Fernando Roberto Hidalgo Maldonado (born May 20, 1985 in

Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...

) is an Ecuadorian

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

Cumbayá Cumbayá is a rural parish of the Metropolitan District of Quito in the Pichincha Province, Ecuador. It is located east of Quito, in the Tumbaco Valley northwest of the Ilaló volcano, in the San Pedro River valley, a tributary of the Guayllab ...

as a midfielder.

Club career

Hidalgo came out of the youth system of

Deportivo Quito Sociedad Deportivo Quito is an Ecuadorian non-professional club football club based in Quito. For most of its existence, it competed in Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. And currently competes in the Seg ...

. Before debuting for the Quito club's professional team, he played one season with Tungurahua in Ambato. He played his first season Deportivo Quito in 2006, where he became a key player for the next two seasons. In 2008, after the request of then manager

Ever Hugo Almeida Ever Hugo Almeida Almada (born 1 July 1948) is a Paraguayan football manager and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He is the current manager of Ecuadorian club El Nacional. Almeida was born in Salto, Uruguay, but became a naturalized ...

, he was signed by Guayaquil-based club Barcelona. However, he saw little starting time under Almeida's guidance. It wasn't until Reinaldo Merlo became the manager of Barcelona did he begin to make an impact and become a starter. He eventually captained the team and earned the nickname ''el Capitán''. In late 2010, he returned to Quito when he signed a five-year contract with

L.D.U. Quito Liga Deportiva Universitaria (), often referred to as Liga de Quito, LDU, is an Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. They play their ho ...

starting in the 2011 season.

International career

Fernando also was included in Ecuador's 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign. In November 2008, he was called up to take action in a friendly against Mexico.

References

External links

Player card on FEF
* 1985 births Living people Ecuadorian footballers Footballers from Quito S.D. Quito footballers Barcelona S.C. footballers L.D.U. Quito footballers S.D. Aucas footballers Ecuadorian Serie A players Ecuadorian Serie B players Ecuador international footballers Association football midfielders {{Ecuador-footy-midfielder-stub