Hugo Armando Campagnaro (; born 27 June 1980) is an Argentine 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 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 ...

. A full international for

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 ...

since 2012, Campagnaro has earned 17 caps for his country, and two years later was selected for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, where he won a runners-up medal.

Club career

He started his career at Club Deportivo Morón, playing in the Argentine second and third division. In 2002, having not played first division football, he was signed by

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

, who were in Serie A at the time. In the summer of 2007, he was signed by

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

in preparation for their 2007 UEFA Intertoto Cup campaign. Campagnaro was worth €1.55 million at the time.

Napoli

On 9 July 2009, Campagnaro was sold to

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

for €7 million.S.S.C. Napoli S.p.A. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2010 (in Italian)
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
/ref> As part of the deal, Daniele Mannini moved to Sampdoria in a joint-ownership bid for €3.5 million; Campagnaro signed a four-year contract. Campagnaro made his debut with Napoli on 23 August 2009 in week one of the 2009–10 Serie A season against Palermo, playing the entire match in a 2–1 away loss. Later, in March 2010, he scored his first goal for Napoli after an assist by

Ezequiel Lavezzi Ezequiel Iván Lavezzi (; born 3 May 1985) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a forward. During his career, his most important attributes were his pace, hardworking style of play, technique, creativity, and dribbling ab ...

in a 1–1 draw against

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

at the

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums i ...

. He finished his first season with Napoli having played 30 matches, 28 of which were in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

, with Napoli finishing 6th place in the league and qualifying for the

2010–11 UEFA Europa League The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began ...

play-off round. In the 2010–11 season, he was one of Napoli's most important players, helping the team to finish the season in 3rd place and qualifying directly to the group phase of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League. He played 39 matches in all competitions. He made his European debut with Napoli in the second match of the

play-off round The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

against Swedish side

Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spe ...

, playing the final 17 minutes in a 2–0 win at

Borås Arena The Borås Arena is a football stadium in Borås, Sweden. It is the home ground of IF Elfsborg and Norrby IF and was opened in 2005. Borås Arena has an artificial turf pitch, GreenFields MX by GreenFields, and has a capacity of 16,200. Both clubs ...

. During the 2011–12 season, Campagnaro won his first trophy with Napoli, the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

, where he played 90 minutes to help the team to a 2–0 win against

champions Juventus at Stadio Olimpico. On 14 September 2011, for the first time in his career, he made his Champions League debut on Matchday 1 against Manchester City, playing 90 minutes in a 1–1 draw at the

Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

. Napoli finished Group A in Champions League as runners-up with 11 points, with Bayern Munich topping the group. In the first leg of the round of 16 clash against English side

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

(who would go on to win the tournament), Campagnaro played 90 minutes for Napoli in an historic 3–1 win at San Paolo. Napoli lost the second match 4–1 after extra time at Stamford Bridge and were eliminated from the tournament. In his final season at Napoli, Campagnaro played the entire match of the 2012 Supercoppa Italiana with Napoli losing 4–2 after extra time against Juventus in China's Beijing National Stadium. In the league, he played 28 matches, scoring once in a 1–1 draw against

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

on 9 February 2013. On 1 July 2013, his contract expired and he left the club.

Inter Milan

On 6 July 2013, Campagnaro signed for

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

on a two-year deal. He made his debut with Inter in the third round of the

2013–14 Coppa Italia The 2013–14 Coppa Italia, also known as TIM Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 67th edition of the competition. As in the previous year, 78 clubs have taken part in the tournament. Lazio were the cup holders. Napoli were the winners, thus qu ...

competition, with Inter beating

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4–0 to qualify to the next round. He started the match and played 65 minutes alongside Ranocchia and Juan Jesus. He debuted in Serie A on 25 August in week one of the 2013–14 season against

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

in a 2–0 win at San Siro. He ended first season in the Nerazzurri shirt playing 23 matches in all competitions. For the 2014–15 season, many rumours circulated regarding a possible departure from Inter, but the player refused to negotiate a cancellation of his contract and did not leave the club. He made his European debut for Inter in the first match of the group stage of the 2014–15 Europa League against Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

Pescara

International career

He made his debut for Argentina national football team on 29 February 2012 in a friendly match against Switzerland, which

won 3–1. In June 2014, Campagnaro was named in Argentina's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He started in Argentina's 2–1 defeat of

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

at the Estádio do Maracanã, playing the first half before being substituted for

Fernando Gago Fernando Rubén Gago (; born 10 April 1986) is an Argentine professional former player and football manager of Racing Club. During his 16-year club career, limited by multiple serious injuries, Gago played as a defensive midfielder and deep-lyi ...

. He did not play again for the rest of the tournament, with Argentina finishing runners-up after losing 1–0 in final of Estádio do Maracanã against

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after extra time.

Style of play

A strong, solid, and aggressive centreback, with good anticipation and reactions, Campagnaro is difficult to beat in one on one situations, and has been given the nickname ''El Toro'' (the bull). In addition to his physical attributes, he possesses good technique, vision, and tactical versatility; because of these attributes, he can play in both a 3-man and 4-man defence, and has even been deployed as a

right-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 ...

, where he is often involved in the build-up of plays, due to his distribution.

Personal life

On 9 June 2011, he was involved in a serious road traffic accident in the province of Córdoba, Argentina, which killed one of the passengers in his SUV and two people in the other car involved in the incident.

Career statistics

Clubs

International

Honours

Club

Sampdoria *

runner-up: 2008–09 Napoli *Coppa Italia: 2011–12

International

Argentina *

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 ...

runner-up

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Campagnaro, Hugo 1980 births Living people Footballers from Córdoba, Argentina Argentine footballers Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine expatriate footballers Piacenza Calcio 1919 players U.C. Sampdoria players S.S.C. Napoli players Inter Milan players Serie A players Serie B players Delfino Pescara 1936 players Expatriate footballers in Italy Association football defenders Deportivo Morón footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentina international footballers 2014 FIFA World Cup players