Raúl Mario Ruidíaz Misitich (, Croatian: ''Misitić''; born 25 July 1990) is a Peruvian 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 ...

who currently plays for Major League Soccer club

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

and the Peru national team, as a striker. He is of maternal Croatian descent and his nickname, "The Flea", stems from his small frame and his ability to get past defenders with great ball control. Ruidíaz began his career at

Universitario de Deportes Club Universitario de Deportes, popularly known as Universitario or simply as La "U", is a Peruvian football club located in Lima. The club was founded in 1924 under the name Federación Universitaria by students of the National University of S ...

, a powerhouse of a club in Peru, where he became an idol during the 2011 season, at just 21 years old. In January 2012, he joined Primera División club

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

Club career

Universitario

Ruidíaz grew up in the

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

neighbourhood of

Villa María del Triunfo Villa María del Triunfo is a district of the Lima Province in Peru. It is located in the Cono Sur area of the city of Lima. It was officially established as a district on December 28, 1961. The current mayor (''alcalde'') of Villa María del Triun ...

and made his first steps in club football at Primera División club

aged eight. In January 2008, the player was promoted to the first adult team and immediately loaned to América Cochahuayco, the club's filial team, directed by the coach Héctor Chumpitaz, an historic football player of the Peruvian national team in the

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 i ...

. His first professional goal was against Hijos de Acosvinchos. After the arrival of Jorge Gonzáles, he began to play as a striker. Ruidíaz made his professional debut in the

Peruvian First Division Peruvians ( es, peruanos) are the citizens of Peru. There were Andean and coastal ancient civilizations like Caral, which inhabited what is now Peruvian territory for several millennia before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century; Peruvian p ...

on 4 October 2009 against Total Chalaco in the Monumental, at the age of 19. The coach at the time, Juan Reynoso, decided to play him from the start of the match, which finished 2–1 in favor of Universitario. He finished the season by scoring 3 goals in 7 games in the Peruvian 2009 Championship and also won his first National title with

. Ruidíaz has often been called ''pequeño Messi'' (little Messi) in his home country, mainly because of his ability to charge a player one on one, as well as his unique technical skills. Ruidiaz was listed among the greatest talents of South American football by O Globo Brazilian newspaper in 2010.

Universidad de Chile

On 20 January 2012, Ruidíaz was appointed as new player of the Primera División club

. Despite some early success with his new club, Raul's lack of match fitness and the emergence of young talented strikers at the club Ruidíaz fell out of favour with the Universidad de Chile manager towards the end of the season. On 15 July 2012, Ruidíaz and club

had mutually agreed to release him.

Morelia

After participating in 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 ...

, Ruidíaz signed for Mexican club Monarcas Morelia on a season-long loan deal for a reported fee of €105,000. He was presented to the media in

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and lar ...

on 1 July 2016 and was given the number 9 shirt. Ruidíaz made his Liga MX debut on 15 July 2016 replacing Diego Valdés in a 2–0 away loss to

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

. The following week, in Morelia's home opener, Ruidíaz scored his first goal in a 2–2 draw against Querétaro. On 1 August 2016, Ruidíaz scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 4–2 away win against

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club that competes in the Liga MX. It is located in northern Mexico and represents the urban area of La Comarca Lagunera, made up o ...

. Ruidíaz ended the season with 11 goals which made him the season's top scorer along with

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

Dayro Moreno Dayro Mauricio Moreno Galindo (born 16 September 1985) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Categoría Primera A club Atlético Bucaramanga. Moreno began his career with Once Caldas, winning the 2004 Copa Liber ...

. Before Morelia's Clausura 2017 home opener against

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

, Ruidíaz was honored with a commemorative plaque at

Estadio Morelos Estadio Morelos is a football stadium located along Periférico Independencia, in the Independencia sector, near the base of Cerro del Quinceo in northwest Morelia, Michoacán, México. It was the site of professional football teams, Monarcas M ...

for being the club's first Liga MX scoring champion. Ruidíaz later scored the second goal in Morelia's 2–0 opening match victory over Tijuana. Later that night, it was announced Morelia signed Ruidíaz to a permanent three-year transfer. Later in the season Ruidíaz scored his second hat-trick for Morelia in a 4–0 win over

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigge ...

