Fabián Andrés Vargas Rivera (born 17 April 1980) is a Colombian 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 ...

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 professional career playing for América de Cali and Boca Juniors, making more than 100 appearances for both clubs. He also played for

Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the Brazilian league, as well as in Campeonat ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

, Independiente,

Barcelona SC Barcelona Sporting Club () is an Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil, known best for its professional football team. Internationally known as Barcelona de Ecuador, in Ecuador it is simply referred as Barcelona, El Idolo (BSC) or Barce. T ...

Millonarios Millonarios Fútbol Club is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium. Millonarios was initially created in 1937 by students f ...

, and

La Equidad Club Deportivo La Equidad Seguros, also known as La Equidad, is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Metropolitano de Techo stadium. History ...

. At international level, he played for the Colombia national team 41 times and also captained the side.

Career

Vargas was born in Bogotá, Colombia. He began his career with América de Cali aged 18, in 1998. He played there for five years before transferring to Boca Juniors in 2003. While on loan at Brazilian side

SC Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Série A, the first division of the Brazilian league, as well as in Campeonato ...

from Boca Juniors, Vargas played in the side which beat

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

1–0 at the

2006 FIFA Club World Cup Final The 2006 FIFA Club World Cup Final took place at the International Stadium Yokohama, Japan on 17 December 2006. The match pitted Internacional of Brazil, the CONMEBOL club champions, against Barcelona of Spain, the UEFA club champions. Internaci ...

in Japan. On 18 June 2009, Vargas has signed a three-year deal with Spanish club

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

for a fee worth €4million ($6.5 million). On 5 September 2009, he broke his

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity i ...

during a

2010 World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Ocea ...

match with Colombia against

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

. The following day, it was revealed that Vargas had torn a ligament in his left ankle and would initially not be able to play for three months. However, his recovery was pushed back to seven months in January 2010. He returned to action on 28 February, playing the last 5 minutes of a 2-0 win over

Racing Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Span ...

AEK Athens

On 26 August 2011, Vargas signed with Superleague Greece club

on a 1+1 year deal keeping him at the club until 2013. Vargas scored his first goal for AEK on his second league appearance against

Xanthi Xanthi ( el, Ξάνθη, ''Xánthi'', ) is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi regional unit of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace. Amphitheatrically built on the foot of Rhodope m ...

, making the scoreline 1–1 with a

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...

. AEK went on to win the match 4–3. In July 2012 Vargas agreed to have his contract terminated in order for AEK to pay off club debts.

Deportivo La Equidad

In July 2016 Vargas moved to

on a free transfer. In his game against his former club América de Cali he played his 600th match as a professional football player.

Style of play

Vargas is a player with a physical approach to the game which earned him a reputation for being a dirty player. His nickname is ''el perro'' (the dog).

Honours

América de Cali *

Copa Mustang 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 ...

: 2000, 2001, 2002–1 *

Copa Merconorte The Copa Merconorte () was an international football competition organized by CONMEBOL from 1998 to 2001 by clubs from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela and starting in 2000 clubs from the CONCACAF confederation were invited in ...

: 1999 Internacional * FIFA Club World Cup: 2006 * Recopa Sudamericana: 2007 Boca Juniors *

Primera División Argentina 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, c ...

: Apertura 2003, Apertura 2005, Clausura 2006, Apertura 2008 * Intercontinental Cup: 2003 * Copa Sudamericana: 2004, 2005 * Recopa Sudamericana: 2005,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Colombia *

Copa America 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 ...

: 2001

References

External links

* * * *
argentinesoccer.com

Boca Juniors stats
at Historiadeboca.com.ar {{DEFAULTSORT:Vargas, Fabian 1980 births Living people Footballers from Bogotá Copa Sudamericana-winning players Men's association football midfielders Colombian men's footballers América de Cali footballers Boca Juniors footballers Sport Club Internacional players UD Almería players AEK Athens F.C. players Club Atlético Independiente footballers Barcelona S.C. footballers Millonarios F.C. players La Equidad footballers Colombia men's international footballers 2001 Copa América players 2007 Copa América players Colombian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador Categoría Primera A players Argentine Primera División players La Liga players Super League Greece players Ecuadorian Serie A players Copa América-winning players