Cristián Daniel Gutiérrez Zúñiga (born 18 February 1997) is a professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

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

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

. Born in Canada, he previously represented Chile at the U20 level, but filed his FIFA one-time switch in 2021 to switch allegiances to Canada.

Early life

Gutiérrez was born in

Greenfield Park, Quebec Greenfield Park is a former city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is currently a borough of the city of Longueuil. It covers an area of , with a population of 16,733 at the 2016 census of Canada. Greenfield Park is the only borough of Longueu ...

in Canada and moved to

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated Regions of Chile, region, t ...

with his family when he was four. He began playing soccer at age five with the youth system of

Colo-Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has played ...

. In 2013, he won the U17 title with Colo-Colo.

Club career

He began his senior career with Colo-Colo B in 2013 in the

Segunda División Profesional de Chile Segunda División Profesional del Fútbol Profesional Chileno ( en, Second Professional Division of Chilean Professional Football) is the third level of Chilean football Chilean football league system, since the season 2012, is organized by the ...

. Gutiérrez made his professional debut with

in a 3–1

Copa Chile The Copa Chile (''Chile Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Chilean football teams. Due to time constraints and club pressure, the trophy was cancelled in 2000, but returned in 2008. Its precursor was the Campeonato de Apertura (''Opening Ch ...

home win over Deportes Concepción on 1 March 2015. In November 2015, he signed a professional contract with the club through 2019. After being a consistent first team player, he was part of the 2015 Torneo Apertura winning team. After being demoted back to the Colo-Colo youth teams, in February 2017, he went on loan to fellow Chilean side

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional association football, football club based in the Independencia, Chile, Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile. They currently participate in the Chilean Primera Division, Primera D ...

. In August 2017, Gutiérrez was loaned to

Huachipato Club Deportivo Huachipato is a Chilean football club based in Talcahuano that is a current member of the Chilean Primera División. The club was founded 7 June 1947 and plays its home games at the Estadio CAP, which has a capacity of 10,500 ...

. In March 2019, his loan was terminated early for him to return to Colo-Colo. He departed the club upon the expiry of his contract in December 2019, after not having his contract renewed. In January 2020, he joined

club

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

on a two-year contract with an additional two option years. He made his debut during the

MLS is Back Tournament The MLS is Back Tournament took place during the 2020 Major League Soccer season to mark the league's return to action after being suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 26 Major League Soccer teams, 24 participated in the tour ...

on 19 July against

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

. He became a regular fixture for the club in his first couple of seasons, despite initially arriving as a back up. Between the final matches of the 2020 season and the beginning of the 2021 season, he set the club MLS record for longest assist streak by a defender. With the club, he won the

2022 Canadian Championship The 2022 Canadian Championship was the fifteenth edition of Canada's national soccer cup tournament, awarding the Voyageurs Cup. It took place from May 10 to July 26, 2022. The winners of the tournament, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, were awarded th ...

. In March 2023, he was claimed off waivers by

. In May 2023, he was loaned to the second team

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, who play in MLS Next Pro, a third tier league of the United States soccer league system. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of Toronto FC as well as i ...

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro is a men's professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer. It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and will expand to 28 in 2023. The league comprises 27 reserve sides for MLS club ...

, where he appeared in their match on May 15 against

New England Revolution II New England Revolution II is a professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in the MLS Next Pro, the third division of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of the Major League Soccer c ...

, which was his first match action after returning from an illness that kept him out since his arrival to Toronto. He made his first team debut on June 21 against

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The ...

International career

Gutiérrez was eligible to represent both Canada and Chile. In 2015, he was named to the

Chile U20 Chile national under-20 football team, also known as Chile Sub-20 or La Rojita, is part of the Federación de Fútbol de Chile. The U-20 team is considered to be the breeding ground for future Chile national football team pla ...

team for the L'Alcúdia Tournament, helping them win the title. He then subsequently represented the squad at the

2017 South American U-20 Championship The 2017 South American Youth Football Championship es, ''Campeonato Sudamericano Sub-20 ''Juventud de América'' Ecuador 2017'', italic=unset, pt, ''Campeonato Sul-Americano Sub-20 ''Juventude da América'' Equador 2017'', italic=unset, region=B ...

. After previously rejecting calls from the Canada national team, as he had been waiting for additional opportunities with Chile, in 2020, Gutiérrez filed his FIFA one-time switch to switch his representation from Chile to Canada. He was called up to the Canada national team for the first time, for a training camp in January 2021. In March 2021, he was called up ahead of matches in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification cycle. After initially being unselected for the

2021 Gold Cup The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 16th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was originally scheduled t ...

, he was later named as an injury replacement for

Alphonso Davies Alphonso Boyle Davies (born November 2, 2000) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a left-back or winger for club Bayern Munich and the Canada national team. He is regarded as one of the best full-backs in the world due to hi ...

, but would not travel to the Gold Cup and would remain with the MLS club, unless needed by Canada. However, despite regularly being called up for World Cup qualifying, he did not make his debut featuring on the bench six times, and was not ultimately selected to the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

squad.

Personal life

His twin brother

Diego Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. Et ...

is also a professional soccer player.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gutierrez, Cristian 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Longueuil Chilean men's footballers Chile men's under-20 international footballers Canadian men's soccer players Canadian people of Chilean descent Sportspeople of Chilean descent Colo-Colo B footballers Colo-Colo footballers Unión Española footballers Huachipato FC footballers Segunda División Profesional de Chile players Chilean Primera División players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Whitecaps FC 2 players Major League Soccer players MLS Next Pro players Chilean expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Men's association football fullbacks Canadian twins Chilean twins Twin sportspeople Toronto FC players Toronto FC II players