Sebastián Coates Nion (; born 7 October 1990) 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

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

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Portuguese club

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

and plays for the Uruguay national team. Having begun his career at

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

, where he was a regular from his debut in 2009, Coates joined

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 ...

in 2011. He spent time out on loan, back at Nacional, and at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, and then joined the latter permanently in 2015. In January 2016, he moved to Sporting, initially on loan before signing permanently in February 2017. Following his move, Coates became an important member of the Sporting squad, captaining the side, and leading the club to a number of trophies, including the club's first league title in 19 years during the 2020–21 season. Coates made his international debut at the

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South Americ ...

, and was voted Young Player of the Tournament after Uruguay won

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 ...

. He also represented the country at the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

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and

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, and the

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

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and

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Early life

Coates was born in

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 ...

. On his paternal side, he is of

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

ancestry, although his family does not speak English.

Club career

Nacional

Coates joined

at 11, and worked his way up through the age groups, appearing as captain at every level. In 2009, aged 18, he signed a contract and began playing for the first team. His first appearance came against Bella Vista, a performance for which he was named man of the match by Uruguay's ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

''. He subsequently started every game for Nacional, notwithstanding suspension and national duty.

Liverpool

In August 2011, Coates was the subject of substantial interest from

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

. He was given permission to have a medical at

Melwood Melwood, in West Derby, Liverpool, was Liverpool Football Club's training ground from the 1950s until November 2020. It was not attached to The Liverpool F.C. Academy, which is at Kirkby. Melwood was bought by affordable housing development co ...

ahead of his proposed move on 26 August, and the following day watched Liverpool's match against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. On 30 August, after receiving a work permit, Liverpool announced that they had signed Coates on "a long-term contract" for an undisclosed fee, reported to be around £7 million. On 18 September, Coates made his debut for Liverpool against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, replacing the injured

Daniel Agger Daniel Munthe Agger (; born 12 December 1984) is a Danish professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of Danish 1st Division club HB Køge. As an active player, he played as a central defender for Brøndby and Liverpool a ...

in the 27th minute, in a 4–0 defeat. Coates went on to make his first start for the club on 21 September against

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

in the League Cup. Liverpool won the match 2–1 and Coates started the next match in this competition against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

which Liverpool also won 2–1. Liverpool progressed through all stages to win the tournament resulting in Coates winning his first medal as a Liverpool player. On 21 March 2012, he scored his first goal for Liverpool against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

, with a scissor kick from the edge of the box in the 3–2 loss at

Loftus Road Loftus Road is a football stadium in White City, London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers. In 1981, it became the first stadium in British professional football to have an artificial pitch of Omniturf installed. This remained in ...

. Coates suffered a knee injury playing for Uruguay in a friendly match against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in August 2013. The injury sidelined the player for much of the 2013–14 season. The second half of the season saw Coates return to Nacional on loan, helping him to secure a place in Uruguay's World Cup team.

Sunderland

On 1 September 2014, Coates was loaned out to fellow Premier League side

on a season-long loan, joining up with fellow Uruguayan manager

Gus Poyet Gustavo Augusto Poyet Domínguez (; born 15 November 1967) is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former footballer. He is currently the head coach of the Greece national football team. Poyet played as a midfielder and began his caree ...

. He made his debut as a starter on the 23rd in the third round of the League Cup, against

at the

Stadium of Light The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England, and the eighth and current home to Sunderland A.F.C. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light is the ninth largest football stadium in England. ...

. At half-time, he was substituted for

Patrick van Aanholt Patrick John Miguel van Aanholt (; born 29 August 1990) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Eredivisie club PSV, on loan from club Galatasaray, and the Netherlands national team. He began his professional career ...

and Sunderland lost 1–2. His first league match of his loan was on 3 December, playing the entirety of a 1–4 home defeat against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. Coates had to fill in at left back in the

Tyne-Wear derby Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcas ...

against Newcastle on 21 December after

Anthony Réveillère Anthony Guy Marie Réveillère (born 10 November 1979) is a French former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He spent most of his professional career with Rennes and Lyon, amassing Ligue 1 totals of 426 matches and five goals d ...

suffered an injury in the warm up, but coped well as Sunderland won 1–0. However, after Sunderland were beaten 1–3 by Hull in the next game, Coates fell out of favour and failed to make another Premier League start under Poyet. After the manager was sacked and replaced by

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former football player and coach who is currently the head coach of Eerste Divisie side ADO Den Haag. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a coach, including three sti ...

, Coates became more involved. He played every minute of Sunderland's run of five unbeaten games that kept them from relegation with a game to spare. On 1 July 2015, Sunderland announced that they had signed Coates on a permanent four-year deal for an undisclosed fee reported to be in the region of £2 million. He scored an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

on 1 November as the team lost 6–2 away to Everton.

Sporting CP

On 28 January 2016, Coates signed for

on loan until the end of the season, as new ''Black Cats'' manager

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (; born 19 October 1954), colloquially referred to as Big Sam, is an English association football, football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent most ...

sought to balance the books. He made his debut on 8 February in a goalless home draw with

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Football in Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which ...

