Juan Rodrigo Rojas Avelar (born 9 April 1988 in
Fernando de la Mora) is a Paraguayan 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 le ...
who plays as a
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
for
Club Olimpia
Club Olimpia is a Paraguayan sports club based in the city of Asunción. The club promotes the practice of various sports with most importance given to the football, rugby and basketball sides, the former being the highest priority and most s ...
.
On 19 July 2015,
Paraguayan newspaper ExtraPRESS named Rojas one of the most expensive player in Paraguay.
Career
Olimpia Asunción
Rojas started his career in the youth divisions of
Olimpia and made his way to the first team in 2007. He became a regular starter for the team in 2009 scoring many goals and having great performances as a midfielder. Due to his good performances for Olimpia he was called up to the national team by
Gerardo Martino
Gerardo Daniel "Tata" Martino (born 20 November 1962) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player.
Martino played mostly for Newell's Old Boys in his native Rosario. He holds the record of appearances with the team playing a ...
. On 11 January 2010,
River Plate signed the
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
an attacking midfielder on loan from
Olimpia. He is a great midfielder with a strong personality and so he was recommended by Martino and
Gregorio Perez
Gregorio is a masculine given name and a surname. It may refer to:
Given name
* Gregorio Conrado Álvarez (1925–2016), Uruguayan army general and de facto President of Uruguay from 1981 until 1985
* Gregorio Álvarez (historian) (1889–1986), ...
.
River Plate
He made his River debut against the all time rival, Boca Juniors. While it was only a friendly pre-season match, Boca played with their usual starters. River, however, gave playing time to mostly youth talent along with veteran captain
Matias Almeyda Matias is a form of the given name Matthew. In German-speaking Europe it is most often written as Matthias. It appears in this form in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Alternate spellings are: Mathias, Mattias, Mattis, Mats and Matti. Matia ...
. Rojas' first half strike from just outside the box opened up what would be a 3–1 win over its archrivals.
O'Higgins
After a brief loan spell with Belgian club
Beerschot, Rojas signed for mid-level Chilean team
O'Higgins, slowly becoming an integral part of the team, being used both as a starter and off the bench in a variety of positions to contribute to the team's play-making and score several key goals. As of 23 April 2012, Rojas had 4 goals in 10 matches played (5 of them as a substitute).
See also
*
Players and Records in Paraguayan Football
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Un regalo para el Jefe
Rodrigo Rojas sorteó con éxito la revisación médica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rojas, Rodrigo
1988 births
Living people
People from Fernando de la Mora, Paraguay
Paraguayan footballers
Paraguayan expatriate footballers
Paraguay international footballers
Cerro Porteño players
Club Olimpia footballers
Club Atlético River Plate footballers
Beerschot A.C. players
O'Higgins F.C. footballers
Universidad de Chile footballers
C.F. Monterrey players
Club Sol de América footballers
Paraguayan Primera División players
Chilean Primera División players
Argentine Primera División players
Belgian Pro League players
Expatriate footballers in Chile
Expatriate footballers in Argentina
Expatriate footballers in Belgium
Expatriate footballers in Mexico
Association football wingers
Copa América Centenario players
2019 Copa América players