Luis Fernando Saritama Padilla (born October 20, 1983) is an

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

ian former

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 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese descent who last played for Independiente Juniors.

International career

Saritama is an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

and has been selected in the Ecuador national team 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 the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He has played in every Ecuador youth national team and has captained various of those teams, where he displayed fine passing and playmaking ability. Luis Fernando made his international debut against

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

in 2003. In 2006, he played against Brazil in Sweden, Mexico in Oakland, and U.S in Tampa Bay.

Club career

Alianza Lima

In 2004, he had a brief stint in the Peruvian first division with

Alianza Lima Club Alianza Lima, popularly known as Alianza Lima or simply Alianza, is a Peruvian professional sports club based in La Victoria District of Lima, Peru. It is widely known for having one of the most historical and successful football teams i ...

, along with fellow

ian footballer, Johnny Baldeon. Together, they both played key roles in Alianza's championship run all the way to the finals and became the Clausura champions. In 2007, he made his return to the team and he stayed there until the end of the year.

Deportivo Quito

But as soon as he helped Alianza lift the trophy, he returned to Deportivo Quito, along with Baldeon. Despite being just 22, he was the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of Deportivo Quito, his only ever club team in his native Ecuador. It was during this period that he was used more regularly for his national side, and it became clear that

coach

Luis Fernando Suarez Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

intended on bringing him to Germany 06. In December 2008, he helped Quito win their third title in history.

UANL Tigres and Club América

Saritama was signed on July 25, 2006, right after the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

Tigres UANL Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, simply known as Tigres UANL or Tigres, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Nicolás de los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León. Foun ...

, the same club where

Ivan Hurtado Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

, Ecuador's evergreen captain, played while in the Mexican league. There he was one of the most popular players in that club, he suffered a horrible season as Tigres were last in their group and constantly conceding large numbers of goals. He scored a few goals during that period, but it became clear that the Tigres coach

Mario Carrillo José Mario Carrillo Zamudio (born 1 February 1956) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager, and a commentator for television sports channel ESPN Deportes. He also assisted head coach Javier Aguirre with the Mexico national te ...

, who succeeded

Luis Fernando Tena Luis Fernando Tena Garduño (born 20 January 1958) is a Mexican professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the Guatemala national team. Coaching career After retiring as a player, Tena began his coaching career in ...

after several terrible performances, did not intend to fit him into the team plans. He was then transferred to

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

ancient

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América or simply América, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

during the winter transfer window, mainly to reinforce the team for its

Copa Libertadores 2007 The 2007 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2007 Copa Toyota Libertadores de América for sponsorship reasons) was the 48th edition of the Copa Libertadores. It started on January 24, 2007 and finished on June 20, 2007. It was won by ...

action. His contract, which was to tie him to the

Estadio Azteca Estadio Azteca () is a multi-purpose stadium located in Mexico City. It is the official home of football clubs Club América and Cruz Azul as well as the Mexico national football team. The stadium sits at an altitude of above sea level. Wit ...

for four years, specified that he was only to participate in

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 ...

games, but the

club later allowed him to play in official

Primera División de México The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional Association football, football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and amo ...

matches. He scored a goal in January 2007 during his debut with América against

vian club

Sporting Cristal Club Sporting Cristal S.A. is a Peruvian sports club located in the city of Lima, best known for its association football, football team. It was founded on 13 December 1955 in the Rímac District, Rímac district by engineer Richard Bentín Mujica ...

in the first round of Copa Libertadores. However, after six months spent with the old club, it was clear he was not producing any positive results, and they loaned him to

vian traditional powers

. His season with Alianza was impressive enough, and he was loaned out again by América, this time back to the club of his beginnings, Deportivo Quito.

LDU Quito

2013

Saritama was presented as a new player for

LDU Quito Liga Deportiva Universitaria (), often referred to as Liga de Quito, LDU, is an Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. They play their ho ...

on January 3, 2013, with a three-year contract. His official debut with LDU Quito came on January 23, in a 1-0

2013 Copa Libertadores The 2013 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2013 Copa Bridgestone Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) was the 54th edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier international club football tournament organiz ...

home win play-off match against Gremio. After 11 league matches played, on April 14, Saritama scored his first goal with LDU Quito in a 3–0 away win against Macara.

Barcelona

2014

On February 11, 2014, it was confirmed that Saritama would join Ecuadorian giants

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

on loan for 1 year.

Return to Deportivo Quito

After unsuccessful runs with LDU Quito and Barcelona, It was confirmed on March 2, 2015, that Saritama would return to his first club

Deportivo Quito Sociedad Deportivo Quito is an Ecuadorian non-professional club football club based in Quito. For most of its existence, it competed in Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. And currently competes in the Seg ...

Independiente Juniors

On 17 January 2019, Saritama joined Independiente Juniors.Luis Saritama es nuevo jugador del Independiente Juniors
benditofutbol.com, 17 January 2019

Honours

Club

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 Coppa ...

(3):

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

References

External links

Football Database Provides Profile and Stats for Luis Fernando Saritama
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saritama, Luis 1983 births Living people People from Loja, Ecuador Ecuadorian people of Japanese descent Association football midfielders Ecuadorian footballers Ecuador international footballers 2004 Copa América players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players S.D. Quito footballers Club Alianza Lima footballers Tigres UANL footballers Club América footballers L.D.U. Quito footballers Barcelona S.C. footballers C.D. Cuenca footballers Ecuadorian Serie A players Peruvian Primera División players Liga MX players Ecuadorian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Peru