Sebastián Eguren Ledesma (born 8 January 1981) is a Uruguayan

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and former player who played mainly as a

defensive 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 ...

. Eguren started his career with

Montevideo Wanderers Montevideo Wanderers Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Wanderers, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club are currently members of the Primera División and play at the Estadio Viera. Beside football, the cl ...

in 1999, and went on to play professionally in Norway, Sweden, Spain, Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina before retiring in 2016. He earned 57

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 ...

between 2001 and 2013, representing his country at the

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 ...

and two

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, winning the 2011 edition. From 2016 he worked as a coach, mainly as an assistant to

Martín Lasarte Martín Bernardo Lasarte Arróspide (born 20 March 1961) is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a defender, most recently the manager of the Chile national team. He represented five teams in his country, and also had a three-and-a-hal ...

Playing career

Club

Early years

Born in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Eguren started his career in native country, playing for Montevideo Wanderers FC (twice) and

Club Nacional de Football Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'' or simply as Nacional) is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in Montevideo. The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' and ''Mon ...

. With the latter, after the 0–0

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

game against

Club Deportivo El Nacional Club Deportivo El Nacional (until 2018 ''Club Especializado de Alto Rendimiento El Nacional'') is an Ecuadorian sports club from Quito, known best for their professional football team. The team currently plays in the Serie A, the first-tier foot ...

on 12 February 2004, he tested positive for cocaine, being suspended from football for six months. He blamed the

coca tea Coca tea, also called mate de coca, is an herbal tea (infusion) made using the raw or dried leaves of the coca plant, which is native to South America. It is made either by submerging the coca leaf or dipping a tea bag in hot water. The tea is mo ...

, widely drunk in the Andean countries as a medicine which alleviates the effects of altitude, and got the shortest suspension for this kind of cases (this specific match was played at 2,800 meters above sea level, in

Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...

). Eguren arrived at

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differe ...

from Norwegian club

Rosenborg BK Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles, a shared record 12 Norwegian Football Cup ti ...

, on loan during the later part of the 2006 season and, on 5 December 2006, signed a three-year contract with the Swedish side.

Villarreal

On 30 January 2008, Eguren joined Villarreal CF of La Liga, on loan until the end of the campaign. Almost immediately cast into the starting XI, he partnered

Marcos Senna Marcos Antônio Senna da Silva (born 17 July 1976), known as Senna, is a retired professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He was mainly known for his passing range and long-range shooting and was also a penalty specialist. H ...

in centre midfield as the ''Yellow Submarine'' obtained its best position ever in the top flight by finishing second; in May the Spaniards decided to make the move permanent, and the player penned a three-year deal. During 2008–09, more of the same: Eguren was, alongside Senna, an everpresent fixture, and the Uruguayan scored his first goal for the club in a 3–3 home draw against

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

(with the Madrid side leading 3–0 at the half-hour mark). He played 32 league matches in his first full season. In late January 2010, as he had lost his defensive midfielder position to youth graduate Bruno, Eguren was loaned to

S.S. Lazio Società Sportiva Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club''), commonly referred to as Lazio, is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent ...

. However, the move was cancelled days later, after the player did not pass his medical.

AIK / Sporting Gijón

Anxious for playing time in order to secure a spot on the national squad for the

2010 FIFA 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 ...

, Eguren signed with reigning Swedish champions AIK Fotboll on 19 February 2010. According to their director of football Björn Wesström, the agreement was technically not a loan deal as the player had no contractual obligations with Villareal until 1 July 2010 – however, he was due to return to Spain since he still had 12 months left of his contract. In early March, it was decided by the club to put the player under police protection, after he was harassed while training by fans of former side Hammarby, a fierce rival to AIK; he usually operated as a defensive midfielder previously, but manager

Mikael Stahre Mikael Lennart Tage Stahre (; born 5 July 1975) is a Swedish football manager who is currently head coach of Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg. Management career Stahre was appointed as AIK's manager on 10 November 2008 immediately following the ...

preferred using him in an attacking midfielder or

deep-lying forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

role. In late July 2010, Eguren returned to Spain but not to Villarreal, signing a three-year contract with fellow league team Sporting de Gijón. He contributed with 19 games and two goals in his second year, but the

Asturians Asturians ( ast, asturianos) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group native to the autonomous community of Asturias, in the North-West of the Iberian Peninsula. Culture and society Heritage Asturians are directly descended from the Astures, who wer ...

suffered relegation.

