Leandro Damián Cufré (born 9 May 1978) is an Argentine football coach and former player who played as a defender. As of 2021, he has been the assistant coach of the

Venezuela national football team The Venezuela national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Venezuela) represents Venezuela in men's international football and is controlled by the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF), the governing body for football in Venezuela. ...

. Cufré started his professional playing career with hometown side

Gimnasia La Plata Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata (; ''La Plata Gymnastics and Fencing Club''), also known simply as Gimnasia, is an Argentine professional sports club based in the city of La Plata, Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1887 as "Club de Gimnasia ...

before transferring to Europe where he played with a number of European clubs, most notably

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council * Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word ...

and

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinam ...

. In the latter part of his career, he moved to Mexico where he played with primarily

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...

. Cufre has been capped 17 times for the

Argentina national football team The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in men's international football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body for football in Argentina. Nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' ('The White and ...

and was part of the country's squad for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from ...

, Argentina, Cufré began his professional career at Gimnasia La Plata U-19 before being promoted to the first-team squad in January 1996. He went on to play 129 games, scoring four goals in the progress.

Roma

Cufré moved to

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

in January 2002. During his time at the Italia

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

side, he played 80 games, scored two goals and received the award for ''Best Defender in Italy''. He was also loaned out to fellow Italian side

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

, where he played 35 times.

Monaco

Cufré moved to France in Summer 2006, joining

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

side

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fren ...

During his time at the club, he made 61 appearances and managed to score three goals. Cufré was a regular starter and, eventually, vice-captain of the team.

Hertha BSC

On 29 January 2009,

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

side

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

announced that they had loaned Cufré from Monaco until the end of the 2008–09 season. He returned to Monaco in June 2009.

Gimnasia La Plata

On 18 July 2009, Cufré returned to

after eight years in Europe. On 16 August 2009, after a mini "soap opera," the Argentine wingback asked for – and was granted – his release due to a conflictive relation with

Leonardo Madelón Leonardo Carol Madelón (born 25 January 1963) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current manager of Central Córdoba de Santiago del Estero. Career Madelón played club football for San Lo ...

, the head coach at the time (though, personal reasons were officially cited).

Dinamo Zagreb

On 19 August 2009, he officially signed a contract with Croatian champions

who had reportedly been persuading him to join the club since the summer transfer window opened. Cufré became a favourite with the Dinamo fans because of his commitment on the pitch. He played in many important matches for Dinamo. In 2011, he was linked with a transfer to

Crvena Zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in B ...

(Red Star Belgrade) but the deal fell through. Cufre played in 53 matches for Dinamo. On 5 December Cufré and Dinamo agreed mutual termination of contract. Argentinian stated that he would be continuing his career in Mexico.

Club Atlas

On 7 December 2011, same day he officially terminated his contract with Dinamo Zagreb, it was revealed that Cufré would be joining Mexican

Club Atlas Atlas Fútbol Club () is a Mexican professional football club based in Guadalajara, Jalisco that currently plays in Liga MX. It plays home matches at the Estadio Jalisco. Founded in 1916, Atlas has won three league titles and four domestic ...

from Guadalajara.

International career

Leandro Cufré has earned 17 caps for

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

, his first appearance coming in 2000. He was part of the Argentina Under-20 team that won the

1997 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 in Malaysia. It was t ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. Cufré was also a member of the Argentina squad for the

in Germany. On 30 June 2006, Cufré was red carded for violent conduct in an altercation following Argentina's loss on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * P ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

in a quarter-final match. Germany's

Per Mertesacker Per Mertesacker (; born 29 September 1984) is a German football coach and former professional player who played as a centre back. He is the current manager of the Arsenal Academy. Mertesacker began his senior career after being promoted from th ...

said Cufré, an unused substitute in the match, "attacked me even though I did not do anything. I have three or four red marks on my thigh and then he kicked me again in the groin." FIFA president

Sepp Blatter Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result o ...

said "I am furious about that and our disciplinary committee will monitor this incident. We will take some steps towards those who are identified as being the 'provocateurs' of this incident." FIFA fined Cufré

CHF CHF may refer to: Organizations * Chemical Heritage Foundation, former name of the Science History Institute, an institution that preserves and promotes understanding of the history of science * Chi Heng Foundation, a Hong Kong-based non-governme ...

10,000 and suspended him for four matches.

Honours

Dinamo Zagreb *

Croatian First League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva ...

: 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup *Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup The Croatian Handball Cup ( hr, Hrvatski rukometni ku ...

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cufre, Leandro 1978 births Living people Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentina men's youth international footballers Argentina men's under-20 international footballers Argentina men's international footballers Men's association football central defenders Footballers from La Plata AS Roma players ACR Siena 1904 players Atlas F.C. footballers AS Monaco FC players Hertha BSC players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players Serie A players Ligue 1 players Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players Bundesliga players Croatian Football League players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Germany Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Atlas F.C. managers Argentine football managers