Cristian Daniel Ansaldi (born 20 September 1986) is an Argentine former 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 lea ...

who played as a full-back. He had been capped five times with the Argentina national team. A defender who plays with both feet, he is equally at ease as a right or left back. Although dribbling mostly with his right foot, he prefers to shoot with his left.

Club career

Newell's Old Boys

Born in

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

, Ansaldi started his professional career in 2005 and quickly progressed to become a regular player in the Newell's Old Boys first team.

Rubin Kazan

In January 2008, he was sold to

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–2 ...

, with whom he won the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Zenit

Ansaldi left Rubin Kazan for

Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (, ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, according to some Russian sources), the club plays in the Russian Pr ...

in 2013.

Atlético (loan)

On 1 August 2014, he went on loan to

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

for the upcoming

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

season. Nine days later, his hip collided with the head of teammate Mario Suárez in a friendly at

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

, causing to the latter a brain injury. He made his competitive debut in the first leg of the 2014 Supercopa de España on 19 August, a 1–1 draw away to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, in which he came on after 64 minutes for fellow debutant Guilherme Siqueira.

Genoa

Ansaldi went on loan to

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

for the 2015–16 season, the loan contract included the buyout option. The transfer was made permanent on 31 May 2016 when the club activated the €4 million clause. On 22 June 2016, Ansaldi agreed on a contract with

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

, under the assumption that

would trigger the buyout option in the loan contract, and sell him on to Inter. However, Genoa did not make the payment to Zenit St. Petersburg by the deadline of 30 June 2016 and the player rights reverted to Zenit, as his Zenit contract was valid until the summer of 2017. Despite this unexpected outcome, Ansaldi still represented Inter against

WSG Wattens Wattener Sportgemeinschaft Tirol (), commonly known as WSG Tirol, is a professional association football club based in the town of Wattens, Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Austria, that competes in the Austrian Football Bundesliga, the top tier of the A ...

on 9 July 2016, the first pre-season friendly. He was included in the pre-season tour in the US. On 29 July, Zenit announced that they finalised the transfer deal with

Inter Milan

On 30 July 2016, Ansaldi joined Inter Milan on a permanent deal from Genoa, with

Diego Laxalt Diego Sebastián Laxalt Suárez (; born 7 February 1993) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Russian Premier League club Dynamo Moscow and the Uruguay national team. For the most of his career, he play ...

moved to opposite direction. He suffered a ligament injury shortly after joining which kept him out for several weeks. Ansaldi played his first game for the team on 29 September 2016 in a 3–1 loss against

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

in the first match of 2016–17 UEFA Europa League Group K. Ansaldi concluded his first Internazionale season by making 26 appearances in all competitions, including 21 in league. He was sent off during the match against

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

, provided his first and only assist in the 2–2 draw at

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. Ansaldi was an unused substitute in Inter's first two

2017–18 Serie A The 2017–18 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 116th season of top-tier Italian football, the 86th in a round-robin tournament and the 8th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

matches before joining Torino on loan.

Torino

On 31 August 2017, Ansaldi joined Torino on a two-year loan deal, with the agreement including an obligation to buy the player permanently. He made his debut for Torino on 20 September 2017, away against

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

, won 3–2. He scored his first goal for the club on 31 March 2018, in a 4–0 win against

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

Parma

On 22 August 2022, Italian

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

club

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

announced the signing of Ansaldi on a permanent deal. On 15 October 2024, in an interview with a media, Ansaldi announced that he had retired from professional football.

International career

Ansaldi was called for

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

on 14 November 2009, for a friendly game against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. In May 2018 he was named in Argentina's 23 man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Rubin Kazan *

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football (soccer), football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Rambler Russian ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

* Russian Cup: 2011–12 Atlético Madrid *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Zenit Saint Petersburg *Russian Super Cup:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Parma *

: 2023–24

References

External links

Guardian statistics
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ansaldi, Cristian 1986 births Living people Footballers from Rosario, Santa Fe Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Men's association football midfielders Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Russia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentina men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Argentine Primera División players Russian Premier League players La Liga players Serie A players Serie B players Newell's Old Boys footballers FC Rubin Kazan players FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players Atlético Madrid footballers Genoa CFC players Inter Milan players Torino FC players Parma Calcio 1913 players Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 2018 FIFA World Cup players 21st-century Argentine sportsmen