Franco Acosta Machado (5 March 1996 – 6 March 2021) was a Uruguayan 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 striker.

Club career

Born in Montevideo, Acosta joined

Centro Atlético Fénix Centro Atlético Fénix is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The football team currently plays in Primera División. Fénix is one of the most popular and traditional teams of Uruguay's 2nd Division, along with Racing Club de Montev ...

's youth setup in 2009, aged 13. On 23 November 2013, he made his first team debut, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 home loss against

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

for the Primera División championship. Acosta scored his first professional goal on 16 February 2014, netting the second in a 3–0 away win against

Racing Club de Montevideo Racing Club de Montevideo is a football club from Montevideo in Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to i ...

. On 1 July he agreed to a deal with

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese ...

, but returned to Fénix in September. Acosta was eventually included in the main squad and appeared in eight matches, scoring once. On 19 January 2015, he signed a -year contract with

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, ...

, being assigned to the reserves in Segunda División B. On 15 January 2018, Acosta joined Segunda División B team

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league syst ...

on loan until the end of the season. Acosta was then loaned out to

Plaza Colonia Club Plaza Colonia de Deportes, or simply Plaza Colonia, is a Uruguayan professional football club from Colonia del Sacramento, that competes in the Uruguayan Primera Division. Founded in 1917, the club plays its home games at the 3,000 seater ...

for the 2019 season. He left Villarreal at the end of 2019 and remained without a club until 10 August 2020, when he signed with

Atenas de San Carlos Club Atlético Atenas de San Carlos is a football club from San Carlos, Maldonado in Uruguay. They currently play in the Uruguayan Segunda División. History Atenas played two seasons in the Uruguayan Primera División, 2009–10 and 2014–1 ...

Death

On 6 March 2021, a day after his 25th birthday, Acosta disappeared after trying with his brother to swim across the

Arroyo Pando Pando Creek ( es, Arroyo Pando) is a Uruguayan stream, crossing Canelones Department. It flows into the Río de la Plata. Its name derives from the nearby city of Pando. See also *List of rivers of Uruguay This is a list of rivers in Uruguay. ...

, located in the Department of Canelones, Uruguay. Two days later, on 8 March 2021, his body was found, and was declared dead at the scene.

References

External links

Villarreal official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Acosta, Franco 1996 births 2021 deaths Footballers from Montevideo Uruguayan men's footballers Men's association football forwards Uruguayan Primera División players Segunda División B players Club Plaza Colonia de Deportes players Centro Atlético Fénix players Racing de Santander players Villarreal CF B players Atenas de San Carlos players Uruguay men's youth international footballers Uruguay men's under-20 international footballers Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain