Ricardo Francisco Rojas Trujillo (born 7 May 1974) is a Chilean

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former player. 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 ...

, he played for clubs like

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.

, América and

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 pla ...

Club career

As a youth player, he was with Academia Santa Inés, a traditional Football Academy based in La Serena. Rojas began his professional career in his native country, playing for

Club de Deportes La Serena Club de Deportes La Serena S.A.D.P., is a Chilean football club based in the city of La Serena, Coquimbo Region. The club was founded 9 December 1955 and plays in the first division of the Chilean football league. Their home games are play ...

from 1990 to 1993. After his stint at La Serena, he signed with

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional association football, football club based in the Independencia, Chile, Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile. They currently participate in the Chilean Primera Division, Primera D ...

. The following year Rojas made his debut with the Chilean national team, participating in a game between Chile and Argentina. After his time at Unión, Rojas was transferred to

during the 1997 season. Ricardo's continued success at both club and national team levels brought attention to him from foreign teams. At the end of the 2000 season he was signed by the Mexican club

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América or simply América, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

. Excluding a six-month loan in 2004 to Universidad Católica de Chile, Rojas has been a staple of the Club América defense for seven years. During his stay in Mexico, Rojas won two championships with his club, in the Verano 2002 season and most recently after the Clausura 2005 tournament. Rojas played more than 200 games with Club América during his time there. In 2009, he played at Necaxa and then he returned to Club América.

International career

Fuentes made 46 appearances for Chile from 1994 to 2006. In addition, he played for Chile B against England B on 10 February 1998. Chile won by 2–1.

Managerial career

Rojas began his managerial career as the coach of Unión Compañías in the

Tercera B (Chile) Tercera División B de Chile (Third Division B of Chile), is the fifth category of Chilean football (soccer) in the Liga Chilena de Fútbol, and is organized by the Federación de Fútbol de Chile and the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Amateur ...

until the end of 2019. At the end of 2020, he became the manager of

Provincial Ovalle Provincial Ovalle is a Chilean football team. They currently play in Third Division A of Chilean Football, and have played in Copa Chile The Copa Chile (''Chile Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Chilean football teams. Due to time const ...

in the

Tercera A (Chile) Tercera División de Chile (Third Division of Chile), is the fourth tier of Chilean football (soccer). It is organized by the Federación de Fútbol de Chile and the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Amateur de Chile. It is both the fourth level of ...

Personal life

Rojas got a degree in

Industrial engineering Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex process (engineering), processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, kno ...

and also worked as

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

of La Serena from 2013 to 2016 by replacing Mary Yorka Ortiz.

Honours

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 ...

: 1999,

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 ...

: 1998,

América *

Primera División de México The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional Association football, football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and amo ...

: 2002, 2005 *

Campeón de Campeones ''Campeón de Campeones'' ( es, Champion of Champions) is an annual Mexican football competition established in 1942. In its current form, the winner of the Apertura season faces the winner of the Clausura season, for both Liga MX and Liga MX Feme ...

: 2005 Colo-Colo *

: 2008 Clausura

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rojas, Ricardo 1974 births Living people Chilean emigrants to Mexico Chilean men's footballers Chilean Primera División players Liga MX players Ascenso MX players Deportes La Serena footballers Unión Española footballers Club Universidad de Chile footballers Club América footballers Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Colo-Colo footballers Club Necaxa footballers C.D. Veracruz footballers Chilean expatriate men's footballers Chile men's international footballers 1997 Copa América players 2001 Copa América players Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Chilean expatriates in Mexico Men's association football defenders People from Vallenar People from Huasco Province Sportspeople from Atacama Region Chilean sportsperson-politicians Chilean football managers