Cristian Arrieta (born September 18, 1979, in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

) is a retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er and active coach. Born in the United States and of Spanish and Italian heritage, Arrieta initially began playing soccer in Italy with various clubs in the lower divisions. In 2008, he returned to North America to sign with the Puerto Rico Islanders of the USL First Division. Under the guidance of Colin Clarke, Arrieta rose to prominence as one of the league's most consistent defenders. He was a pivotal factor in bringing the Islanders to a higher level of prestige among the league. He assisted the club by claiming their first regular-season championship, as well as reaching the playoff finals. His performances in the

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

provided Puerto Rico with stunning results over regional powerhouses, and helped the club reach the semi-finals of the tournament. In February 2010 he was ranked 14th in the USL First Division Top 25 of the Decade, which announced a list of the best and most influential players of the previous decade. That same year he gained his first cap for the Puerto Rico national team, and gained a total of 22 up to his retirement as a player in 2015.

Club career

Europe

Born in Florida to a Basque-Spanish father and an Italian mother from Salento, Arrieta grew up in Bilbao, Spain and Borgomanero in Italy. He spent much of his early career playing in the Italian lower divisions, and has over 120 appearances for clubs such as Varese, Mestre, Ivrea and

Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandria ...

Serie C2 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...

, also taking part to the Italian reality show '' Campioni, il sogno'' (Champions, the dream), centered around the football club

Cervia Cervia ( rgn, Zirvia) is a seaside resort town in the province of Ravenna, located in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Cervia is a major seaside resort in Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Its population was 28,700 at the 2018 census. ...

. In 2005, he signed with Lecco in

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1 ...

, and then for

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

in Serie B in 2006, the highest level of soccer he attained in his homeland. Then he made 7 appearances for Lecce.

North America

Arrieta went abroad to Puerto Rico in 2008, and signed with the Puerto Rico Islanders in the USL First Division. Arrieta would prove to become a valuable asset to the club, by guiding the Islanders to a string of success. One notable match he appeared in was against the Rochester Rhinos, where the game concluded to a score of 4–0 in favor of the Islanders. It was a memorable match due to the fact it placed the club at the top of the standings for the first time in club history. Arrieta managed to assist the club in remaining at the top of the standings and on September 19, won the club's first Commissioners Cup which clinched first place in the league's regular season standings. He contributed by establishing a solid backline that would post the best defensive performance in the league. Arrieta also managed an astonishing offensive record for a defender with seven goals and two assists, ranking him ninth in goals. On October 11, 2008, he received the ''Defender of the Year award'' and as well was selected into the USL First Division All-League First Team. In the club's playoff run, he led the Islanders to the USL 1 Division final only to be defeated by the Vancouver Whitecaps by a score of 2–1. He also led the Islanders to the knockout stages of the

. During the 2009 season, Arrieta enjoyed another career high season. He concluded the season with 10 goals and five assists, which placed him in fourth in goals. He helped lead the club back to the playoffs with a third-place finish, and for the second consecutive year he earned an All-League selection. On October 15, 2009, Arrieta was once again awarded the Defender of the Year award, becoming the third player in USL history to win the award twice in a row. On the same night he earned the ''Most Valuable Player award'', thus becoming only the second defender to earn the honor, with Marcelo Balboa being the first in 1988. Arrieta signed with

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

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

on April 5, 2010. He was waived by Philadelphia on February 8, 2011. He signed with Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the North American Soccer League on March 31, 2011. Arrieta was let go by the club at the end of the season.

International career

Arrieta was called up to the Puerto Rico national team in September 2010. As a United States citizen he is eligible to the team after residing in the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

for two years while playing with the Puerto Rico Islanders. He got his first cap in a

2010 Caribbean Championship The 2010 Caribbean Cup (also known as Digicel Caribbean Cup 2010 for sponsorship reasons) was the 2010 edition of the Caribbean Championship, an international football championship for national teams affiliated with the Caribbean Football Unio ...

qualification stage match against Anguilla on October 2, 2010, and scored his first goal in the same competition against

Saint Martin Saint Martin may refer to: People * Saint Martin of Tours (c. 316–397), Bishop of Tours, France * Saint Martin of Braga (c. 520–580), archbishop of Bracara Augusta in Gallaecia (now Braga in Portugal) * Pope Martin I (598–655) * Saint Mart ...

two days later.

Coaching career

Between August 2013 and June 2014, Arrieta worked as a trainer for Massapequa Soccer Club in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

.Cristian Arrieta at Linkedin
linkedin.com In the following season, he was the head coach of LIAC New York's U19s and also as a trainer at Oceanside United. In April 2015, Arrietta was added to the coaching staff of ISTEP (Italian Soccer Training Exchange Program).

Personal life

Arrieta was the winner of the Italian football reality show ''Campioni, il Sogno'', after which he was granted a trial with Serie A side Internazionale.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Puerto Rico's goal tally first.''

Honors

Club

Puerto Rico Islanders * USL First Division Championship runners-up:

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

* Commissioner's Cup:

CFU Club Championship The Caribbean Club Championship, also known as the CFU Club Championship or CFU Club Champions' Cup, was an annual international football competition held amongst association football clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). ...

runner-up:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Individual

* USL First Division MVP:

* USL First Division Defender of the Year:

References

External links

Puerto Rico Islanders bioLecce bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arrieta, Cristian 1979 births Living people American soccer players Puerto Rican footballers Italian footballers People of Campanian descent American people of Italian descent American people of Basque descent Puerto Rican people of Basque descent Puerto Rican people of Spanish descent Puerto Rican people of Italian descent Puerto Rico men's international footballers USL First Division players Puerto Rico Islanders players Philadelphia Union players A.S.D. Calcio Ivrea players Calcio Lecco 1912 players US Lecce players Fort Lauderdale Strikers players Serie B players Major League Soccer players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players F.A. Euro players USL League Two players Soccer players from Orlando, Florida Men's association football defenders