Rodrigo Álvaro Tello Valenzuela (born 14 October 1979) is a Chilean former 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 ...

. He operated mainly as a

left midfielder 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 ...

, but could also appear in the middle and as an attacking

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He spent the better part of his early professional career in Portugal with Sporting, where he arrived at only 21. In 2007, he moved to Turkey where he remained several years, notably representing

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

and

Eskişehirspor Eskişehirspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in Eskişehir. Eskisehirspor has a total of six trophies, making them the sixth most trophies holders in Turkey. Founded in 1965, Eskişehirspor competed in the top division ...

. A Chilean international for a full decade, Tello represented the country at the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

and the

2007 Copa América The 2007 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, known simply as the 2007 Copa América or 2007 Copa América Venezuela, was the 42nd edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The c ...

. Currently a Background Designer on Nickelodeon's The Casagrandes.

Club career

Born in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, as a child Tello was with

Colo-Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has played ...

from 1992 to 1995. Next he moved to

Club Universidad de Chile Club Universidad de Chile () is a professional football club based in Santiago, Chile, that plays in the Primera División. Founded on 24 May 1927, Universidad de Chile is one of the most successful and popular football clubs in Chile, havin ...

and began his career making his professional debuts in 1999. He quickly made a good impression, being named the best midfielder in the country in 2000 and being transferred to

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

for a fee of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

7 million in January of the following year, alongside compatriot

Mario Cáceres Mario Antonio Cáceres Gómez (born 17 March 1981) is a Chilean former Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. During his career, he played for Colo-Colo on three occasions (being nickna ...

; at the time, it was a club record for the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

side. After a slow start, Tello eventually became an important first-team member – although he would be used mainly as a substitute – and even saw some time at

. In the 2007 summer, Tello moved to Turkey and signed with Beşiktaş J.K., being named to the ''Team of the Season'' in his second year as his team won the double. On 25 November 2009, during a

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 ...

group stage game against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, he scored from 25 yards to beat

Ben Foster Ben Foster may refer to: *Ben Foster (actor) (born 1980), American actor *Ben Foster (footballer) (born 1983), English goalkeeper *Ben Foster (composer) (born 1977), British composer, orchestrator and conductor * Ben Foster (director) (born 1984), ...

and help to a 1–0 win, the first match in that stage of the competition the English had lost at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

in eight years. On 25 July 2010, aged 30, Tello left Beşiktaş but continued in the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

, signing a three-year contract with

. In January 2014, he moved to fellow league club

Elazığspor Elazığspor is a Turkish professional football club located in Elazığ and currently competes in the TFF Third League. They previously played their home games at Elazığ Atatürk Stadium in Elazığ, which had a maximum capacity of 13,923. The ...

, transferring to

Şanlıurfaspor Şanlıurfa S.K. is a Turkish sports club located in Şanlıurfa. The football team currently plays in the TFF Second League TFF 2. Lig (Turkish Football Federation Second League), is the third level in the Turkish football league system. It wa ...

of the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in June. Tello returned to his country after a 15-year absence, agreeing to a one-year deal at

Audax Italiano Audax Club Sportivo Italiano () is a Chilean football club based in La Florida. Founded in 1910, it plays in the Campeonato Nacional and has spent most of its history in the top tier of Chilean football. Audax has been national champions four t ...

on 4 August 2015. On 28 April of the following year, the 36-year-old announced his retirement.

International career

A full Chilean international since his early 20s, Tello represented the country at the

, where the national side exited in the last-eight after a 1–6 loss against eventual winners

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, and at the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

in South Africa, playing in the second half of the round-of-16 0–3 defeat to the same opponents. He also competed at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, winning a bronze medal.

Career statistics

Club

:Source:

International goals

Honours

Club

Universidad de Chile *

Chilean Primera División The Chilean Primera División (English: First Division) is the top-tier league of the Chilean football league system. It is organized by the ''Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, ANFP''. The league is known as the Campeonato AFP PlanVital ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

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 ...

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 ...

Sporting *

: 2001–02 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

: 2001–02, 2006–07 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

: Runner-up 2004–05 Beşiktaş *

: 2008–09 *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

: 2008–09

International

;Chile U23 *

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

;Chile *:

References

External links

* * *
Rodrigo Tello
at playmakerstats.com (English version of ceroacero.es) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tello, Rodrigo 1979 births Living people Footballers from Santiago Chilean footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Universidad de Chile footballers Audax Italiano footballers Sporting CP footballers Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Eskişehirspor footballers Elazığspor footballers Şanlıurfaspor footballers Chilean Primera División players Primeira Liga players Süper Lig players TFF First League players Olympic footballers of Chile Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Chile Chile international footballers 2007 Copa América players 2010 FIFA World Cup players Chilean expatriate footballers Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Turkey