. In the final game of the season, Ruidíaz scored a crucial game-winning goal in a 2–1 away victory over Monterrey. The goal helped Morelia avoid relegation, helped the team qualify to the '' liguilla'' and helped Ruidíaz win his second straight Liga MX scoring title.

Seattle Sounders FC

On 6 June 2018, it was reported that Ruidíaz would be signing a contract with MLS side Seattle Sounders FC. The signing was made official on June 29, as the club announced Ruidiaz as a

Designated Player The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

. He set club records for being the fastest to 10 goals in MLS play (in 14 games), and scoring in the most consecutive appearances (8 games). On 10 November 2019, Ruidíaz scored Seattle's final goal in a 3–1 home win over

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

in the MLS Cup Final. In the

2022 CONCACAF Champions League Final The 2022 CONCACAF Champions League Final was the final round of the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League, the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 57th edition of the premier soccer club competition or ...

, he scored two goals in a 3–0 win in the second leg against

, in which his club secured their first title in the competition by winning 5–2 on aggregate.

International career

Ruidíaz made his international debut on 7 June 2011 in a 0–0 draw against Japan in Niigata in the

Kirin Cup The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (International competition which nationa ...

. In the same month, Ruidíaz was called up by coach Sergio Markarián to represent Peru in the Copa América held in

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 ...

, Ruidíaz was a member of the Peruvian squad that finished 3rd, after a 4–1 victory over

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, Ruidíaz made only one appearance in the tournament in a match 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 which Peru lost 1–0. Ruidíaz was named as a member of Peru's 23-man squad for the

in 2016. In Peru's third group match against

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 ...

on 12 June 2016, Ruidíaz scored a controversial goal, a winner in the 75th minute by guiding the ball into the net with his arm. After a lengthy discussion between the referee and his assistant, the goal was allowed to stand, and Brazil went on to lose 1–0, resulting in their elimination from the tournament. The result sent Peru through to the knockout stage as winners of Group B. In May 2018, he was named in Peru's provisional 24 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 Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''As of match played 27 March 2018. Peru score listed first, score column indicates score after each Ruidíaz goal.''

Honours

Universitario de Deportes * Torneo Descentralizado: 2009,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

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 Alí Rafael Primera Rosel ...

: 2012 Apertura Seattle Sounders FC *

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

* CONCACAF Champions League:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

Peru * Copa América runner-up:

; third place: 2011 Individual *

Peruvian Primera División The Peru First Division (; ''First Division'') —known as Liga 1 Betsson for sponsorship reasons and officially as Liga 1 — is the top flight of association football in Peru. It has been referred to as Torneo Descentralizado since 1966, when ...

top scorer: 2013 Torneo Descentralizado * Liga MX Golden Boot: Apertura 2016, Clausura 2017 * Liga MX Best XI: Apertura 2016, Clausura 2017 * Liga MX Best Forward: 2016–17 * Liga MX Balón de Oro: 2016–17 *

MLS Cup Playoffs The MLS Cup Playoffs is the annual postseason elimination tournament of Major League Soccer. The final match of the tournament is the MLS Cup, the league's championship game. Under the current format adopted for the 2019 season, 14 teams quali ...

top scorer:

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. Winners *Players in bold were awarded the Landon Donovan MVP Award for that season. Most appearances by a player The following players have appeared ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

* MLS All-Star:

* CONCACAF Champions League Best XI:

References

External links

Raúl Ruidíaz
at Football-Lineups * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruidiaz, Raul 1990 births Living people Peruvian people of Croatian descent Footballers from Lima Peruvian footballers Association football forwards Peruvian Primera División players Peruvian Segunda División players Club Universitario de Deportes footballers U América F.C. footballers FBC Melgar footballers Chilean Primera División players Universidad de Chile footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Coritiba Foot Ball Club players Liga MX players Atlético Morelia players Major League Soccer players Seattle Sounders FC players Designated Players (MLS) Peruvian expatriate footballers Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in Chile Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate footballers in Chile Expatriate footballers in Brazil Expatriate soccer players in the United States Peru international footballers 2011 Copa América players Copa América Centenario players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 Copa América players