Federico Ricca Rostagnol (born 1 December 1994) is a Uruguayan

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 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 ...

or a left back for

Jupiler Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

club OH Leuven.

Club career

Danubio

Ricca was born in Tarariras,

Colonia Department Colonia () is a department of southwestern Uruguay. Its capital is Colonia del Sacramento, the country's second oldest city. Weather Colonia has an annual average temperature of 20.4 °C (68.7 °F). In winter it has an average temperat ...

. He joined

Danubio FC 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 ...

's youth set up in 2011, after starting at Club Atlético Maracaná. On 18 August 2013, he made his first team debut in a 0–0 away draw against

Cerro Largo FC Cerro Largo Fútbol Club is a football club from Melo, Cerro Largo Department in Uruguay. They play their games at Estadio Arquitecto Antonio Eleuterio Ubilla. They are followed by many fans since it is the only professional team that represen ...

. Ricca scored his first professional goal on 15 February 2014, his team's second in a 2–1 home win against

Liverpool FC Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

. He finished his first professional season with 23 matches and three goals, as his side was crowned champions. Ricca remained as a regular starter for Danubio in the following seasons, spending the whole 2014–15 season without being substituted. He also appeared as a starter for the side in both Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana.

Málaga

On 1 February 2016, Ricca signed a four-and-a-half-year deal with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

side Málaga CF. He made his debut there later in the month, in a 1–1 away draw against Real Sociedad. Rica scored his first goal abroad on 20 April 2016 with a last-minute equalizer in a 1–1 home draw against

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Li ...

Club Brugge

On 14 August 2019, Ricca joined Belgian First Division A club Club Brugge on a four year deal for a fee of €3 million.

OH Leuven

On 12 August 2022, Ricca moved to another Belgian club OH Leuven on a three-year contract.

International career

Ricca was named in Uruguay's senior squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and Colombia in September 2016. He made his debut on 4 June 2017 in a 3–1 friendly loss against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, coming on for

Maxi Pereira Maxi may refer to: People Given name * Maxi Biancucchi (born 1984), Argentine footballer who plays for Flamengo * Maxi López (born 1984), Argentine footballer who plays in Europe * Maxi Pereira, Uruguayan footballer who plays for SL Benfica ...

in the 62nd minute of the game.

Honours

Club

Danubio *

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , en, First Division Professional League, local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional football league in Uru ...

: 2013–14 Club Brugge * Belgian First Division A: 2019–20,

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 ...

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champio ...

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 coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

International

Uruguay U23 * Pan American Games: 2015

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ricca, Federico 1994 births Living people Footballers from Colonia Department Uruguayan men's footballers Uruguay men's international footballers Uruguay men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Danubio F.C. players Málaga CF players Club Brugge KV players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players Uruguayan Primera División players La Liga players Belgian Pro League players Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Pan American Games gold medalists for Uruguay Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games medalists in football Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games