Kevin José Rodríguez Cortez (born 4 March 2000) is an Ecuadorian

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

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 Belgian Pro League club

Royale Union Saint-Gilloise Royale Union Saint-Gilloise , abbreviated to Union SG or USG, unofficially simply called Union, is a Belgian football club originally located in the municipality of Saint-Gilles, in Brussels, although since the 1920s it has been based at the Jos ...

and the Ecuador national team.

Club career

Imbabura

Born in Ibarra, Rodríguez joined hometown side Imbabura at the age of 13. He progressed through the youth setup until making his first team debut in 2017, featuring in two matches as his club was relegated from the Serie B. Rodríguez started to feature more regularly in 2018, scoring seven times in the national stage of the Segunda Categoria. After scoring 11 goals overall during the 2019 season, he only scored once in five matches in 2020. In 2021, he only scored twice as his side returned to the second level. Rodríguez became a regular starter for Imbabura in the 2022 Serie B, scoring ten times as his side finished fifth. In the

2022 Copa Ecuador The 2022 Copa Ecuador (officially known as the Copa Ecuador Ecuabet 2022 for sponsorship purposes) was the second edition of the Copa Ecuador, Ecuador's domestic football cup. It began on 6 May 2022 and ended with the single-legged final on 8 Nove ...

, he notably scored the winner to knock out LDU Quito in the round of 16.

Independiente del Valle

On 2 December 2022, Independiente del Valle announced the signing of Rodríguez.

Union Saint-Gilloise

On 1 September 2023, Belgian Pro League club

Union Saint-Gilloise Royale Union Saint-Gilloise , abbreviated to Union SG or USG, unofficially simply called Union, is a Belgian football club originally located in the municipality of Saint-Gilles, in Brussels, although since the 1920s it has been based at the Jo ...

announced the signing of Rodríguez on a 4-year deal, with an option for an additional year. Rodriguez made his debut as a substitute in Union's opening UEFA Europa League group game against Toulouse on 20 September 2023, which Union drew 1-1. Mainly used in his first few months in Belgium as a substitute opposed to being a regular starter, Rodriguez missed a last-minute penalty against

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

on 5 November - Union still held on to win 2-1 - with Rodriguez scoring twice in Union's next game, a 3-0 win over lowly Kortrijk. Rodriguez played in Union's 2-1 win over Liverpool in their final Europa League group game to progress to the knockout stages of the 2023-24 UEFA Conference League.

International career

Rodríguez was called up to the Ecuador national team for the first time in November 2022, as part of a preparation match against Iraq ahead of 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 ...

later that month. He made his debut in the match, which finished as a 0–0 draw, coming on as a substitute in the 63rd minute for

José Cifuentes José Adoni Cifuentes Charcopa (born 12 March 1999) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Scottish Premiership club Rangers and the Ecuador national team. Cifuentes began his club career in Ecuadorian ...

. Two days later, he was included by coach

Gustavo Alfaro Gustavo Julio Alfaro (born 14 August 1962) is an Argentine football manager and former player who manages the Ecuador national football team. Although Alfaro had a short career as a footballer, he was captain of the Atlético de Rafaela, when th ...

in Ecuador's squad for the World Cup. On 12 October 2023, Rodríguez scored his first international goal – a 96th minute winner against

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

in a

2026 FIFA World Cup The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international men's soccer championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in three No ...

qualifier.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Kevin 2000 births Living people Sportspeople from Ibarra, Ecuador Ecuadorian men's footballers Ecuador men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Imbabura S.C. footballers Independiente del Valle footballers Royale Union Saint-Gilloise players Ecuadorian Serie B players Segunda Categoría players 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2024 Copa América players Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium