Manuel Alejandro Neira Díaz (born 12 October 1977) is a retired

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an football player who played as a striker. He played for clubs including

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 pla ...

(Chile),

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at t ...

(Spain), Racing Club (Argentina) and

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional football club based in the Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile. They currently participate in the Primera División de Chile. It has a branch of women's football, and competes ...

(Chile), and scored 2 goals in 13 internationals, including selections for the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the

2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil were the defending champions wh ...

Club career

Early career

Neira began his career, aged seventeen, at Primera División Chilena club

before moving to the Brazilian club São Paulo FC in 1994, after a notable performance at the 1993 FIFA U-17 World Championships. In the next season, Neira return to Colo-Colo, but in 1996 Neira was loaned to

Everton de Viña del Mar Everton de Viña del Mar is a Chilean football club based in the city of Viña del Mar. The club was founded 24 June 1909 after a group of Anglo-Chilean teenagers formed a football club and named it after the English team Everton who had re ...

of the Primera B in this time. From 1997 to 1998, Neira was consolidated as player in Colo-Colo, winning the Primera División Chilena title in two consecutive occasions, the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and 1998 season. In December 1998, Colo-Colo sold Neira to the Spanish club

. However, he was loaned back to Colo-Colo for one season. When Neira returned to the club, he proclaimed champion of the

1999–2000 Segunda División The 1999–2000 Segunda División was the 69th edition since the establishment of the competition. 22 teams participated in the league. The teams that promoted to La Liga were UD Las Palmas, Osasuna and Villarreal CF. The teams that relegated to ...

title. Neira was transferred to an Argentine "giant club"

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club de Avellaneda, officially known as Racing Club or shortened to just Racing, is an Argentine professional sports club based in Avellaneda, a city of the Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1903, Racing has been historically considered o ...

for the 2000–01 season. In the Torneo Apertura 2000, Neira only scored 2 goals in 9 games. During the summer of 2001, Neira was transferred to

, where he made a notable performance scoring 11 goals in 17 games, being one of the top-scorer of the Torneo Apertura. In June 2001, Neira was signed by the Colombian club América de Cali.

Colo-Colo

In January 2002, Neira was once again transferred to Colo-Colo. He obtained the runner–up title with the club in the Torneo Apertura, after Colo–Colo's 3–0 defeat against

Cobreloa Club de Deportes Cobreloa S.A.D.P. (), commonly referred to as Cobreloa, is a Chilean football professional club based in Calama, Región de Antofagasta, Chile. That competes in the Primera B. The club's home ground is the Estadio Zorros del ...

in the final. But in the Torneo Clausura of the same year, Neira made one of his most notable season in his career, winning the top–scorer title with 14 goals, and also winning the Primera Division title, after of win to Universidad Católica in the finals. In the next season, the team lost twice in the same year the final against Cobreloa. However, Neira scored 21 goals in 42 matches over the season. There were many rumors that he would be transferred to Europe, which did not materialize. He played the Torneo Apertura 2004 scoring 1 goal in 16 matches. In June 2004, he was transferred to the Mexican club Chiapas. He remained there for one season in and then was transferred to

for second time in his career.

Unión Española

With Unión, Neira won the Torneo Apertura 2005 title, after of the victory against

Coquimbo Unido Coquimbo Unido is a Chilean football club based in the city of Coquimbo. The club was founded August 30, 1958 and will play in the Chilean Primera División on 2022. Their home games are played at the Estadio Municipal Francisco Sánchez Rumoroso ...

for 2–1. In the next season (2006), Neira scored 19 goals in 29 matches. In December 2006, he was released of Unión and he received many offers for several clubs. In January 2007, he agreed upon moving to

Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. Hapoel Tel Aviv Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל הפועל תל אביב , ''Moadon Kaduregel Hapoel Tel Aviv)'' is an Israeli football club based in Tel Aviv that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The club's traditional hom ...

on a one-year deal with the club until December 2007, refusing an offer from

in this time. In his second game for the team, in the Channel One Cup, he was injured severely by

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet era, it was a central piece of the big So ...

player

Elvir Rahimić Elvir Rahimić (born 4 April 1976) is a Bosnian football coach and former professional player who spent the majority of his career playing for Russian Premier League club CSKA Moscow. He is currently a coach for the Bosnia and Herzegovina nation ...

. Neira suffered two fractures in his ankle, and had to sit out for the rest of the season before he even played a single league game for

Hapoel Hapoel ( he, הפועל, lit. ''the worker'') is an Israeli Jewish sports association established in 1926 by the Histadrut Labor Federation. History During the British Mandate of Palestine period Hapoel had a bitter rivalry with Maccabi and org ...

. For the Torneo Clausura 2007, Neira return to Unión, after of Neira was released of the club. He made his Unión re–debut against Everton at Sausalito Stadium, in a 0–0 draw. He scored his first goal in his third cycle in the club against his former club Colo–Colo, in a 2–2 draw. Finally, Neira scored 9 goals in 19 matches for the tournament. In December 2007, he tried his luck at the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matche ...

, Neira only trained with them for a couple of weeks, but was not liked by the coach, and returned to Unión Española. During 2008, in the Torneo Apertura 2008, he scored 3 goals in 12 matches. In the Torneo de Clausura 2008 he became a key player of the club, scoring 6 goals in 15 matches. However, the club ended up in the relegation/promotion play-offs. Neira helped the team by scoring 2 goals in 2 matches against

Deportes Puerto Montt Club Deportes Puerto Montt is a Chilean football club based in the city of Puerto Montt, Los Lagos Region. The club was founded on May 6, 1983, and currently plays in the Primera B de Chile, the second division of the country. Their home games ar ...

to save them from relegation.

International career

The first international appearance with

Chile national football team Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

was in the FIFA U-17 World Championship 1993 celebrated in Japan. In this tournament he was one of top–scorers of the tournament with Peter Anosike and

Nwankwo Kanu Nwankwo Kanu (born 1 August 1976) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was a member of the Nigeria national team, and played for Nigerian team Iwuanyanwu Nationale, Dutch side Ajax, Inter Milan of Italy, ...

with 5 goals under

Wilson Oruma Wilson Oruma (born 30 December 1976) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career in France. Club career Oruma was born in Warri, Nigeria. He arrived at RC Lens from Bendel Insurance in ...

with 6 goals winning the third place of the tournament. He participate in the Chile national under-20 football team, he played in the South American Youth Championship in the years 1995 and 1997. He was selected for the 1998 FIFA World Cup Chilean squad, but did not play. Prior to this, he played for Chile B against England B on February 10, 1998. Chile won by 2-1 and Neira scored the two goals.

International goals

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

Honours

Club

;Colo-Colo *

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 ...

(3): 1997 Clausura,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, 2002 Clausura ;Unión Española *

(1): 2005 Apertura

Individual

* Primera División de Chile Top-scorer (1): 2002 Clausura

References

External links