Jorge Cristian Acuña Concha (born 31 July 1978 in

Ovalle Ovalle is a city in the Coquimbo Region of Chile, founded in 1831 as a settlement. It has a population of more than 113,000 people. The name Ovalle was chosen to honor to Chile's vice-president, José Tomás Ovalle. Ovalle is the capital of the ...

), also known by his nickname Kike Acuña, is a Chilean football manager and former footballer 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 ...

Club career

Born in

, IV Region of Coquimbo, Acuña joined

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

–based club

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional association football, football club based in the Independencia, Chile, Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile. They currently participate in the Chilean Primera Division, Primera D ...

youth set-up where was promoted to the first adult team in 1999. After spending a season with the Spaniards, in January 2000, he moved to powerhouse Universidad Católica where he helped the club to win the 2002 Torneo Apertura, being a key playing in the title earning. In 2002, Acuña signed a contract with Dutch club

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

. Following a Feyenoord Reserve match on 15 April 2004, he and other Feyenoord players, including

Robin van Persie Robin van Persie (; born 6 August 1983) is a Dutch football coach and former professional footballer who played as a striker. Regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation, Van Persie was known for his excellent technique and ball co ...

, were attacked by

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

hooligans. Acuña was taken to the hospital with head, neck and rib injuries. Then he joined on loan to

RBC Roosendaal RBC, commonly known under its previous official name RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse after a bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in tenth tier Vijfde Kl ...

to play the 2005–06 Eredivisie season. After completing 24 league appearances, Acuña finished his spell at

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

and later was released from Feyenoord in January 2006 which didn't renew his contract. After months as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

he was on trial at English clubs

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

and

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. However, on 23 January 2007, Acuña finally signed for

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

, Católica's cross town rivals. He arrived to the club during an institutional crisis, only playing 16 league games and then being fired by coach

Arturo Salah Arturo Salah Cassani (born 4 December 1949) is a Chilean former footballer and manager. From January 2016 until 2019 he was the president of Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional. He studied civil engineering at the Pontifical Catholic ...

after missing a training. On 8 August 2007, it was reported that Acuña moved to South African side

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premier Soccer League, the first tier of South African football l ...

of the

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

. After two seasons playing at ''The Brazilians'', he decided to left them after differences with club's chairman

Patrice Motsepe Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe (born 28 January 1962) is a South African mining billionaire businessman. Since 12 March 2021, he has been serving as the President of the Confederation of African Football. He is the founder and executive chairman of ...

who according Acuña discriminated him for be white. After leaving Unión San Felipe, on 2018 he played for both Rebeldes F.C. and Las Higueras de Santa María at amateur level.

Managerial career

After coaching the under-17 football team of the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Santa María, on 2020 he began his managerial career as manager of

Unión San Felipe Unión San Felipe is a Chilean Football club, their hometown is San Felipe in the V Región of Valparaíso. They play in the second level of the Chilean football league, the Primera B. They were the Copa Chile champions, and played the 2010 Co ...

at under-17 level. In November 2020, after Unión San Felipe changed his technical staff, Acuña became

assistant coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a Coach (carriage), horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultima ...

of Héctor Roco, the manager of the first team. On 28 April 2021, he took the challenge of coaching Unión San Felipe as a caretaker manager after Tomás Arrotea was released, being later ratified on 26 May 26, 2021, and released on August of the same year. For the 2023 season, he signed with Santiago City FC in the Chilean Tercera A.

Personal life

His cousin, Diego Abarca, is an American soccer player who is the son of his cousin, Sandra Ramírez, and the former Chilean professional footballer José Abarca.

Honours

Club

;Universidad Católica *

Primera División de Chile 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 Alí Rafael Primera Rosel ...

: 2002 Apertura

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Acuna, Jorge Living people 1978 births People from Ovalle Footballers from Coquimbo Region Chilean men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Chile men's international footballers Unión Española footballers Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Feyenoord players RBC Roosendaal players Club Universidad de Chile footballers Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players Ñublense footballers Unión San Felipe footballers Rangers de Talca footballers C.D. Cobresal footballers Chilean Primera División players Eredivisie players Primera B de Chile players Chilean expatriate men's footballers Chilean expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Chilean expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Chilean football managers Primera B de Chile managers Unión San Felipe managers