Roberto Carlos Sosa (born 24 January 1975) is an Argentine former professional football striker turned coach.

Playing career

Sosa was born in

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

La Pampa La Pampa () is a sparsely populated province of 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 ...

. He started playing for Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata in 1995. His best season with Gimnasia was in 1997–98 when he scored 28 goals in 38 matches. He was the top scorer in the 1998 Argentine Torneo Clausura, with 17 goals. After this excellent season, Sosa was transferred to Italy, to play with Serie A team

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...

. He spent almost 10 years playing in Europe, playing with Serie A and Serie B teams

Ascoli Ascoli may refer to: Places in Italy *Ascoli Satriano, a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region *Province of Ascoli Piceno, a province of the Marche region ** Ascoli Piceno, a city which is the seat of the province above ...

and Messina. He also spent four years with

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Camp ...

between 2004 and 2008, helping Napoli to return to the Italian Serie A. Then, he returned to Argentina to play for his first club Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata, which was struggling to keep its Primera A standing. Even though Sosa had a mediocre 2008/09 season, scoring only 2 goals in 24 games, he helped Gimnasia to avoid relegation. Perhaps, his most memorable moment during his last return to Gimnasia happened on 5 April 2009. Sosa was unable to deliver on his promise to score twice against derby rivals Estudiantes, and became upset with those who criticized him for running his mouth, citing his ten-year playing spell in Europe. In June 2010, Sosa signed in for Sanremese. In December 2010, he received death threats to leave the club by the 'Ndrangheta. He was out of the team by February. He finished the season playing for

FC Rapperswil-Jona Fussball Club Rapperswil-Jona, was founded in 1928 and is now the largest sports club in the Oberer Lake / Linth area. After achieving promotion in June 2017, the first team will played in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss foot ...

in Switzerland Third Division. At the end of the season, he retired. Roberto Sosa was not a technical player, but he was an effective scorer. Overall, he scored 112 goals in 385 games.

Post-playing and coaching career

After his retirement, Sosa has been working as a color commentator for

Sky Italia Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian satellite television platform owned by the American media conglomerate Comcast. Sky Italia also broadcasts three national free-to-air television channels: TV8, Cielo and Sky TG24. As of 2018, following an ag ...

and took his coaching badges. On 1 August 2014, he was appointed head coach of recently relegated

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

club

Sorrento Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana ra ...

. He left Sorrento by mutual consent on 5 January 2015. He then served as head coach of Eccellenza Campania club Savoia throughout the 2015–16 season, ended in third place. In September 2016, Sosa accepted an offer from newly promoted Serie D club Vultur Rionero.

Personal life

Sosa's son Tomás, born 2001 in

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

, followed on his father's footsteps and he plays for

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

club

Pontedera Pontedera (; la, Pons Herae) is an italian comune with a population of 29.270 inhabitants, located in the province of Pisa, Tuscany, central Italy. The town is located 20 km (12 miles) from Pisa and 50 km (31 miles) from Florence. It house ...

as of February 2023.

Honours

Udinese

* UEFA Intertoto Cup:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

Napoli

* Serie C1 ** Winners (1): 2005–06

References

External links

raisport player profile

Roberto Sosa – Argentine Primera statistics
at Fútbol XXI
Guardian statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sosa, Roberto 1975 births Living people People from Santa Rosa, La Pampa Footballers from La Pampa Province Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy ACR Messina players Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata footballers Udinese Calcio players Boca Juniors footballers Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players SSC Napoli players SSD Sanremese Calcio players Men's association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players Argentine Primera División players ASD Sorrento managers FC Rapperswil-Jona players Argentine football managers