Matías Damián Vila (born 7 July 1979 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

) is a

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

midfielder from

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 ...

, who made his debut for the national squad in 1997, and competed for his native country in the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

, 2004 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. Vila started to play hockey aged seven. After the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Games he moved from Banco Provincia to a Dutch club

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

, which had just been promoted to the top league in the Netherlands, together with fellow-international

Tomás MacCormik Tomás MacCormik (born June 7, 1978 in Buenos Aires) is a field hockey midfielder from Argentina. MacCormik began playing hockey at age seven. He made his debut for the national squad in 1996, and competed for his native country in the 2000 Summ ...

. His younger brothers

Rodrigo Rodrigo is a Spanish, Portuguese and Italian name derived from the Germanic name '' Roderick'' (Gothic ''*Hroþareiks'', via Latinized ''Rodericus'' or ''Rudericus''), given specifically in reference to either King Roderic (d. 712), the last Vi ...

and Lucas are also field hockey internationals for Argentina. With the national squad, Matías has won the bronze medal at the

2008 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy The 2008 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy was the 30th edition of the Hockey Champions Trophy men's field hockey tournament. It was held in from June 21 to June 29, 2008 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Participating nations Six national teams participat ...

and four medals at the Pan American Games.

References

External links

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"Pakistan, Argentina keep hopes alive"
3 March 2002. The Tribune, Chandigarh, India. * * 1979 births Living people Argentine male field hockey players Male field hockey midfielders Olympic field hockey players of Argentina Argentine field hockey coaches Field hockey players from Buenos Aires Field hockey players at the 2000 Summer Olympics 2002 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2006 Men's Hockey World Cup players 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2011 Pan American Games Field hockey players at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Series Hockey players Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina Pan American Games silver medalists for Argentina Pan American Games medalists in field hockey Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games 21st-century Argentine people {{Argentina-fieldhockey-bio-stub