Roberto Miguel Acuña Cabello (; born 25 March 1972) is a Paraguayan former

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 ...

. Nicknamed ''El Toro'' (

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

) due to his strength and dominating presence, he operated mainly as a

central 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 ...

. He spent several years as a professional in Spain at

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

and Deportivo, appearing rarely for the latter club. Acuña played 100 times for

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, representing the nation in three

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and four Copa América tournaments.

Club career

Acuña was born in Avellaneda,

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 ...

, Argentina, emigrating to Paraguay (his father's origin country) at a young age and starting playing for

Club Nacional Club Nacional is a Paraguayan professional football club based in the neighbourhood of Obrero in Asunción. Founded in 1904, the club currently plays in the Paraguayan Primera División, and holds its home games at Estadio Arsenio Erico. In ...

in 1989. After five years, he decided to acquire the country's citizenship to play for the national team, eventually becoming the second most capped player in Paraguay's history, second only to Carlos Gamarra. Afterwards, Acuña played four seasons back in Argentina, with

Argentinos Juniors Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Paternal, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, and was recognized as one of the ...

, Club Atlético Independiente and Boca Juniors, before moving to Europe in 1997 where he signed with Spain's

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...

. With the Aragonese he was an everpresent midfield fixture, helping the side to the 2001 conquest of the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

. In 2001, he won the Paraguayan Footballer of the Year award.El historial del galardón (Award's history)
ABC Color, 29 December 2008 (in Spanish) Consequently, Acuña attracted attention from

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. They currently play in the Primera División RFEF – ...

, which bought the player for five years and

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11 million even though he was still due a five-match suspension from the previous season, where Zaragoza was relegated. With the

Galicians Galicians ( gl, galegos, es, gallegos, link=no) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group from Spain that is closely related to the Portuguese people and has its historic homeland is Galicia, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. Two Romance la ...

, however, he never appeared more than seven times in the league during his spell, also struggling with injuries and being often loaned. Acuña first retired in 2007, finishing his career in Paraguay with Olimpia Asunción. However, in 2009, he came out of inactivity, signing with lowly

Club Rubio Ñu Club Rubio Ñu is a Paraguayan football club based in the Barrio Santísima Trinidad of Asunción. The club was founded August 24, 1913 and plays in the División Intermedia, the second division of the Paraguayan football league. Their home ga ...

; in 2012, the 40-year-old joined

Club 12 de Octubre 12 de Octubre Football Club is a Paraguayan football club from the city of Itauguá that currently plays in the División Intermedia, the second division of Football in Paraguay. Founded in 1914, the club's home venue is Estadio Luis Alberto Sa ...

. In 2015, aged 43, Acuña helped

Deportivo Recoleta Deportivo Recoleta, or simply known as Recoleta, is a Paraguayan association football club from the neighbourhood of the same name, in Asunción; founded in 1931. After winning the 2022 Primera B Metropolitana championship, in the 2023 season th ...

gain promotion to the

Paraguayan Primera División B The Primera División B (''First Division B'': in English), also known as Primera División B Metropolitana or simply Primera B Metropolitana in order to distinguish it from the Primera División B Nacional, is the metropolitan tournament of the ...

. In December of that year, he re-joined former club Rubio Ñu.

International career

central defender 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 ...

Gamarra, Acuña appeared in three

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 ...

–

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, 2002 and 2006 – and collected 100

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in total, scoring five goals. He played all the matches for the national team in all three editions, and was the first Paraguayan to be

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in a World Cup when he elbowed

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Michael Ballack Michael Ballack (; born 26 September 1976) is a German former professional footballer. He is among the top goal scorers in the history of the German national team. Ballack wore the number 13 shirt for every team he has played for, except 1. FC ...

in the last minute of the 0–1 round-of-16 loss on 15 June 2002 (for a second bookable offense). In the build-up to the 2006 World Cup, Acuña made headlines in Sweden after reportedly having asked a FIFA employee to phone and try to arrange a date with a female photographer. He retired from international competition on 11 June 2011 at the age of 39, captaining Paraguay in a friendly with

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. Acuña also represented the nation in the beach soccer variety.

International goals

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

Honours

Club

Independiente * Supercopa Sudamericana:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

Zaragoza *

: 2000–01

Individual

* Paraguayan Footballer of the Year: 2001

References

External links

Argentine League statistics at Fútbol XXI
* * * *
Football-Lineups profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acuna, Roberto 1972 births Living people Argentine sportspeople of Paraguayan descent Argentine emigrants to Paraguay Citizens of Paraguay through descent Sportspeople from Avellaneda Argentine footballers Paraguayan footballers Association football midfielders Paraguayan Primera División players Club Nacional footballers Club Olimpia footballers 12 de Octubre Football Club players Club Rubio Ñu footballers Argentine Primera División players Argentinos Juniors footballers Boca Juniors footballers Club Atlético Independiente footballers Rosario Central footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Real Zaragoza players Deportivo de La Coruña players Elche CF players UAE Pro League players Al Ain FC players Paraguay international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 1993 Copa América players 1995 Copa América players 1997 Copa América players 1999 Copa América players Argentine expatriate footballers Paraguayan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates FIFA Century Club Beach soccer players