Cristian Miguel Riveros Núñez (born 16 October 1982) is a Paraguayan 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, rugb ...

who plays for Libertad as a

defensive 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 boundari ...

. A full international for Paraguay since 2005, he has earned 99 caps for his country, playing at two

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 has ...

competitions (

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

) and three

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 ...

tournaments (

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

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 celebrates ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

). On 19 July 2015, Paraguayan newspaper ExtraPRESS named Riveros the most expensive player in Paraguay.

Club career

Early career

Riveros started his career with local side Cristobal Colón in his hometown of Juan Augusto Saldivar and then moved to other Paraguayan teams such as

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

and

Tacuary Tacuary Football Club is a Paraguayan First Division football team, based in the neighborhood of Jara, Asunción. The club was founded in 1923. Tacuary qualified for the Copa Libertadores tournament twice (in 2005 and 2007) and the Copa Sudam ...

before playing for Libertad.

Cruz Azul

On 12 July 2007 he signed for the Mexican club

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

Sunderland

On 11 May 2010, Riveros signed for

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 ...

of the English

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 Fo ...

on a three-year-deal, saying "The league is very competitive and I look forward to being very successful with Sunderland. The Premier League is the best league in the world and Sunderland are a very big club with many passionate supporters. I look forward to meeting them." He made his Premier League debut on 14 August 2010 as a 63rd-minute substitute for Steed Malbranque in a 2–2 draw against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in the opening game of the season. However, Riveros quickly fell out of favour and played just 14 league games for, the club, scoring his only goal on the final day of the season in a 3–0 win over

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

Kayserispor

Riveros joined Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

side

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits. The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fi ...

on 6 July 2011 on a season-long loan from Sunderland, and signed a permanent contract on 1 May 2012. RiverosKayserispor

Grêmio

On 7 June 2013, Riveros joined Grêmio, signing a two-year contract.

Olimpia Asunción

In January 2015 after long and exhausting negotiations, it was announced that Grêmio and Club Olimpia Asunción had reached an agreement to sign Riveros for the 2015 Paraguayan Primera División season. Riveros was Instrumental for Olimpia to win their 40th Local Championship, for his experience and skills and also for his leadership on and off the pitch.

Libertad

On 7 December 2017, sports news outlet D10 Paraguay announced that Riveros would sign a two-year contract with Libertad, returning to the club after 11 years.

Nacional Asunción

He joined Nacional Asunción for the 2020 season.

Libertad

On 18 January 2022 of Paraguay's summer transfer window, Riveros officially completed a transfer to Libertad. Anterior to this, Riveros already performed the 2022 pre-season training with Nacional Asunción, however, he joined Libertad for the third time in his career, being at the request of

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

coach Daniel Garnero. By this way, he was one of three FIFA World Cup players in Libertad's team, being with Oscar Cardozo and

Roque Santa Cruz Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero (; born 16 August 1981) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Paraguayan club Club Libertad. He is the record goal scorer and has earned over 100 caps for the Paraguay national team, ...

International career

Riveros played in Paraguay's first two matches at the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

and played efficiently on the left wing. He picked up his first international goal for

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 t ...

in a 3–2 defeat to Chile. He also played for

in the

Copa América 2007 Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

2010 FIFA World Cup

On 4 May 2010, he was named in Paraguay's preliminary 30-man squad 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 ...

, and also made the 23-man penultimate selection alongside club team-mate da Silva. On 20 June 2010 at the World Cup, Riveros scored a second goal in a 2–0 win over

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

, which was set up by former Sunderland defender

Paulo Da Silva Paulo César da Silva Barrios (born 1 February 1980) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays for 12 de Octubre in Paraguay, as a centre-back. He has previously played top-flight football in Paraguay, Italy, Argentina, England and S ...

. Riveros scored a penalty in Paraguay's shoot-out win 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 n ...

in the Round of 16 stage, after the match finished goalless after extra time.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

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

Honours

Club

Libertad *

Paraguayan Primera División The División Profesional de la Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol (; "Professional Division of the Paraguayan Football Association"), also known as the Primera División (; "first division"), or due to sponsorship reasons Copa de Primera TIGO-Vi ...

, 2007

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Riveros, Cristian 1982 births Living people People from Central Department Association football midfielders Paraguayan footballers Paraguayan expatriate footballers Paraguay international footballers Club Tacuary footballers Club Sportivo San Lorenzo footballers Club Libertad footballers Cruz Azul footballers Sunderland A.F.C. players Kayserispor footballers Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players Club Olimpia footballers Club Nacional footballers Paraguayan Primera División players Premier League players Süper Lig players Liga MX players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Brazil Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in England Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Brazil 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2007 Copa América players 2011 Copa América players FIFA Century Club

Club career

Early career

Cruz Azul

Sunderland

Kayserispor

Grêmio

Olimpia Asunción

Libertad

Nacional Asunción

Libertad

International career

2010 FIFA World Cup

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours

Club

See also

References

External links