Diego Fernando Pérez Aguado (; born 18 May 1980), nicknamed ''"Ruso"'' (Spanish for ''"Russian"''), is a Uruguayan 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 ...

who played 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 ...

. He has played 89 matches for the

Uruguay national football team The Uruguay national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Uruguay) represents Uruguay in international Association football, football, and is controlled by the Uruguayan Football Association, the governing body for football in Uruguay. T ...

, including 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 the

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

editions of the

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 ...

Club career

Pérez was born in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. At the age of 19, Pérez joined one of the clubs of his hometown,

Defensor Sporting Defensor Sporting Club is a sports club based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Founded in 1913, Defensor has several sports sections, with football and basketball being the most important and the ones in which the club has achieved significant achievemen ...

, soon becoming a first-team regular. He joined a larger club from Montevideo,

C.A. Peñarol CA or ca may refer to: Businesses and organizations Companies * Air China (IATA airline code CA) * CA Technologies, a U.S. software company * Cayman Airways, a Cayman Islands airline * Channel America, a defunct U.S. television network * Classi ...

, in 2003 but only played 13 games with them before being shipped off to France to play for

Didier Deschamps Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been manager of the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, E ...

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

. During his time at Monaco he had to battle for his place in the defensive midfield spot against

Lucas Bernardi Lucas Ademar Bernardi (born 27 September 1977) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager. He played as a defensive midfielder. Club career Bernardi began his playing career with Newell's Old Boys before joining French team Oly ...

Akis Zikos Andreas Vasilios "Akis" Zikos ( gr, Ανδρέας Βασίλειος "Άκης" Ζήκος; born 1 June 1974) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He was a strong and industrious player, known for his ...

and

Gerard López Gerard López Segú (; born 12 March 1979), usually known as just Gerard, is a Spanish former professional footballer, and a manager. An all-around midfielder, he was known for precision passes and ball control skills. During his career, he pla ...

and was especially favored by the manager

Francesco Guidolin Francesco Guidolin (; born 3 October 1955) is an Italian football manager and former player, most recently the manager of Premier League team Swansea City. He has coached various Italian club sides in Serie A, winning the 1996–97 Coppa Italia ...

during the Italian's reign in the 2005–06 season.

Bologna

On 31 August 2010, he was signed by Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

team

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

for €2.1 million (including 5% solidarity contribution to youth clubs).Bologna FC 1909 Accounts and Report No fee was scheduled to pay on that day, but 2 equal installments was scheduled on 31 December 2010 and 30 June 2011. At Bologna, he has teamed up with fellow Uruguayan internationals,

Henry Damián Giménez Henry may refer to: People * Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portuga ...

Gastón Ramírez Gastón Exequiel Ramírez Pereyra (; born 2 December 1990) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for club Virtus Entella. He had spells in Uruguay with Peñarol and in Italy with Bologna before moving into ...

and

Miguel Britos Miguel Ángel Britos Cabrera (; born 17 July 1985) is a Uruguayan former professional footballer who played as a centre back. Club career Fénix Britos began his professional career playing with Fénix in 2005. After playing the 2005–06 Uru ...

, before this left the squad to join

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Camp ...

. In Pérez first season in the

, Bologna managed 16th place and finished six points clear of relegation, confirming a fourth successive season in the Italian top flight. He also managed three assists during the campaign, tied for most on the team along with

Riccardo Meggiorini Riccardo Meggiorini (born 4 September 1985) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for an amateur side San Giovanni Lupatoto. Club career Early career Meggiorini took his first steps as a footballer at age eight, in a sma ...

. After being without a club for months, Pérez signed a new two-year contract with Bologna in August 2013. He retired at the end of the 2014–2015 season.

International career

Pérez was capped for Uruguay in four successive editions of the

, helping his country lift their 15th South American championship in 2011. He was also selected to

. On 16 July 2011, he scored his first goal for the national team in a match against hosts Argentina in the Copa America quarterfinals, although he was also sent off in the same match. Pérez was back for the final match against

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 ...

, starting in defensive midfield in a 3–0 win.Uruguay light the way
ESPN Soccernet, 25 July 2011

Personal life

His older brother Omar Pérez is also a professional

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, who played for Cerro as a

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 ...

Career statistics

International

:Source:

International goals

Honours

International

;Uruguay *

Winner:

; Third Place:

; Fourth Place:

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 ...

Fourth Place:

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 ...

References

External links

Diego Perez atYahoo! sports
*
Unofficial Diego Perez fan site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Diego 1980 births Living people Footballers from Montevideo Association football midfielders Uruguayan footballers Uruguay under-20 international footballers Uruguay international footballers Uruguayan expatriate footballers Defensor Sporting players Peñarol players AS Monaco FC players Bologna F.C. 1909 players 2001 Copa América players 2004 Copa América players 2007 Copa América players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2011 Copa América players Uruguayan Primera División players Ligue 1 players Serie A players Serie B players Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Monaco Expatriate footballers in Italy Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Italy 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players Copa América-winning players