Sergio Fabián Zárate Riga (born 14 October 1969) is an Argentine 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 ...

who played 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 ...

. He spent most of his career in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

and the

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 ...

apart from his native

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 ...

Club career

Born in Haedo,

Morón Partido Morón is a '' partido'' (second level administrative division) of the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Located in the Greater Buenos Aires urban area, its head town is Morón which is located around from Buenos Aires. The provincial subdivisi ...

, Zárate started his career with Vélez Sarsfield where he spent four years in the Argentinian

Primera División 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, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

. He then moved to Europe where he would eventually make 80 appearances in the

for

1. FC Nürnberg 1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg (, en, 1. Football Club Nuremberg) or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bund ...

and

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

as well as a season in Italy with

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...

. In 1995 Zárate moved to Mexico where he played 190 games for

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Necaxa, is a Mexican professional football club in Liga MX based in the city of Aguascalientes. It plays in the Estadio Victoria. History Foundation (Light and Power Comp ...

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 ...

and

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

during two stints.

International career

Zárate won his only international cap for

in 1992.

Personal life

Sergio is the eldest of five brothers of whom four became professional footballers;

Ariel Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', 1989 and 1991 anime video series based on the novel series ...

played in Spain for

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

among other teams,

Rolando Rolando may refer to: Entertainment *''Rolando'', a 2008 puzzle-adventure video game *'' Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid'', a 2009 puzzle-adventure video game *"Rolando", a song by Roland Kirk from the album ''Domino'' People *Rolando (giv ...

(also an Argentinian international) and youngest brother Mauro is a

U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 wh ...

winner. Sergio works as an agent for his brothers. Sergio's nephew, Tobías, also became a professional footballer.

References

External links

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Player article

Player article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zarate, Sergio 1969 births Club Puebla players Living people Sportspeople from Morón Partido Argentine men's footballers Argentine sportspeople of Chilean descent Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Argentina men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers 1. FC Nürnberg players AC Ancona players Hamburger SV players Club Necaxa footballers Club América footballers Argentine Primera División players Bundesliga players Serie A players Liga MX players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Germany Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Zárate family Footballers from Buenos Aires Province