José Pedro Fuenzalida Gana (; born 22 February 1985) is a Chilean

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 currently plays as

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Universidad Católica.

Club career

A product of the Universidad Católica youth set-up, Fuenzalida was promoted to the first-adult team in 2004, at the age of 19. He debuted in a 4–0 defeat with

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional association football, football club based in the Independencia, Chile, Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile. They currently participate in the Chilean Primera Division, Primera D ...

at San Carlos de Apoquindo for a league game, during a moment considered one of the club's biggest sports crises. Similarly, Fuenzalida collated his football career with his studies in

business administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

at the University of the Andes, which he abandoned after a short time. During the winter of 2007, Fuenzalida aged twenty-two decided to take a break as footballer to study commercial engineering at

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (''PUC or UC Chile'') ( es, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) is one of the six Catholic Universities existing in the Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical universities i ...

. After six month studying, he returned to professional football and joined rivals

Colo-Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has played ...

on a four-year deal. Fuenzalida debuted on 13 January 2008 against

Universidad de Concepción Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

and scored his first goal in a 2–1 home win over

Deportes Antofagasta Deportes Antofagasta is a Chilean football club based in the city of Antofagasta currently playing in the Campeonato Nacional. The club's home stadium is the Estadio Bicentenario Calvo y Bascuñán, which has a capacity of 21,178. History The ...

. In June, he joined O'Higgins on loan after an unsuccessful

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

where only scored one goal in seven games. In December 2009, it was reported that Fuenzalida finished his loan spell at O'Higgins and would return to Colo-Colo to face the next season. Seasons later, he helped the team to win the 2014 Torneo Apertura, being a key player in the title obtention which was his first honour playing for the club. On 29 July 2014, Fuenzalida reached a one-and-half year with Argentine powerhouse

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

. Following an unsuccessful spell at Boca, he returned to Universidad Católica in 2016, signing for

Las Condes Las Condes is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. The area is inhabited primarily by upper-mid- to high income families, and known in the Chilean collective consciousness as home to the country's economi ...

-based club as a free agent. He helped the team to win Torneo Clausura.

International career

Fuenzalida has played in the U-20 and U-23 levels of the Chile national team in the

2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship was the 15th edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It took place in the Netherlands between 10 June and 2 July 2005. Venues Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 2005 FIFA Worl ...

and the

2008 Toulon Tournament The 2008 Toulon Tournament was the 36th edition of the Toulon Tournament, and was held from 20 May to 29 May 2008. Tournament finished with the final between Italy and Chile at Stade Mayol in Toulon as Italy had the title after the final score of ...

, respectively. Usually called up by

Marcelo Bielsa Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera (, nicknamed ''El Loco Bielsa'' , meaning "The Crazy Bielsa"; born 21 July 1955) is an Argentine professional football manager who was most recently the head coach of Premier League club Leeds United. He is a forme ...

for the

2010 World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oce ...

, he was chosen by

Jorge Sampaoli Jorge Luis Sampaoli Moya (; born 13 March 1960) is an Argentine football coach who is currently manager for Sevilla of La Liga. Sampaoli started out as a youth player and eventually switched to management after a severe injury. Sampaoli starte ...

in Chile’s list of 23 for

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. In 2015, after being disaffected of the 30-man provisional list for the

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

, he was re-considered by Sampaoli in the definitive list following the withdrawal of the injured

Carlos Carmona Carlos Emilio Carmona Tello (; born 21 February 1987) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Carmona started his career as a centre midfielder in Coquimbo Unido. Two years later he moved to O'Higgins ...

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Chile's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

Universidad Católica *

Primera División de Chile 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 Alí Rafael Primera Rosel ...

(7): 2005–C, 2016–C, 2016–A,

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 ...

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 ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Supercopa de Chile The Supercopa de Chile (''Supercup of Chile'') is an annual one-match football (soccer), football official competition in Chile organised by the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (ANFP). This competition serves as the season opener and ...

(4):

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Colo-Colo *

(1): 2014–C Boca Juniors *

Primera División de Argentina 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 Alí Rafael Primera Rosel ...

(1):

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 ...

Copa Argentina The Copa Argentina (English: ''Argentine Cup''), officially known as the "Copa Argentina AXION energy" due to sponsorship reasons, is an official football cup competition organized by the Argentine Football Association (AFA), with the aim of qual ...

(1): 2014–15

International

(2):

Individual

* Primera División's El Gráfico Golden Ball:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

* SIFUP Best Right Back:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fuenzalida, Jose Pedro 1985 births Living people Footballers from Santiago Chilean footballers Chile international footballers Chile under-20 international footballers Chile youth international footballers Chilean expatriate footballers University of the Andes, Chile alumni Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Colo-Colo footballers O'Higgins F.C. footballers Boca Juniors footballers Chilean Primera División players Argentine Primera División players Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Argentina 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 Copa América players Copa América Centenario players 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2019 Copa América players Copa América-winning players Association football fullbacks Association football wingers People from Santiago Province, Chile