, and totalled 13 matches (all starts) over the season as the

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

-based club came second. On 10 May, his loan was extended for the following campaign. On the first day of the 2016–17 season, at home to Marítimo, Coates scored his first goal for the ''Leões'' to open a 2–0 win by heading in João Mário's corner kick. He joined Sporting on a permanent basis on 2 February 2017. In the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

final on 26 January 2019, Coates missed his spot-kick but Sporting prevailed over

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

3–1 in the penalty shoot-out to win their second straight league cup title. Four months later in the final of the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

on 25 May, Sporting and Porto again required a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner after the match ended 2–2; Coates converted his kick to help Sporting to a 5–4 win. On 31 August 2019, Coates conceded three penalties and was sent off as Sporting fell 2–3 to

. All three fouls were against Iranian forward

Mehdi Taremi Mehdi Taremi ( fa, مهدی طارمی; born 18 July 1992) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Primeira Liga club Porto and the Iran national team. A late bloomer, he begun his career at Shahin Bushehr and Iranjav ...

. Coates captained and was a key player for the side that won the

2020–21 Primeira Liga The 2020–21 Primeira Liga (also known as Liga NOS for sponsorship reasons) was the 87th season of the Primeira Liga, the top professional league for Portuguese association football clubs. The season started later than usual, on 18 September 20 ...

, the club's first league title in 19 years. He was praised for leading a back-line that kept 20 clean sheets and only conceded 20 goals in 34 matches, being awarded as the 2020-21 Primeira Liga's best player.

International career

After playing for the Uruguay under-20s he was called up for

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

's first leg match in the CONMEBOL–CONCACAF playoff against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

in qualification for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, where he was an unused substitute. He made his full international debut 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 the

second group match, playing the full 90 minutes of a 1–1 draw at the

Estadio Malvinas Argentinas Malvinas Argentinas Stadium ( es, Estadio Malvinas Argentinas) is a stadium in the city of Mendoza in the homonymous province of Argentina. With a seating capacity of 42,000 spectators, the stadium is the largest in Mendoza. Built for the 1978 F ...

Mendoza, Argentina Mendoza (, ), officially the City of Mendoza ( es, Ciudad de Mendoza) is the capital of the province of Mendoza in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern si ...

. He played the remainder of the tournament, apart from being suspended for their quarter-final win over the hosts, and Coates went on to win the award for the Best Young Player at the end of the tournament, and his nation won the competition. He was called up by

Óscar Tabárez Óscar Washington Tabárez Silva (; born 3 March 1947), known as ''El Maestro'' (The Teacher), is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former player. He most recently coached the Uruguay national team. After an unassuming career as a ...

for the

Uruguay Olympic football team Uruguay national under-23 football team (also known as Uruguay under-23, Uruguay U-23, Uruguay Olympic football team) represents Uruguay in under-23 international football competitions such as the Olympic Games and Pan American Games. The se ...

that played at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

which were held in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He played every minute of their campaign, however Uruguay ultimately failed to qualify for the knockout round. At the

2013 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourna ...

in Brazil, he made one brief substitute appearance in a 2–1 victory against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and a start in an 8–0 win against

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

in the group, as Uruguay finished the tournament in fourth place. Although injury saw Coates miss out the entire Premier League season, he made a full recovery in time to be selected in the final 23-man squad for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. He made one appearance as the side reached the last 16, playing two minutes as a substitute for his Liverpool teammate

Luis Suárez Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Uruguayan Primera División club Nacional and the Uruguay national team. Nicknamed ''El Pistolero'' ('The Gunman'), he is ...

in the 2–1 group stage victory over

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The following year at the

2015 Copa América The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, ...

in Chile, Coates played Uruguay's final

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

match, a 1–1 draw against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, due to the suspension of captain

Diego Godín Diego Roberto Godín Leal (born 16 February 1986) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Argentine Primera División club Vélez Sarsfield and captains the Uruguay national team. Regarded as one of the best ...

; Uruguay were eliminated in the quarter-finals by the hosts. In May 2018, he was named in Uruguay's 23 man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

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 ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Coates scored his second goal for Uruguay in a friendly match against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

on 28 March 2023.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Uruguay's goal tally first.''

Honours

Nacional *

Primera División Uruguaya 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 ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Sporting CP *

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

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 ...

: 2018–19 *

: 2017–18, 2018–19,

, 2021–22 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

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 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Uruguay *

Individual * Copa América Best Young Player:

* SJPF Primeira Liga Team of the Year: 2016, 2017 *

LPFP Primeira Liga Player of the Year The Portuguese League for Professional Football Primeira Liga Player of the Year (often called the LPFP Primeira Liga Player of the Year, the Primeira Liga Player of the Year or simply the Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player ...

: 2020-21 * Sporting CP Player of the Year: 2020 *

Team of the Year:

References

External links

Profile
at the Sporting CP website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coates, Sebastian Living people 1990 births 2011 Copa América players Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 Copa América players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 Copa América players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Copa América-winning players Men's association football central defenders Club Nacional de Football players Liverpool F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Sporting CP footballers Olympic footballers for Uruguay Uruguayan Primera División players Premier League players Primeira Liga players Footballers from Montevideo Uruguay men's international footballers Uruguay men's under-20 international footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Portugal Uruguayan expatriate footballers Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in England Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Uruguayan footballers Uruguayan people of Scottish descent