Héctor Daniel "Tito" Villalba (born 26 July 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

team

Club Libertad Club Libertad is a professional association football, football club based in Asunción, Paraguay that currently plays in the Paraguayan Primera División. The club plays its home games at Estadio Tigo La Huerta; which holds 10,100 people. Fo ...

. Born in Argentina, he represents Paraguay internationally.

Club career

Villalba was born on 26 July 1994 and lived almost to maturity in the Villa 1–11–14. He arrived in

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

when he was 10, and was chosen after a test in which 500 boys were selected to start a path to professionalism. He confessed to being a fan of

, and went through all the lower levels at the club. On 18 August 2012, he made his debut in the Primera Division Argentina, against

Estudiantes de La Plata Club Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "Students from La Plata"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata , is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, wh ...

, when he entered in the 37th minute of the second half replacing Luis Aguiar, with

Ricardo Caruso Lombardi Ricardo Daniel Caruso Lombardi (born 10 February 1962 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine football manager, currently in charge of Deportivo Español, and former footballer. He is best known for saving teams from being relegated to second division. ...

as team manager. On 22 July 2016, Villaba signed as a young Designated Player with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

side Atlanta United. He joined

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

side Tijuana on loan on 28 July 2016, but struggled to make many appearances for the club due to injury. On 31 January 2020, Villaba was transferred to Paraguayan Primera División side

for an undisclosed fee.

International career

Despite being born in Argentina, Héctor is also eligible to represent Paraguay because his father was born there. On 5 September 2018 Villalba made the one-time switch to Paraguay in hopes of making the squad for the

2019 Copa América The 2019 Copa América was the 46th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. It was held in Brazil and took place between 14 June and 7 ...

and the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

. On 25 September 2018 Villalba was called up to Paraguay along with fellow club teammate Miguel Almirón for a national team camp despite not scheduling any friendlies. He made his competitive debut with Paraguay on 20 November as a substitute in the second half of the friendly match against South Africa.

Career statistics

Club

International

Personal life

He can speak Guarani, an indigenous language spoken in Paraguay. In January 2018, Villalba earned a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Honours

Club

San Lorenzo *

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 ...

: 2013 Inicial *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

* Supercopa Argentina:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Atlanta United * MLS Cup:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

* Eastern Conference (playoffs):

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Campeones Cup The Campeones Cup is an annual North American association football match contested between the winners of the previous MLS Cup from Major League Soccer and the winners of the Campeón de Campeones from Liga MX. The competition was established by ...

Libertad * Paraguayan Primera División: 2021 Apertura, 2022 Apertura, 2023 Apertura, 2023 Clausura *

Copa Paraguay The Copa Paraguay is a knockout football competition in men's domestic Paraguayan football, starting in 2018 and succeeding the defunct Torneo República. The project for its creation was officially presented in December 2017 and approved by the P ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

* Supercopa Paraguay:

Individual

MLS Goal of the Year Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canad ...

: 2017

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Villalba, Hector 1994 births Living people Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine sportspeople of Paraguayan descent Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Paraguayan men's footballers Paraguayan expatriate men's footballers Paraguay men's international footballers Men's association football forwards San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Atlanta United FC players Club Tijuana footballers Club Libertad footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Argentine Primera División players Copa Libertadores-winning players Liga MX players Major League Soccer players Designated Players (MLS)