Return to South America

In July 2013, Eguren signed a one-and-a-half year deal with Brazil's Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras. He confessed that his changing of club happened because he did not have enough playing time at his previous team

Club Libertad Club Libertad is a professional association football, football club based in Asunción, Paraguay that currently plays in the Paraguayan Primera División. The club plays its home games at Estadio Tigo La Huerta; which holds 10,100 people. Fo ...

in Paraguay, where he played second-fiddle to

Pablo Guiñazú Pablo Horacio Guiñazú (born 26 August 1978) is an Argentine football manager and former player. A hard-working defensive midfielder, Guiñazú played for a number of clubs in Argentina, Italy, Russia, Paraguay and Brazil, and represented the ...

. He scored twice in 12

Campeonato Brasileiro Série B The Campeonato Brasileiro Série B is commonly referred to as the Brasileirão Série B (Série B), and until 2022 was officially called Brasileirão Sportingbet by sponsorship reasons. It is the second tier of the Brazilian football league system ...

games as the team from São Paulo won the title, including the equaliser on 23 November as they defeated Ceará Sporting Club 4–1 to lift the trophy. Having played rarely in Série A for Palmeiras in

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 ...

, Eguren returned to Montevideo Wanderers on a one-year contract the following 27 January. Days later, he was loaned for two years to Club Atlético Colón of the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

. On 25 July, he went back to another former club in his hometown, Nacional.

International

Eguren made his debut for

during the

2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil national football team, Brazil ...

, entering the pitch in the 63rd minute of a 1–0 win against

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, and added a further two appearances in the competition. On 28 May 2008, after a five-year absence, he scored his first goal for the ''Charrúas'', netting in a 2–2 friendly with Norway in Oslo. On 6 September 2008, Eguren scored his first competitive international goal, heading Diego Forlán's corner kick for the only goal away to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

qualification; he added his only other of the campaign just over a year later, to conclude a 3–1 win in the reverse fixture. He was selected for the finals in South Africa, playing once for the semi-finalists (three minutes in the group stage 0–0 draw against France). Always as a substitute, Eguren was used regularly 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 ...

as his nation won its 15th continental tournament. Manager

Óscar Tabárez Óscar Washington Tabárez Silva (; born 3 March 1947), known as ''El Maestro'' (The Teacher), is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former player. He most recently coached the Uruguay national team. After an unassuming career as a ...

also took him to the

2013 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourna ...

in Brazil, where he was part of a completely changed team that beat Tahiti 8–0 in the group stage en route to finishing fourth.

Coaching career

Shortly after retiring as a player, Eguren received his first coaching job in June 2016 when he was hired as assistant to

at Nacional. He followed him to

Al Ahly SC AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

, where they won the

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League ( ar, الدوري المصري الممتاز), also known as WE Egyptian Premier League (WE EPL) after the addition of title sponsor WE, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the top level of th ...

in 2018–19. In September 2020, Eguren was hired at Atenas de San Carlos in his country's second division, having previously been the

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

. He left the following February, to work beside Lasarte again on the

Chile national team 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 ...

. Lasarte and Eguren quit the Chile national team in April 2022, having failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar; the assistant put the blame on the advanced age of the team's star players and the failure to develop replacements for them. Days later, he was hired in his first top-flight job as a manager, with 12th-placed

Montevideo City Torque Montevideo City Torque is a Uruguayan association football, football club based in Montevideo. The club currently plays in the Uruguayan Primera División, the first division of Uruguayan football league system, Uruguayan league system, having ac ...

. On his Torque debut on 6 May 2022, Eguren recorded a 2–2 draw at

Club Sportivo Cerrito Club Sportivo Cerrito, usually known simply as Cerrito, is a Uruguayan football club based in Cerrito de la Victoria, Montevideo. They currently play in the Uruguayan Segunda División. Titles *Uruguayan Segunda División: 2 ::2003, 2020 * Te ...

