Ricardo Francisco Rojas Trujillo (born 7 May 1974) is a Chilean

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player. A

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, he played for clubs like

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile () is a public research university in Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the co ...

, América and

Colo-Colo Colo-Colo (), officially Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo, is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano, it competes in the Chilean Primera División, from which the club has never been ...

Club career

As a youth player, he was with Academia Santa Inés, a traditional Football Academy based in La Serena. Rojas began his professional career in his native country, playing for

Club de Deportes La Serena Club de Deportes La Serena S.A.D.P., is a Chilean football club based in the city of La Serena, Coquimbo Region. The club was founded 9 December 1955 and plays in the second division of the Chilean football league. Their home games are play ...

from 1990 to 1993. After his stint at La Serena, he signed with

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional football club based in the Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile currently participating in the Primera División de Chile. History Foundation, Amateur Era and First seasons ...

. The following year Rojas made his debut in the Chile national team, appearing in a game against Argentina. After his time at Unión, Rojas was transferred to

during the 1997 season. Ricardo's continued success at both club and national team levels brought attention to him from foreign teams. At the end of the 2000 season he was signed by the Mexican club

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

. Excluding a six-month loan in 2004 to Universidad Católica de Chile, Rojas has been a staple of the Club América defense for seven years. During his stay in Mexico, Rojas won two championships with his club, in the Verano 2002 season and most recently after the Clausura 2005 tournament. Rojas played more than 200 games with Club América during his time there. In 2009, he played at

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

and then he returned to Club América.

International career

Fuentes made 46 appearances for Chile from 1994 to 2006. In addition, he played for Chile B against England B on 10 February 1998. Chile won by 2–1.

Managerial career

Rojas began his managerial career as the coach of Unión Compañías in the

Tercera B (Chile) Tercera División B de Chile (Third Division B of Chile), is the fifth tier of Chilean football (soccer) in the Chilean football league system, Liga Chilena de Fútbol, and is organized by the Federación de Fútbol de Chile and the Asociación Nac ...

until the end of 2019. At the end of 2020, he became the manager of

Provincial Ovalle Provincial Ovalle is a Chilean football club based in the city of Ovalle, Chile. They currently play in the Segunda División Profesional and have played in Copa Chile. Players Current squad '. Former players * ...

in the

Tercera A (Chile) Tercera División de Chile (Third Division of Chile), is the fourth tier of Chilean football (soccer). It is organized by the Federación de Fútbol de Chile and the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Amateur de Chile. It is both the fourth level of ...

. In 2023, he moved to Mexico and joined América Fuerzas Básicas, first with the under-13 team.

Personal life

Rojas got a degree in

Industrial engineering Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

and also served as

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

of La Serena commune from 2013 to 2016 by replacing Mary Yorka Ortiz.

Honours

Universidad de Chile *

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, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Copa Chile The Copa Chile (''Chile Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Chilean football teams. Due to time constraints and club pressure, the trophy was cancelled in 2000, but returned in 2008. Its precursor was the Campeonato de Apertura (''Opening Ch ...

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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

América *

Primera División de México Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

: 2002, 2005 *

Campeón de Campeones Campeón de Campeones () is an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic super cup between the Liga MX champions of the ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura'' tournaments. It was initially a super cup match between the league and cup cha ...

: 2005 Colo-Colo *

: 2008 Clausura

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rojas, Ricardo 1974 births Living people People from Vallenar Chilean emigrants to Mexico Footballers from Atacama Region Chilean men's footballers Chile men's international footballers 1997 Copa América players 2001 Copa América players Chilean Primera División players Liga MX players Ascenso MX players Deportes La Serena footballers Unión Española footballers Club Universidad de Chile footballers Club América footballers Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Colo-Colo footballers Club Necaxa footballers C.D. Veracruz footballers Chilean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Men's association football defenders Chilean football coaches Chilean football managers Provincial Ovalle managers 20th-century Chilean sportsmen Chilean sportsperson-politicians Chilean city councillors 21st-century Chilean politicians Naturalized citizens of Mexico