Álex Darío Aguinaga Garzón (, born 9 July 1969) is an Ecuadorian former professional

football player 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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. A

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

during his playing career, he is one of the all-time cap leaders for

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

with 109 matches, scoring 23 goals. Aguinaga is known as one of the best Ecuadorian men's footballers of all time. On the club level, Aguinaga has played for

Deportivo Quito Sociedad Deportivo Quito is an Ecuadorian club football club based in Quito. For most of its existence, it competed in Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. And currently competes in the Second Category of Pi ...

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

and

LDU Quito Liga Deportiva Universitaria () is an Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. They play their home games at the Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgad ...

Club career

Necaxa

Aguinaga spent the majority of his club career at Necaxa, whom he joined in 1989, winning 3 championships with the club. In 1999 Aguinaga was crucial for Necaxa's first CONCACAF Champions Cup title. Necaxa would go on to participate in the first edition of the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

where in the group stage Aguinaga scored against

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

, but missed a penalty against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. He scored in the penalty shootout against Real Madrid in the 3rd place match. He also holds a Mexican passport. His grandfather is of Spanish descent.

LDU Quito

After winning a league title in Ecuador, Aguinaga decided to retire from football.

International career

Aguinaga earned his first cap for

on March 5, 1987. In the same match, he scored his first goal for the team. Over the year, he would form an integral part of the national team. He would captain the team for a number of years and assisted in the goal by

Iván Kaviedes Jaime Iván Kaviedes Llorenty (Greek: Ιβάν Καβιέδες; born 24 October 1977) is an Ecuadorian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Club career Kaviedes rose to fame after scoring 43 goals in one season for Emelec ...

that assured Ecuador's first qualification to the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, in which he played. This was the only World Cup where Aguinaga participated.

Managerial career

Aguinaga's managerial career began in late 2010 as an assistant to

Manuel Lapuente Manuel Lapuente Díaz (born 15 May 1944) is a Mexican former professional Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager. Playing career A Forward (association football), forward, Lapuente played 13 matches for M ...

at Mexican club América. He left the club in early 2011 when Lapuente was sacked. In March of the same year, he was named to his first full-time managerial post as the new manager of Guayaquil-based club

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

following the sacking of Rubén Darío Insúa. In late May of the same year, he resigned from his position to not interfere and influence the club's presidential elections the following month. He has not ruled out a return after the election. In September 2014, Aguinaga became the manager of

Correcaminos UAT Club de Fútbol Correcaminos de la Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, simply known as Correcaminos UAT, is a Mexican professional football club based in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas. It competes in Liga de Expansión MX, the second level divisi ...

, which plays in the

Ascenso MX Ascenso MX, also known as Ascenso BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, was a professional association football league in Mexico and the second level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Primera División A de México (1994–2009 ...

second professional level league of the

Mexican football league system The Mexican football league system is organized by the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (FMF), except for Liga MX and Liga de Expansión MX, which are organized independently; The league system consist of six professional divisions (four men's le ...

Personal life

Aguinaga's daughter Cristiane is an actress and has appeared in several Mexican series and telenovelas such as Carita de Ángel and La rosa de Guadalupe.

Career statistics

Honors

Necaxa * Primera División: 1994–95, 1995–96, 1998 ''Invierno'' *

CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup The CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup was an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its secondary continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. It was held from 1991 to 1998, althou ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

*Mexican Cup: 1995 *

Campeón de Campeones Campeón de Campeones () is an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic super cup between the Liga MX champions of the ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura'' tournaments. It was initially a super cup match between the league and cup cha ...

: 1995 *

CONCACAF Champions' Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

third place:

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

LDU Quito *

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

: 2005 Apertura Ecuador *

Canada Cup The Canada Cup () was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world championship that a ...

Individual *Ideal team of South America: 1989 *Number 7 retired by

Club Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

as a recognition to his contribution to the club.

References

External links

International statistics
at

rsssf The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

*
Video
at YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Aguinaga, Alex 1969 births Ecuadorian people of Basque descent Living people Sportspeople from Ibarra, Ecuador Footballers from Imbabura Province Ecuadorian men's footballers Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Club Necaxa footballers Cruz Azul footballers S.D. Quito footballers L.D.U. Quito footballers Ecuadorian Serie A players Liga MX players Ecuador men's international footballers FIFA Men's Century Club 1987 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players 1991 Copa América players 1993 Copa América players 1995 Copa América players 1999 Copa América players 2001 Copa América players 2004 Copa América players 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Barcelona S.C. managers L.D.U. Loja managers San Luis F.C. managers C.D. Cuenca managers L.D.U. Quito managers Men's association football midfielders Ecuadorian football managers CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning players Ecuadorian expatriate football managers