Mauricio Aníbal Isla Isla (; born 12 June 1988) is a Chilean 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, rugb ...

who plays 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 ...

and

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 ...

for

Chilean Primera División The Chilean Primera División (English: First Division) is the top-tier league of the Chilean football league system. It is organized by the '' ANFP''. The league is known as the Campeonato AFP PlanVital for sponsorship reasons. Format As of the ...

club Universidad Católica and the Chile national team. Isla started his career in the youth system of Universidad Católica, and later moved to Italian club

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...

in 2007, where he made his professional debut. His performances earned him a transfer to defending

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 ...

Champions

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

where he won consecutive league titles during his first two seasons with the team. In 2014, he was sent on loan for a season to English side

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

, while he also spent the next season on loan with French club Marseille. Isla has earned over 130 caps for

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 eas ...

since his debut in 2007, and represented the nation in two

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 has ...

s (in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

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 wa ...

) as well as five

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

tournaments (in

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and

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), winning the 2015 and 2016 editions.

Club career

Early years

As a child, Isla was with Huracán de Maipo from Buin. Next, he started in the youth ranks of Universidad Católica in 1999 as a forward. However his lack of height caused him to switch positions to defender, as U Católica lacked quality youth defenders. Isla played well enough in the new position to earn a call-up to the first team in 2006, but never played an official match and in 2007, coach

José del Solar José Guillermo del Solar Alvarez-Calderón (born 28 November 1967) is a Peruvian football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. During his playing career, spent in four countries – mainly in Spain, where he amassed ...

sent him back to the youth team.

Udinese

Isla had a notable performance during the summer of 2007 in the

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the sco ...

in Canada and was thereafter signed by

of the

in Italy on a five-year contract. He can both defend and attack and has been known to turn innocent possession-based games into quick-paced counter-attacks with ease. His technique is well accompanied by a surprising pace and stamina. Isla made his professional debut on 19 December 2007 versus

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...

in 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 ...

. On 8 March 2008, Isla played his first game as a starter in Serie A also against Palermo, a game which ended in a 1–1 draw. After the departure of

Simone Pepe Simone Pepe (; born 30 August 1983) is an Italian former footballer who played as a winger, on either side of the pitch. After starting out at Roma, he went on to compete in Serie A for 12 seasons, spending most of his time at Udinese and Juve ...

, Isla often played as a right wing-back in a 3–5–2 formation during Udinese's

2010–11 Serie A The 2010–11 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 109th season of top-tier Italian football, the 79th in a round-robin tournament, and the 1st since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B ...

campaign, due to a long-term injury to

Dušan Basta Dušan Basta ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Баста, ; born 18 August 1984) is a Serbian former professional right-sided full-back who played most recently for Italian club Lazio. He made his national team debut for Serbia in 2005. He was in the squad ...

. In that season, he was instrumental in helping Udinese finish fourth, thus gaining qualification to the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League play-off round.

Juventus

On 15 June 2012,

announced Isla's arrival to a medical ahead of a prospective move to join the team for the upcoming 2012–13 season. Following his move to Juventus, Isla said moving to Juventus was his dream come true and that he was excited to join his Chilean team-mate

Arturo Vidal Arturo Erasmo Vidal Pardo (; born 22 May 1987) is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Flamengo and the Chile national team. His displays during his time at Juventus led him to be n ...

. Isla told TVN:

This is a dream come true: We are going to be the strongest team in Italy. It is important for me as a player, but it is also vital for my family. I have been working for years to get to this point. In Udine I became a professional. But I have always said that sooner or later I would go to a bigger club like Juve. There I can challenge for trophies. I want to play and win something important, like the Champions League.

Loan to Queens Park Rangers

On 6 August 2014, Isla joined

on loan for the 2014–15

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

season, with an option of a permanent deal at the end of the season for a reported £8 million fee. He made his debut away against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. He made his home debut in the next league game against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, adapting to a new right-back role in a changed formation, helping the R's to their first league win and clean sheet of the season. Isla adapted quickly to the Premier League and this was helped when he was joined at QPR by his national teammate and close friend

Eduardo Vargas Eduardo Jesús Vargas Rojas (; born 20 November 1989) is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a forward for Brazilian Série A club Atlético Mineiro and the Chile national team. Emerging as a top talent at Cobreloa, Vargas moved ...

