Marcelo Alejandro Estigarribia Balmori (born 21 September 1987) is a Paraguayan

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 ...

who plays as a

left winger 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 Sol de América in the

Primera División Paraguaya 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, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

. Estigarribia has been known since youth as ''Chelo'', as a diminutive of his name Marcelo. He also has an

Italian passport An Italian passport is issued upon request to an Italian citizen for the purpose of international travel. It is valid for 10, 5 or 3 years, depending on the applicant's age. Its biometric version has been available since 2006. It is ranked as ...

by way of his mother. At club level, Estigarribia has played for teams in Paraguay, France, Uruguay, Argentina, Italy, and Mexico. At international level, he has represented the

Paraguay national football team The Paraguay national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Paraguay) represents Paraguay in men's international Association football, football competitions, and are controlled by the Paraguayan Football Association (Asociación Paraguaya ...

, and was member of the squad that finished second at the 2011 Copa América.

Biography

Estigarribia was born and raised in Fernando de la Mora, one kilometer away from the Paraguayan capital

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay o ...

. He comes from a strongly

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

family.

Club career

Club Unión Pacífico

Estigarribia started his career in the youth divisions of Club Unión Pacífico before moving to Sport Colombia where he made his professional debut at the age of 17.

Le Mans

In 2006, Estigarribia moved to Paraguayan side

Cerro Porteño Club Cerro Porteño is a professional Paraguayan football club, based in the neighbourhood of Obrero in Asunción. Founded in 1912, Cerro has won 34 Primera División titles and is one of the most popular football clubs in Paraguay. Its presi ...

, and in August 2008 he was transferred to Le Mans of the Ligue 1.

Newell's Old Boys

On 27 December 2009, Estigarribia signed for

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

on loan from Le Mans for 18 months. In June 2011, it was reported by the '' Daily Record'' that Scottish Premier League club Rangers were chasing Estigarribia when their boss

Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist, (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former footballer who has since worked as a manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Johnstone before moving to English side Sunderland in ...

spent a week scouting in

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, th ...

Juventus

On 28 August 2011, Estigarribia moved to

Juventus F.C. )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnell ...

on a season loan for a €500,000 fee, with an option of making the transfer permanent for €5 million at the end of the season, from a proxy club

Deportivo Maldonado Club Deportivo Maldonado is a football club from Maldonado, Uruguay. They currently play in the Uruguayan Primera División following their promotion from the Uruguayan Segunda División at the end of the 2019 season. History Club Deportivo ...

. He made his debut as a substitute against

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona, which competes in the second ...

and got his first start against

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

. He scored his first goal for Juventus against

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

where the match ended in a 3–3 tie.

Sampdoria

On 4 August 2012, Estigarribia moved to

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

on a season-long loan for a €700,000 fee, with the option of making his stay with Sampdoria permanent for €5 million at the end of the season. He made his debut with ''Blucerchiati'' against

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

, winning 0–1.

Chiapas

On 25 January 2017, Estigarribia joined Liga MX side Chiapas

Colón

On 22 August 2017, Estigarribia joined Argentine club

Club Atlético Colón Club Atlético Colón de Santa Fe (), commonly referred to as Colón de Santa Fe , is a sports club from Santa Fe, Argentina. The football team plays in the First Division of the Argentine football league system, the Argentine Primera Divisió ...

Olimpia Asunción

In January 2021, it was announced that Estigarribia signed a one-year agreement with Olimpia Asunción. The club announced the signing through its official website. His arrival at the club was through a request of the coach, the Argentine Nestor Gorosito, who stated that Estigarribia can be used in three positions.

International career

Estigarribia received his first senior international cap for

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 ...

in a friendly match against Ivory Coast on 22 May 2008. He scored his first international goal in a friendly match against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

on 31 March 2010. His performances in the 2011 Copa América, where Paraguay went on to reach the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

of the tournament, only to lose out 3–0 to

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, prompted Italian giants Juventus to make a move for him.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

, - , 1. , , 31 March 2010 , ,

Defensores del Chaco Estadio Defensores del Chaco is a multi-purpose stadium in Asunción, Paraguay. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium once had a 50,000+ capacity, however over the years the stadium has undergone remodeling, dropping the ...

, Asuncion, Paraguay , , , , 1–0 , , 1–1 , , Friendly

Honours

Juventus *

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 Cop ...

: (1) 2011–12

References

External links

* * * *
Argentine Primera statistics
at Fútbol XXI {{DEFAULTSORT:Estigarribia, Marcelo 1987 births Living people People from Fernando de la Mora, Paraguay Paraguayan people of Basque descent Paraguayan footballers Paraguayan expatriate footballers Men's association football midfielders Cerro Porteño players Le Mans FC players Newell's Old Boys footballers Juventus FC players UC Sampdoria players A.C. ChievoVerona players Atalanta BC players Chiapas F.C. footballers Club Atlético Colón footballers Deportivo Maldonado players Club Olimpia footballers Club Sol de América footballers Paraguayan Primera División players Uruguayan Primera División players Ligue 1 players Argentine Primera División players Serie A players Liga MX players Paraguay men's international footballers Paraguay men's under-20 international footballers 2011 Copa América players Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Uruguay Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in France Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay