Francisco Javier "Maza" Rodríguez Pineda (; born 20 October 1981) is a Mexican 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 centre-back.

Club career

Guadalajara

Francisco Javier Rodríguez was born in

Mazatlán Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding '' municipio'', known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip ...

, Sinaloa, which is the origin of his nickname "Maza" (short for Mazatlán). He began his professional career with Guadalajara under Dutch manager

Hans Westerhof Hans Westerhof (born 24 November 1948) is a Dutch football coach and currently supervisory board member at SC Heerenveen. Besides the Netherlands, he has coached in the United States and Mexico. As a player, Westerhof played for BV Veendam and ...

, debuting for the club in the Apertura 2002 tournament. In the Apertura 2006, Rodríguez had a pivotal role in Guadalajara's championship run, winning the final second-leg match 2–1 (3–2 on aggregate) against

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in Mexico. The city f ...

on 10 December. The win gave Chivas their eleventh league championship, a record which stood until América matched it in 2013.

PSV Eindhoven

On 9 May 2008, it was announced that he was transferred for US$1.8 million to Dutch club

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

, the second Mexican in the latter squad with

Carlos Salcido Carlos Arnoldo Salcido Flores (; born 2 April 1980) is a Mexican former professional footballer. He started his career as a centre-back and played most of it as left-back, then converted to defensive midfielder and ended it as centre-back. He ...

. Rodríguez was predominantly during that debut season mostly on the bench, and proved an alternate centre backs for

Dirk Marcellis Dirk Marcellis (born 13 April 1988) is a former Dutch footballer who played as a centre back. After a non-playing period at PSV Marcellis fought back at AZ and became one of its important players. After suffering from injuries, he signed with N ...

. He scored his first goal with the Dutch giants on 25 November 2008 with a 30-yard shot against Heracles Almelo. Prior to the start of the 2009–10 season, Rodríguez was given the number four jersey, previously worn by Manuel da Costa, who had transferred to

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

in January 2008. He won a starting spot in the center of defence for both the Eredevisie and the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

VfB Stuttgart

On 14 July 2011, Rodríguez signed a three-year contract with

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

for an undisclosed fee. Rodríguez made his

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 ...

debut on 6 August 2011 in a 3–0 win against

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

. He registered an assist in the 37th minute to

Cacau Claudemir Jerônimo Barreto (born 27 March 1981), known as Cacau (, ), is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in Brazil, he represented Germany at international level. Cacau received German citizenship in February 20 ...

, which gave Stuttgart a 2–0 lead in their 3–0 victory.

América

On 2 January 2013, Rodríguez was transferred to América. When América defeated

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 ...

in the Clausura 2013 final, he became the first player in history to win a league championship with both América and Chivas, archrivals in Mexico's biggest rivalry, El Súper Clásico. He had previously won the league title with Chivas in the Apertura 2006.

Cruz Azul

On 4 June 2014, Rodríguez was transferred to

Lobos BUAP

After six seasons with

, Rodríguez was transferred to newly promoted

Lobos BUAP Club de Fútbol Lobos de la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla were a Mexican football club based in Puebla, Mexico. The club represented the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. The club's history goes back to the early 193 ...

for the Apertura 2017.

International career

Youth

Rodríguez was part of the Mexico

2004 Olympic The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

under-23 team. They were eliminated in the group stage, having finished third in Group A, below group winners

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

Senior

Rodríguez made his debut with the senior national team on 18 February 2004 in a friendly 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 Carson, California. He scored his first goal for Mexico on 8 July 2005 in a 1–2

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

loss against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. On 2 April 2006, he was called up by coach

Ricardo La Volpe Ricardo Antonio La Volpe Guarchoni (; born 6 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager. He is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper who played for most of his career in Argentina and Mexico. As a coach, La Volpe was in ...

for the

2006 FIFA 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 th ...

. Rodríguez played in the match against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Rodríguez was a part of the Mexico squad in 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 ...

. He was a starter in all of Mexico's group matches, and played the

Round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

match against

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 ...

. During the

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the 21st CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's 50 years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition started on June ...

, Rodríguez, and four other members of the Mexico national team, tested positive for the banned substance of

Clenbuterol Clenbuterol is a sympathomimetic amine used by sufferers of breathing disorders as a decongestant and bronchodilator. People with chronic breathing disorders such as asthma use this as a bronchodilator to make breathing easier. It is most commonl ...

and were withdrawn from the tournament squad. However, all players were exonerated as FIFA determined that the accused had ingested the banned substance via contaminated meat that had been served during a pre-tournament training camp. However,

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...

appealed to the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its c ...

to request a ban. But on 12 October 2011, WADA withdrew this request after the full file was made available to them. Brazil_and_Mexico_match_at_the_FIFA_World_Cup_2014-06-17_(23)

Brazil_and_Mexico_match_at_the_FIFA_World_Cup_2014-06-17_(23)

Rodríguez also participated at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Career statistics

Club

''Updated 26 May 2013''

International

International goals

Honours

Guadalajara * Primera División: Apertura 2006 PSV * Johan Cruyff Shield:

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; ...

América * Liga MX: Clausura 2013 Mexico U23 * CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship: 2004 Mexico *

: 2015

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Francisco Javier 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Mazatlán Footballers from Sinaloa Mexican expatriate footballers Mexican footballers Association football defenders Mexico international footballers Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Mexico 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2007 Copa América players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning players Liga MX players C.D. Guadalajara footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Eredivisie players PSV Eindhoven players Mexican expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands VfB Stuttgart players Club América footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Bundesliga players Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Germany FIFA Century Club