Raúl Marcelo Bobadilla (born 18 June 1987) is a professional

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

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for Turkish club Bandırmaspor. Born in Argentina, he plays for the Paraguay national team.

Career

Early career

Bobadilla originally started out at River Plate but moved to

Concordia Basel FC Concordia Basel is a Swiss association football, football club based in Basel. The club was founded in 1907. They play in the 2nd regional league which is the fifth level, and their home stadium was Rankhof Stadium until the 2008-09 season. F ...

in the

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while the ...

for the

2006–07 Swiss Challenge League The 2006–07 Swiss Challenge League was the fourth season of the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league pyramid. It began on 21 July 2006 and ended on 26 May 2007. The champions of this season, Neuchâtel Xamax, ear ...

season.

Murat Yakin Murat Yakin ( tr, Yakın; born 15 September 1974) is a Swiss football coach and former player. He is the manager of the Switzerland national football team. Playing career Yakin spent the longest spell of his career playing for his hometown clu ...

was trainer at that time and for Bobadilla this was a very successful season. He scored 18 goals in 28 League games and finished third in the goal scorer list at the end of the season. Yakin left Concordia and went to

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

as assistant trainer to

Hanspeter Latour Hanspeter Latour (born 4 June 1947 in Thun) is a Swiss football manager and former goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated p ...

for the 2007–08 Super League season and took Bobadilla with him. Bobadilla continued his good goalscoring form, becoming their first choice striker. Bobadilla finished in second place of the goal scorer list at the end of the season and was shortlisted in the Final 4 players for the Swiss League player of the year for the 2007–08 season, which was ultimately won by

Hakan Yakin Hakan Yakin ( tr, Hakan Yakın; born 22 February 1977) is a Swiss football coach and a former player who played as a forward or midfielder. He is the manager of Schaffhausen. He was a member of the Swiss national team for eleven years. Early a ...

. Bobadilla signed for

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

on 11 June 2009 but returned to Switzerland in 2012 to play for Bern's

BSC Young Boys BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reac ...

Basel

On 3 January 2013,

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

announced that Bobadilla signed a contract until 2017. He joined Basel's first team during the winter break of their 2012–13 season under head coach

. After playing in four test games, in the last of which he was injured, he made his league debut for Basel on 1 April in the 4–0 away win against

Luzern , neighboring_municipalities= Adligenswil, Ebikon, Emmen, Horw, Kriens, Malters, Meggen, Neuenkirch Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a ...

being substituted in during the 77th minute of the game. He scored his first goal for his new club in the home game in the

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

on 1 June 2013. It was the only goal of the game as Basel won 1–0 against St. Gallen. At the end of the Swiss Super League season 2012–13 he won the Championship title with the team. In the

2012–13 Swiss Cup The 2012–13 Swiss Cup was the 88th season of Switzerland's annual football cup competition. The competition commenced on 14 September 2012 with the first game of Round 1 and ended on 20 May 2013 with the Final. The winners of the competition, Gr ...

Basel reached the final, but were runners up behind Grasshopper Club, being defeated 4–3 on penalties, following a 1–1 draw after extra time. In the

2012–13 UEFA Europa League The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League was the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Amsterdam Aren ...

, Basel advanced as far as the semi-finals, there being matched against the reigning

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

holders Chelsea. Chelsea won both games advancing 5–2 on aggregate, eventually winning the competition. Soon after the start of the next season, Bobadilla was caught speeding with his Maserati, driving with 111 km/h in a 50 km/h zone. On 15 August it was announced that Bobadilla would leave Basel. During his short period with the club, Bobadilla played a total of 25 games for Basel scoring three goals. 13 of these games were in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

, one in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

, one in the Champions League and ten were friendly games. He scored two goals in the domestic league and the other was scored during the test games.

Augsburg

On 15 August 2013, FC Augsburg announced that Bobadilla signed a contract until 30 June 2016. On 9 May 2015, Bobadilla scored the only goal as Augsburg won away at

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

, who had already won the league title, a back-heel after a cross from

Pierre-Emile Højbjerg Pierre-Emile Kordt Højbjerg (born 5 August 1995) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the Denmark national team. Højbjerg started his career as a youth for Danish clubs BK ...

, who was on loan from the opponent. In the 14th minute, he had been fouled by goalkeeper Pepe Reina for a penalty, resulting in Reina's dismissal, but

Paul Verhaegh Paul Johannes Gerardus Verhaegh (born 1 September 1983) is a former Dutch professional footballer who played as a right-back. Club career Verhaegh began his career at PSV Eindhoven, making 33 league appearances while on loan at AGOVV Apeldoorn. ...

's shot hit the post with Manuel Neuer taking over in goal. Bobadilla finished the 2014–15 season as Augsburg's top-scorer with 10 goals in all competitions.

Borussia Mönchengladbach

On 17 August 2017, after 4 years in Augsburg, Bobadilla returned to Borussia Mönchengladbach on a two-year contract.

Argentinos Juniors

Bobadilla returned to Argentina after spending one year with Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Guarani

On 27 December 2019, Bobadilla was loaned to

Club Guaraní Club Guaraní is a Paraguayan football team, based in the neighbourhood of Pinozá in outer Asunción. Founded on 12 October 1903, it is one of the oldest and one of the most successful in the country, with eleven Primera División titles, and ...

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 ...

Primera División 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 ...

Controversy

On 29 December 2020, after scoring and giving his team a 3–2 win, Bobadilla was threatened with a ban for partially exposing his genitals during a goal celebration.

International career

On 9 February 2015, it was reported by D10 and ABC Color that Bobadilla had begun the process of taking up Paraguay's nationality in order to represent the Paraguay national team, by way of his Paraguayan parents. On 11 March, he received his first call-up to the team, for friendlies later that month against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, making his debut in a 0–0 draw in

San José San José or San Jose (Spanish for Saint Joseph) most often refers to: *San Jose, California, United States *San José, Costa Rica, the nation's capital San José or San Jose may also refer to: Places Argentina * San José, Buenos Aires ** San ...

. On 28 May 2015, Bobadilla was included in Paraguay's 23-man squad for the

2015 Copa América The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, ...

by coach Ramón Díaz. He started in the team's opening 2–2 draw against

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 ...

in La Serena.

Honours

;Basel *

2012–13 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. I ...

runner up:

References

External links