Emiliano Ramiro Papa (born 19 April 1982) is an

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 ...

former

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 ...

player, who played 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 ...

Club career

Papa made his debut for

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central () is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on December 24, 1889, by a group of railway workers, taking its name from the Englis ...

in 2002, going on to play over 100 games for the club. In 2006, he moved to Vélez Sársfield. However, after a single season with Vélez he returned to Rosario Central on loan, re-establishing himself in the starting lineup and captaining the team on several occasions. After the season-long loan in Rosario Central ended, Papa returned to Vélez Sársfield and became the team's starter at left-back, relegating

Pablo Lima Pablo Martín Lima Olid (born March 26th 1981 in Montevideo) is a retired Uruguayan football left-back. Club career Danubio Lima made his professional debut in 2001 for Danubio FC. He was an integral part of the Danubio squad that won two le ...

. With Vélez, he won the 2009 Clausura, starting in all the 19 games of the tournament. In May 2010 he extended his contract with Vélez until June 2013. Papa was also a regular starter in Vélez's 2011 Clausura and 2012 Inicial league titles. He also started for Vélez in the 2012–13 Superfinal and

2013 Supercopa Argentina The 2013 Supercopa Argentina Final was the 2nd edition of the Supercopa Argentina, an annual football match contested by the winners of the Primera División and Copa Argentina The Copa Argentina (English: ''Argentine Cup''), officially known as ...

titles. In 2014, the defender played his 300th game for the club (counting both domestic and international competitions), becoming one of the 10 players with most appearances in Vélez' history. In January 2015, Vélez and Papa terminated the defender's contract, by mutual agreement, and he signed a two-year contract with Independiente.

International career

Papa was called up to the Argentina national team for a friendly match against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 19 November 2008, which was

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

's first game and victory as Argentina's manager (1-0).Argentina v. Scotland
. TyC Sports. Retrieved 2010-5-14 Papa was also a starter in Maradona's first defeat coaching Argentina, against

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

(1-6). He played 6 times during Maradona's era, but was left out of the final 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 ...

. Under

Alejandro Sabella Alejandro Javier Sabella (; 5 November 19548 December 2020) was an Argentine football player and manager. Born in Buenos Aires, he began his playing career with River Plate in his home country before moving to England in 1978 to play for Sheffi ...

's coaching, Papa was a starter with Argentina national team in both legs of the first annual

Superclásico de las Américas The Superclassic of the Americas ( pt, Superclássico das Américas, es, Superclásico de las Américas), is an annual friendly football match between the national teams of Argentina and Brazil. Established in 2011 and organized by CONMEBOL, ...

, in Córdoba on 14 September 2011 and in Brazil on 28 September 2011.

International appearances

Honours

;Vélez Sársfield *

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

(4): 2009 Clausura, 2011 Clausura, 2012 Inicial, 2012–13 Superfinal *

Supercopa Argentina The Supercopa Argentina (English: Argentine Super Cup) is an official National association football cup of Argentina organized by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). The annual football match was played for the first time in 2012, being cont ...

(1):

References

External links

* * *
Argentine Primera statistics
at Fútbol XXI {{DEFAULTSORT:Papa, Emiliano 1982 births Living people People from Rosario Department Argentine footballers Argentine people of Italian descent Argentina international footballers Association football fullbacks Association football wingers Argentine Primera División players Rosario Central footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Club Atlético Independiente footballers Club Atlético Tigre footballers Arsenal de Sarandí footballers Sportspeople from Santa Fe Province