Santiago Damián Homenchenko Bianchi (born 30 August 2003) is a Uruguayan 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

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 ...

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 ...

side

Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whic ...

Early life

Homenchenko was born on 30 August 2003 in the capital city of

Mercedes Mercedes may refer to: People * Mercedes (name), a Spanish feminine name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or last name Automobile-related * Mercedes (marque), the pre-1926 brand name of German automobile m ...

in the Soriano Department, Uruguay. Homenchenko grew up in a working-class family of paternal

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

and maternal Italian descent. The youngest of ten siblings, Homenchenko promised his mother, who was diagnosed with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, at the age of six that he would become a professional footballer. In an interview describing his upbringing, Homenchenko said, "We spent nights without eating, relying on milk with rice or sweet cornstarch, but those things give you personality. ..When I left

Danubio Danubio Fútbol Club is a Uruguayan football club based in Jardines del Hipódromo, Montevideo that currently plays in the Uruguayan Primera División. Founded in 1932, the club's home stadium is Jardines del Hipódromo, which has a capacity o ...

at 15, I had to work, because my mother had no money. We were poor, but we weren't sad. I worked to buy my clothes, but we just had what we needed. That confronts you with reality."

Club career

Homenchenko began his football career with his neighborhood club Con los Mismos Colores. At the age of 10, he was recruited by Néstor Gonçalves and signed for Peñarol where he finished his childhood training. Homenchenko joined Danubio three years later, moving to

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

and beginning his youth training. He was released two years in the process after suffering an accident in which he broke a piece of his heel. During his recovery, he returned to his boyhood club of Con los Mismos Colores under their youth system. After a series of good performances, including winning an under-18 team national championship, he signed with

Plaza Colonia Club Plaza Colonia de Deportes, or simply Plaza Colonia, is a Uruguayan professional football club from Colonia del Sacramento, that competes in the Uruguayan Primera Division. Founded in 1917, the club plays its home games at the 3,000 seater E ...

for the 2020-21 season. On July 2021, Homenchenko returned to Peñarol. On 8 September 2022, he signed his first professional contract with the club. He made his professional debut on 19 September 2022 as a 84th minute substitute for

Brian Lozano Brian Avelino Lozano Aparicio (born 23 February 1994) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a winger for Liga MX club Atlas. Club career In July 2016, Lozano joined Nacional on a one-year loan deal from América. On 13 July 20 ...

in a 3–1 league win over

Cerrito Cerrito, Cerritos, El Cerrito, or Los Cerritos may refer to: Places Argentina * El Cerrito, Catamarca * Isla del Cerrito, an island in Chaco Province Brazil * Cerrito, Rio Grande do Sul * São José do Cerrito, state of Santa Catarina Col ...

. Homenchenko has also represented the under-19 system, in which he was part of the squad that won the

2022 U-20 Copa Libertadores The 2022 U-20 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores ( es, Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores Sub-20 2022) was the 6th edition of the U-20 CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''U-20 Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier under-20 club football to ...

. On 15 January 2024, a transfer agreement between Peñarol and

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo is a Spanish football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926 as a result of the merger of two clubs who had maintained a large sporting rivalry for years in the city: ''Real Stadium Club Ovetense'' and ''Real Club De ...

was made for Homenchenko to join the Spanish club, whereas Ecuadorian winger

Romario Ibarra Romario Andrés Ibarra Mina (born 24 September 1994) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Oviedo, on loan from Liga MX club Pachuca, and the Ecuador national team. He is the younger brother of Renato Ibarra. ...

, who was playing for Oveido on loan from

, will join Peñarol. Homenchenko's contract with Peñarol was ending in the middle of the year, therefore the club decided to sell 70% of his contract.

International career

Homenchenko currently represents Uruguay in their under-20 national team. In October 2022, Homenchenko was named in Uruguay's squad for the

2022 South American Games The XII South American Games (Spanish: ''XII Juegos Suramericanos Asunción 2022'') was a multi-sport event held between 1–15 October 2022 in Asunción, Paraguay. The Games were organized by the South American Sports Organization, the Paraguaya ...

. He played all five matches in the tournament as Uruguay eventually finished fourth after reaching semi-finals. Homenchenko was part of the Uruguayan side that won the

2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup will be the 23rd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 197 ...

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 January 2024, he was named in Uruguay's squad for the

2024 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament The 2024 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament ( es, Torneo Preolímpico Sudamericano, pt, Torneio Pré-Olímpico Sul-Americano) was the 14th edition of the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted football tou ...

under Marcelo Bielsa.

Career statistics

Honours

Peñarol U20 *

U-20 Copa Libertadores The Under-20 CONMEBOL Libertadores (Portuguese and Spanish: CONMEBOL Libertadores Sub-20) is the international association football club competition for teams that play in CONMEBOL leagues. It was created by Manuel Burga Seoane and the Peruvian ...

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

Uruguay U20 * FIFA U-20 World Cup:

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Homenchenko, Santiago 2003 births Living people People from Mercedes, Uruguay Footballers from Soriano Department Men's association football midfielders Uruguayan men's footballers Uruguay men's youth international footballers Uruguayan people of Ukrainian descent Uruguayan sportspeople of Italian descent Uruguayan Primera División players Segunda División players Club Plaza Colonia de Deportes players Peñarol players Real Oviedo players Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain