José Ramiro Funes Mori (; born 5 March 1991) is an Argentine 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 defender for

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

club

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

. He plays primarily as a

centre-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 ...

but can also operate as a

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 ...

and

defensive 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 ...

Early life

Funes Mori was born in Mendoza. He emigrated with his family from Argentina to the United States in 2001. His father, Miguel, played professional football in Argentina with clubs such as

Independiente Rivadavia Club Sportivo Independiente Rivadavia (mostly known simply as Independiente Rivadavia) is a football club from Mendoza, Argentina. The team currently plays in Primera B Nacional, the second major league in Argentine Football league system. In ...

and Club Atlético Argentino in the 1980s. In 2008, Funes Mori joined the

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...

youth team after his twin brother won the

Sueño MLS The Sueño MLS program is a Major League Soccer scouting program that looks for undiscovered talent. This program gives players the opportunity to be selected to join the elite Youth Academy System of a host Major League Soccer club. Synopsis S ...

talent competition, but spent less than a year playing for the side before moving back to Argentina.

Club career

River Plate

Funes Mori joined River Plate as a youth player, progressing to the senior team in 2011. He is considered a legend of the club because he won 6 professional titles (four of them international) including the

2015 Copa Libertadores The 2015 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2015 Copa Bridgestone Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) was the 56th edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL ...

. He made his debut for the Argentina national team whilst playing for River Plate. Funes Mori is remembered not only for his performances and titles, but also for scoring very important goals such as the third goal in the Copa Libertadores final and an iconic goal against

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

. He made a total of 108 appearances for River Plate across five seasons, scoring ten goals.

Everton

On 1 September 2015, Funes Mori joined

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club Everton for a fee of £9.5 million. He made his debut 11 days later, coming on as a substitute, in a 3–1 home win against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. He scored his first goal for Everton in a 3–3 draw with

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

in November 2015. In his first season with the club, he received significant playing time at centre back due to injuries and lack of form for the expected starting pair of

Phil Jagielka Philip Nikodem Jagielka ( or ; born 17 August 1982) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Stoke City. Jagielka started his career with Sheffield United in 2000, where he played mainly as a central midfielder ...

and

John Stones John Stones (born 28 May 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Manchester City and the England national team. Stones began his career with Barnsley, making his first-team debut in the Championship in ...

. In April 2016, Funes Mori was sent off for a tackle on

Divock Origi Divock Okoth Origi (born 18 April 1995) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club AC Milan and the Belgium national team. Origi began his career at Lille, and scored on his professional debut for them in 2013. A ...

in a 4–0 loss to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, leading to a three-match suspension. He scored five goals across all competitions in his first season with the club. Funes Mori was out for the remainder of the 2016–17 season after suffering a torn meniscus while on international duty with

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 March 2017. In the summer of 2017, Funes Mori had undergone a second operation on his knee injury in Barcelona and was looking at between six and nine months on the sidelines.

Villarreal

On 21 June 2018, Funes Mori joined

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's ...

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 ...

for an undisclosed fee.

International career

Funes Mori made his international debut for Argentina in an international friendly against

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

in March 2015. He was selected for his national squad at the

Copa América Centenario The Copa América Centenario ( pt, Copa América Centenário, french: Coupe Amerique Centennaire, en, Centennial Cup America; literally ''Centennial America Cup'') was an international men's association football tournament that was hosted by the ...

and was part of the Argentine side that reached

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. The defender played in

where

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 ...

won 4–2 on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

after the match finished in a goalless draw. He was not selected as one of the first four penalty takers. Funes Mori scored his first international goal on 6 October 2016 in a 2–2 draw against

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

in a match which he also conceded a late penalty. In May 2018, he was named in Argentina's preliminary 35-man squad for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

in Russia, but did not make the final 23.

Personal life

Funes Mori is married to Rocío, the sister of former FC Dallas midfielder

Mauro Díaz Mauro Alberto Díaz (born 10 March 1991) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder. Early career Díaz made his first team debut for River Plate on 21 September 2008 in a 3–1 away loss to San Martín de Tu ...

. His

twin brother Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

Rogelio Rogelio () is a masculine Spanish given name and a variant of the first name Roger. Notable people with the name include: * Rogelio Antonio, Jr. (born 1962), Filipino chess player *Rogelio Armenteros (born 1994), Cuban pitcher in Major League Bas ...

, is also a footballer and plays for

club

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

and the

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 ...

national team as a striker.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 16 November 2018'' ''Argentina score listed first, score column indicates score after each Funes Mori goal.''

Honours

River Plate *

Argentina Primera Division 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 ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Copa Campeonato The Copa Campeonato Primera División (familiarly known as Superfinal) was an official Argentine football cup competition organized by the Argentine Football Association. It was played in a single match format between the Torneo Inicial and Torn ...

: 2013–14 *

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana ( pt, CONMEBOL Recopa Sul-Americana), known also as the Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as the Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club association football, football compe ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

Suruga Bank Championship The J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship was an annual intercontinental football match held in Japan, contested by the reigning champions of the J.League Cup and the Copa Sudamericana. The tournament was previously officially called the ...

Primera B Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, in English "National B Division", and known as Primera B Nacional until the 2019–20 season) is the second division of the Argentine football league system. The competition is made up of 37 tea ...

: 2011–12 Villarreal *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Funes Mori, Ramiro 1991 births Living people Argentine twins Twin sportspeople Sportspeople from Mendoza Province Soccer players from Texas Argentine footballers Association football defenders Club Atlético River Plate footballers Everton F.C. players Villarreal CF players Al Nassr FC players Argentine Primera División players Primera Nacional players Premier League players La Liga players Saudi Professional League players UEFA Europa League winning players Argentina international footballers Copa América Centenario players 2019 Copa América players Argentine expatriate footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in England Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Identical twins