Rodolfo Martín Arruabarrena (born 20 July 1975) is an Argentine professional football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former footballer, who is the current head coach of the

United Arab Emirates national football team The United Arab Emirates national football team ( ar, منتخب الإمارات العربية المتحدة لكرة القدم) represents United Arab Emirates in international association football and serves under the auspices of the coun ...

. As a footballer, he played as a left back and spent most of his career with Boca Juniors, where he began his professional career, and Spanish club

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

Club career

Argentina

''"El Vasco"'' Arruabarrena (The

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

) debuted professionally in 1993 with Boca Juniors, where he played until 2000, except for the

Apertura The ' and ' tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is divi ...

1996, when he was lent to

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central () is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on December 24, 1889, by a group of railway workers, taking its name from the English- ...

for 6 months. After returning to Boca, he gained a place in the regular squad. While with Boca, Rodolfo Arruabarrena won the

in 1998 and the

Clausura The ' and ' tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is divi ...

in 1999

Argentine first division Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish language, Spanish (Grammatical gender, masculine) or (Grammatical gender, feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be resident ...

tournaments, as well as the Copa Libertadores 2000. He played a total of 178 games for Boca in all competitions, scoring 7 goals.

Villarreal

From Boca he moved to Spanish Villarreal in mid 2000. Because of his reliability while playing as the team's left-back, he has been the team's captain in several occasions. He holds Villarreal's record of appearances in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

, with 178 first division matches with ''El Submarino Amarillo'' (as of 9 December 2005). Arruabarrena's goals in the 2005–2006 Champions League helped to eliminate Scottish giants

Rangers F.C. Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

and Italians

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is t ...

to reach the semi-finals in the club's first ever season in the competition. With

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, ...

he won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2003 and 2004, and played 200 league and international matches for the Spanish team (as of 10 September 2006).

AEK Athens

On 3 May 2007, ''El Vasco'' signed a three-year contract with

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

runners-up

AEK A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelf ...

for 800,000 euros per year for two years, extendable for a third. According to Arruabarrena, an important role for his decision to continue his career in Greece was played by

Lorenzo Serra Ferrer Lorenzo Serra Ferrer (; ca, Llorenç Serra Ferrer ; born 5 March 1953) is a Spanish football manager. His career was mainly associated with Mallorca and Betis, and he also served the former in various other capacities. Playing career Born in ...

(AEK manager) and

Demis Nikolaidis Themistoklis "Demis" Nikolaidis ( el, Ντέμης Νικολαΐδης; born 17 September 1973) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was the forty second president of AEK Athens, and is considered one of the fi ...

(former star player and later president of his new club who played for Atlético Madrid in 2003–2004). In

Rivaldo Rivaldo Vítor Borba Ferreira (born 19 April 1972), known simply as Rivaldo (), is a Brazilian former footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder but also as a second striker, and on occasion deployed as a wide midfielder or as a ...

's debut with AEK Arruabarrena set up the Brazilian legend to score on a header. Arruabarrena also set up Ismael Blanco to score against

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

in a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

match. Arruabarrena managed to have 25 appearances for AEK in one season but halfway through the season he suffered a serious injury. On 29 July 2008,

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

manager

Giorgos Donis Georgios Donis ( el, Γεώργιος Δώνης; born 22 October 1969) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and currently a manager. He is the current manager of Saudi Arabian club Al-Fateh. He was the first ev ...

announced to the press that Arruabarrena was no longer in the team's plans.

International career

''El Vasco'' played five matches with the Argentina national football team, as well as several with the youth team. Arruabarrena made his first cap against

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 ...

in 1994. He also played some matches in 1995 and one against England on 23 February 2000. Arruabarrena was not called up again for national team duty until September 2006, when

Alfio Basile Alfio () is an Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: * Alfio Basile, Argentina football coach * Alfio Bonanno, Australian tenor * Alfio Caltabiano, Italian actor * Alfio Contini, Italian cinematographer * Alfio Fazio, Italian ...

called him for a friendly match against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and then again in February 2007 for another friendly against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Arruabarrena was also called up for another friendly match against

on 18 April 2007 but he was left on the substitutes' bench.

Career statistics

International career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

;Boca Juniors (4) * Primera División (2): 1998 Apertura, 1999 Clausura * Copa Libertadores (1):

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 ...

* Copa de Oro (1):

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

;Villarreal * UEFA Intertoto Cup (2): 2003, 2004 ;Universidad Católica (1) * Primera División (1): 2010

Manager

;Boca Juniors * Primera División (1): 2015 *

Copa Argentina The Copa Argentina (English: ''Argentine Cup''), officially known as the "Copa Argentina AXION energy" due to sponsorship reasons, is an official football cup competition organized by the Argentine Football Association (AFA), with the aim of qual ...

(1): 2014–15 ;Al-Rayyan *

Sheikh Jassim Cup The Sheikh Jassim Cup ( ar, كأس الشيخ جاسم) is an annual men's super cup competition in Qatari football held between the winner of the Qatar Stars League and the Emir of Qatar Cup. History The inaugural Sheikh Jassim Cup was held i ...

(1): 2018 ;Shabab Al Ahli *

UAE President's Cup The UAE President's Cup, or simply the President Cup, is a football tournament that takes place in United Arab Emirates, between clubs in the UAE Pro League and the UAE First Division League. The winner qualifies for the AFC Champions League. Hi ...

(1): 2018–19 * UAE League Cup (1): 2018–19 *

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al ...

: Runner-up 2018–19

References

External links

Football database

Champions League

Argentine Primera statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arruabarrena, Rodolfo 1975 births Living people Argentine people of Basque descent Citizens of Spain through descent People from Marcos Paz Partido Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province Argentine footballers Association football fullbacks Boca Juniors footballers Rosario Central footballers Villarreal CF players AEK Athens F.C. players Club Atlético Tigre footballers Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Argentine Primera División players La Liga players Super League Greece players Chilean Primera División players Argentina youth international footballers Argentina international footballers 1995 King Fahd Cup players Footballers at the 1995 Pan American Games Pan American Games medalists in football Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina Argentine expatriate footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Greece Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Chile Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Chile Argentine emigrants to Spain Argentine football managers Club Atlético Tigre managers Club Nacional de Football managers Boca Juniors managers Al-Wasl F.C. managers Al-Rayyan SC managers Argentine Primera División managers Uruguayan Primera División managers UAE Pro League managers Qatar Stars League managers Argentine expatriate football managers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate football managers in Uruguay Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in Qatar Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games Pyramids FC managers