. He resigned from the City Football Group-owned team on 20 September, having won four and lost half of 20 league matches.

Personal life

During most of his career in Europe, Eguren did not count as a foreign player, due to the fact he was married to a Swedish woman. Besides his musical preferences, ranging from Bob Dylan to

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

, and his literary ones (he is a fan of compatriots

Mario Benedetti Mario Orlando Hardy Hamlet Brenno Benedetti Farrugia (; 14 September 1920 – 17 May 2009), was an Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet and an integral member of the Generación del 45. Despite publishing more than 80 books and being publish ...

and

Eduardo Galeano Eduardo Hughes Galeano (; 3 September 1940 – 13 April 2015) was a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist considered, among other things, "global soccer's pre-eminent man of letters" and "a literary giant of the Latin American left". Galean ...

), Eguren spoke openly about politics, admiring president

José Mujica José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano (; born 20 May 1935) is a Uruguayan politician, former revolutionary and farmer who served as the 40th president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. A former guerrilla with the Tupamaros, he was tortured and impr ...

, with whom he shared views in favour of legalising cannabis and abortion.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Uruguay's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Eguren goal.'' , + List of international goals scored by Sebastián Eguren , - , align="center", 1 , , 28 May 2008 , ,

Ullevaal Ullevaal Stadion () is an all-seater football stadium located in Oslo, Norway. It is the home ground of the Norway national football team, and the site of the Norwegian Cup Final. From its opening in 1926 to 2009 it was the home ground of ...

, Oslo, Norway , , , , align="center", 2–1 , , align="center", 2–2 , ,

Friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

, - , align="center", 2 , , 20 August 2008 , , Sapporo Dome, Sapporo, Japan , , , , align="center", 1–0 , , align="center", 3–1 , , Friendly , - , align="center", 3 , , 6 September 2008 , , El Campín,

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

, Colombia , , , , align="center", 1–0 , , align="center", 1–0 , ,

2010 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 (Oce ...

, - , align="center", 4 , , 11 February 2009 , ,

11 June Events Pre-1600 * 173 – Marcomannic Wars: The Roman army in Moravia is encircled by the Quadi, who have broken the peace treaty (171). In a violent thunderstorm emperor Marcus Aurelius defeats and subdues them in the so-called "miracle ...

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

, Libya , , , , align="center", 1–0 , , align="center", 3–2 , , Friendly , - , align="center", 5 , , 9 September 2009 , , Centenario,

, Uruguay , , , , align="center", 3–1 , , align="center", 3–1 , , 2010 World Cup qualification , - , align="center", 6 , , 8 October 2010 , ,

Gelora Bung Karno Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium ( id, Stadion Utama Gelora Bung Karno; literally "Bung Karno Sports Arena Main Stadium"), formerly Senayan Main Stadium and Gelora Senayan Main Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium located at the center of the Ge ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

, Indonesia , , , , align="center", 4–1 , , align="center", 7–1 , , Friendly , - , align="center", 7 , , 10 June 2012 , , Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay , , , , align="center", 4–2 , , align="center", 4–2 , , 2014 World Cup qualification

Honours

AIK * Svenska Supercupen:

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 ...

Palmeiras *

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 fact ...

Uruguay *

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eguren, Sebastian 1981 births Living people Swedish people of Uruguayan descent Naturalized citizens of Sweden Footballers from Montevideo Uruguayan footballers Association football midfielders Uruguayan Primera División players Montevideo Wanderers F.C. players Club Nacional de Football players Eliteserien players Rosenborg BK players Allsvenskan players Hammarby Fotboll players AIK Fotboll players La Liga players Villarreal CF players Sporting de Gijón players Paraguayan Primera División players Club Libertad footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Argentine Primera División players Club Atlético Colón footballers Uruguay international footballers 2001 Copa América players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2011 Copa América players 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players Copa América-winning players Uruguayan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Norway Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Paraguay Expatriate footballers in Brazil Expatriate footballers in Argentina Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Norway Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Paraguay Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Egypt Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Chile Uruguayan football managers Montevideo City Torque managers