Sebastián Gastón Merlo (born 26 January 1985), also referred to as Đỗ Merlo, is an Argentine 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 lea ...
who played as a
striker.
Career
Merlo was one of the best goalscorers in the
V.League 1
The V.League 1 (), also called LPBank V.League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football league in Vietnam, controlled by the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF). It is contested by 14 clubs who play each ...
, the top tier of Vietnamese football. During his first passage with
SHB Đà Nẵng, he won the league's top scorer award three times in a row from 2009 to 2011. He also won the league's best foreign player award in
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
and
2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
.
After taking a year to recover from a leg injury in his native Argentina, Merlo rejoined
SHB Đà Nẵng in February 2016 and won the
V.League 1
The V.League 1 (), also called LPBank V.League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football league in Vietnam, controlled by the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF). It is contested by 14 clubs who play each ...
top scorer award for the fourth time in his career. In June 2017, he was granted Vietnamese citizenship and got a new name, Đỗ Merlo.
In 2023, Merlo returned to his birth country and signed for
CA Costa Brava and later announced his retirement. However, in May 2024, he resumed his playing career, signing for
LPBank Ho Chi Minh City in the
Vietnamese Second Division
The Vietnamese Football League Second Division () is the third tier professional association football league in Vietnam controlled by the Vietnam Football Federation.
History
A national third tier of Vietnamese association football was first es ...
.
Career statistics
Honours
SHB Đà Nẵng
*
V.League 1
The V.League 1 (), also called LPBank V.League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football league in Vietnam, controlled by the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF). It is contested by 14 clubs who play each ...
:
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
,
2012
2012 was designated as:
*International Year of Cooperatives
*International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
Events January
*January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins.
* January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
; runner-up:
2013
2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years).
2013 was designated as:
*International Year of Water Cooperation
*International Year of Quinoa
Events
January
* January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
*
Vietnamese Super Cup
Vietnamese National Football Super Cup (), also called the Thaco National Football Super Cup due to sponsorship reasons, is Vietnamese football's annual match contested between the champions of the previous V.League 1 season and the holders of th ...
: 2013
*
Vietnamese National Cup
Vietnamese National Football Cup (), commonly recognized and branded as the National Cup (), is a Vietnamese Association football, football competition. It is one of the most important club competitions in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese Cup was first he ...
: 2009
Individual
*
V.League 1
The V.League 1 (), also called LPBank V.League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football league in Vietnam, controlled by the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF). It is contested by 14 clubs who play each ...
Top scorer:
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
,
2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
,
2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
,
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
References
External links
Gastón Merlo Interview(archived 12 July 2020)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merlo, Gaston
1985 births
Living people
Argentine men's footballers
Footballers from Buenos Aires
Men's association football forwards
Primera Nacional players
V.League 1 players
SHB Da Nang FC players
Saigon FC players
Nam Định F.C. players
Ferro Carril Oeste footballers
Argentine expatriate men's footballers
Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Vietnam
Expatriate men's footballers in Vietnam
Naturalized citizens of Vietnam
21st-century Argentine sportsmen