Estadio Nemesio Díez Riega i ...

for a three-year contract, but his contract was discontinued early at the end of Clausura 2008 due to his poor performance. In 2008, Giménez signed at Xanthi, before departing to play on loan by

FC Locarno FC Locarno is a Swiss football club based in Locarno in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ...

, the loan was announced on 16 February 2009 and turned back in summer 2009. On 4 January 2010, he left

Skoda Xanthi Xanthi Football Club ( el, Α.Ο. Ξάνθη Π.Α.Ε.) is a Greek professional football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace and plays at Xanthi FC Arena. The club resigned from the Super League 2 due to financial issues. Founded in 1967, Xan ...

and signed for

Chacarita Juniors Club Atlético Chacarita Juniors (usually known simply as Chacarita) is an Argentine football club headquartered in Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, while the stadium is located in Villa Maipú, General San Martín Partido of Greater Buenos Aires. ...

. Giménez was released by Chacarita Juniors after the end of the 2009–10 season.

Honours

Club

Basel *

(3): 2002, 2004, 2005 *

(2): 2002, 2003

Individual

*Swiss League top goalscorer (3): 2001, 2002, 2005

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gimenez, Cristian Living people 1974 births Footballers from Buenos Aires Association football forwards Boca Juniors footballers Nueva Chicago footballers Chacarita Juniors footballers Argentine footballers FC Basel players FC Lugano players Olympique de Marseille players Hertha BSC players Deportivo Toluca F.C. players FC Locarno players Bundesliga players Ligue 1 players Swiss Super League players Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in France Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Germany Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Greece Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland