Cristian Miguel Riveros Núñez (born 16 October 1982) is a Paraguayan 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 for
Libertad as a
defensive 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 ...
.
A full international for Paraguay since 2005, he has earned 99 caps for his country, playing at two
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
competitions (
2006
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and
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 ...
) and three
Copa América
The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...
tournaments (
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
,
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
and
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
).
On 19 July 2015,
Paraguayan newspaper ExtraPRESS named Riveros the most expensive player in Paraguay.
Club career
Early career
Riveros started his career with local side
Cristobal Colón in his hometown of
Juan Augusto Saldivar and then moved to other Paraguayan teams such as
San Lorenzo
San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to:
Places Argentina
* San Lorenzo, Santa Fe
* San Lorenzo Department, Chaco
* Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...
and
Tacuary
Tacuary Football Club is a Paraguayan First Division football team, based in the neighborhood of Jara, Asunción. The club was founded in 1923.
Tacuary qualified for the Copa Libertadores tournament twice (in 2005 and 2007) and the Copa Su ...
before playing for
Libertad.
Cruz Azul
On 12 July 2007 he signed for the Mexican club
Cruz Azul
Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...
.
Sunderland
On 11 May 2010, Riveros signed for
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
of the English
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
on a three-year-deal, saying "The league is very competitive and I look forward to being very successful with Sunderland. The Premier League is the best league in the world and Sunderland are a very big club with many passionate supporters. I look forward to meeting them."
He made his Premier League debut on 14 August 2010 as a 63rd-minute substitute for
Steed Malbranque
Steed Claude Malbranque (born 6 January 1980) is a French former professional footballer.
Malbranque started his professional career with Olympique Lyonnais, before moving to England in 2001, where he had spells with Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur an ...
in a 2–2 draw against
Birmingham City
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...
in the opening game of the season. However, Riveros quickly fell out of favour and played just 14 league games for, the club, scoring his only goal on the final day of the season in a 3–0 win over
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
.
Kayserispor
Riveros joined Turkish
Süper Lig
The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...
side
Kayserispor
Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits.
The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fini ...
on 6 July 2011 on a season-long loan from Sunderland, and signed a permanent contract on 1 May 2012.
Grêmio
On 7 June 2013, Riveros joined
Grêmio, signing a two-year contract.
Olimpia Asunción
In January 2015 after long and exhausting negotiations, it was announced that Grêmio and Club Olimpia Asunción had reached an agreement to sign Riveros for the
2015 Paraguayan Primera División season
The 2015 División Profesional season (officially the 2015 Copa TIGO- Visión Banco for sponsorship reasons) is the 81st season of top-flight professional football in Paraguay.
Teams
Stadia and location
Torneo Apertura
The Campeonato de Ape ...
. Riveros was Instrumental for Olimpia to win their 40th Local Championship, for his experience and skills and also for his leadership on and off the pitch.
Libertad
On 7 December 2017, sports news outlet D10 Paraguay announced that Riveros would sign a two-year contract with Libertad, returning to the club after 11 years.
Nacional Asunción
He joined Nacional Asunción for the 2020 season.
Libertad
On 18 January 2022 of
Paraguay's summer transfer window, Riveros officially completed a transfer to Libertad. Anterior to this, Riveros already performed the 2022 pre-season training with Nacional Asunción, however, he joined Libertad for the third time in his career, being at the request of
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
coach
Daniel Garnero. By this way, he was one of three FIFA World Cup players in Libertad's team, being with
Oscar Cardozo and
Roque Santa Cruz
Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero (; born 16 August 1981) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Paraguayan club Club Libertad. He is the record goal scorer and has earned over 100 caps for the Paraguay national team, ...
.
International career
Riveros played in Paraguay's first two matches at the
2006 World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...
and played efficiently on the left wing. He picked up his first international goal for
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
in a 3–2 defeat to Chile. He also played for
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
in the
Copa América 2007
Copa or COPA may refer to:
COPA
COPA may refer to:
* Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI
* Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet
* Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...
.
2010 FIFA World Cup
On 4 May 2010, he was named in Paraguay's preliminary 30-man squad for the
2010 FIFA World Cup
, image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg
, size = 200px
, caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
, and also made the 23-man penultimate selection alongside club team-mate da Silva.
On 20 June 2010 at the World Cup, Riveros scored a second goal in a 2–0 win over
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
, which was set up by former Sunderland defender
Paulo Da Silva
Paulo César da Silva Barrios (born 1 February 1980) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays for 12 de Octubre in Paraguay, as a centre-back.
He has previously played top-flight football in Paraguay, Italy, Argentina, England and ...
.
Riveros scored a penalty in Paraguay's shoot-out win against
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
in the Round of 16 stage, after the match finished goalless after extra time.
Career statistics
Club
International
International goals
:''Scores and results list Paraguay's goal tally first.''
Honours
Club
Libertad
*
Paraguayan Primera División
The División Profesional de la Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol (; "Professional Division of the Paraguayan Football Association"), also known as the Primera División (; "first division"), or due to sponsorship reasons Copa de Primera TIGO-Vis ...
:
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
, 2007
See also
*
List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
In men's association football, a cap is traditionally awarded in international football to a player making an official match appearance for their national team. In total, over 600 players have played in 100 or more international matches. The re ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riveros, Cristian
1982 births
Living people
People from Central Department
Association football midfielders
Paraguayan footballers
Paraguayan expatriate footballers
Paraguay international footballers
Club Tacuary footballers
Club Sportivo San Lorenzo footballers
Club Libertad footballers
Cruz Azul footballers
Sunderland A.F.C. players
Kayserispor footballers
Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players
Club Olimpia footballers
Club Nacional footballers
Paraguayan Primera División players
Premier League players
Süper Lig players
Liga MX players
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players
Expatriate footballers in Mexico
Expatriate footballers in England
Expatriate footballers in Turkey
Expatriate footballers in Brazil
Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico
Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in England
Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey
Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Brazil
2006 FIFA World Cup players
2010 FIFA World Cup players
2007 Copa América players
2011 Copa América players
FIFA Century Club