, who plays just in front of him in QPR's 4–4–2 formation. This started to show when he provided an assist for

Charlie Austin Charles Austin (born 5 July 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker. Released from his contract by Reading as a youth, Austin played non-league football up to May 2009, when he was signed by Swindon Town after a pro ...

against reigning Premier League champions

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. After settling into life in West London, Isla signaled his intention to take up the option of making the loan permanent at the end of the season.

Later years

On 31 August 2015 Isla was loaned to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

by Juventus. On 10 August 2016, Isla moved to

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

for a transfer fee of €4 million. He signed a three-year contract with his new club. On 21 July 2017, Isla signed for Turkish side Fenerbahçe on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee.

Flamengo

On 19 August 2020, Isla signed for Brazilian club

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

a two and a half-year contract on a free transfer. Isla debuted for Flamengo on 30 August 2020 as a halftime substitute in a

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

1–0 win over Santos at Vila Belmiro. He was named the best right back in the league during the 2020 season as Flamengo won the league title.

International career

Youth

Isla took part with Chile at under-15 level in the 2004 South American Championship and with Chile U17 in the 2005 South American Championship.

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Isla took part with Chile U20 in the 2007 South American Youth Championship, where Chile qualified for the

. During the U-20 World Cup Isla was noticed worldwide for his skill with the ball and versatility. Isla was an integral part of the team that finished in third place. In the quarterfinal game versus

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, Isla played defender, midfield, and forward due to a number of injuries to other squad members. The game went into

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

after finishing scoreless in regulation and in the added time, Chile scored four goals. Two of the goals came from Isla, one from the penalty spot. After each goal Isla ran over to the Chilean telecast camera (which was marked by a Chilean flag) and dedicated his goals to his grandmother and aunt, who was pregnant. This tournament and his performance in it led Isla to be transferred to Serie A team Udinese before his professional debut in the Chilean league, a very rare occurrence.

Senior

New Chilean coach

Marcelo Bielsa Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera (, nicknamed ''El Loco Bielsa'' , meaning "The Crazy Bielsa"; born 21 July 1955) is an Argentine professional football manager who was most recently the head coach of Premier League club Leeds United. He is a forme ...

called Isla up at the age of 19 for his first full Chile senior squad international cap in September 2007 in a friendly against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

versus his club-mate Gökhan Inler. He started as a center midfielder. This was his debut as a professional player, before making his first team debut on Udinese. His strong performances earned another call-up in the next friendly against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, where he came on as a second-half substitute. He played his first

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

match in March 2009 as a starter versus

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. Isla made another start against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

where, in a scoreless draw, he was sent off after 33 minutes following two yellow cards. He was a starter in all of Chile's four

2010 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 ...

games. He also played in 3 of 4 matches in the

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South Americ ...

, and playing in 13 of 16 matches in the

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

. At the

2015 Copa América The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, ...

on home soil, Isla scored the only goal in the 81st minute of a quarter-final win over holders

at the Estadio Nacional, putting Chile into the last four for the first time since

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, as the team went on to win the tournament.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Chile's goal tally first.''

Style of play

A hard-working, elegant, and tactically versatile player, Isla plays mainly on the right flank as a wing-back, but he can also play in numerous other positions in

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

, including as a full-back or even as a

, both in the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

and on the right

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is e ...

; he has also been deployed in defensive and offensive midfield roles. This is possible due to his stamina, technique, strength, and pace.

Honours

Club

;Juventus *

: 2012–13, 2013–14 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual association football, football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

;Flamengo *

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

* Supercopa do Brasil:

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, B ...

International

;Chile *

Individual

*Copa América Team of the Tournament:

* Bola de Prata:

References

External links

* *
Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isla, Mauricio 1988 births Living people People from Maipo Province Chilean footballers Chile international footballers Chile under-20 international footballers Chile youth international footballers Chilean expatriate footballers Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Italy Chilean expatriate sportspeople in England Chilean expatriate sportspeople in France Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Association football midfielders Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Brazil 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2011 Copa América players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 Copa América players Copa América Centenario players 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2019 Copa América players 2021 Copa América players Copa América-winning players Serie A players Premier League players Ligue 1 players Süper Lig players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Udinese Calcio players Juventus F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Olympique de Marseille players Cagliari Calcio players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers CR Flamengo footballers Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers FIFA Century Club

Club career

Early years

Udinese

Juventus

Loan to Queens Park Rangers

Later years

Flamengo

International career

Youth

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Senior

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Style of play

Honours

Club

International

Individual

See also

References

External links