Óscar Steven Zambrano Preciado (born 20 April 2004) is an Ecuadorian 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, rugby lea ...

who plays as 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 ...

for club

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

on loan from

Ecuadorian Serie A The Liga Pro Ecuador Serie A, simply known as the Liga Pro or the Serie A (or the Ecuadorian Serie A to distinguish it from the Italian Serie A and the Brazilian Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Série A), or as Liga Pro Ecuabet for sponsorship re ...

club

L.D.U. Quito Liga Deportiva Universitaria () is an Ecuadorian professional football club (association football), football club based in Quito. They play in the Ecuadorian Serie A, Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. Th ...

Early life

Born in the Santo Domingo Canton of Ecuador, Zambrano is the youngest of six siblings, with one of his brothers, Jefferson Preciado, also going on to become a footballer.

Club career

Zambrano began his footballing career in the same academy as compatriot and current Ecuador international footballer

Moisés Caicedo Moisés Isaac Caicedo Corozo (born 2 November 2001) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Chelsea and the Ecuador national team. Early life Born in Santo Domingo, Ecuador, the youngest of 10 siblings, ...

- Colorados Jaipadida. He joined the academy of

in 2016, but spent the following season with

América de Quito Club Deportivo América, commonly known as América de Quito, is a football club based in Quito, Ecuador. A top-level club in Ecuador for decades, they were relegated to the second division in 1988 and later to the country's third-tier Segunda Ca ...

. He returned to L.D.U. Quito and progressed through the academy, before making his professional debut in a 2–0

win over

Cumbayá Cumbayá is a rural parish of the Metropolitan District of Quito in the Pichincha Province, Ecuador. It is located east of Quito, in the Tumbaco Valley northwest of the Ilaló volcano, in the San Pedro River valley, a tributary of the Guayllab ...

on 10 April 2022. Having already trialled at Dutch side

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

in 2022, Zambrano was again linked with a move to Europe the following season, with club president Esteban Paz stating that teams were interested, but that they hadn't "received any concrete offer yet". He was later linked with Brazilian side

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

and American

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

team

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

. On 16 August 2024, Zambrano joined

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

club

on a season-long loan, with the club having an option to buy in the summer of 2025. He made his debut on 24 August 2024, in the Tigers' 0–0 draw at home to

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

. On 28 September 2024, he scored a goal in the 4–1 home win against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

International career

Zambrano was called up to the Ecuador under-20 side for the

2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 23rd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth Association football, football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since i ...

, where he was one of Ecuador's better players in a campaign that saw them knocked out in the round of 16 by

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Doping ban

Following the

2024 Recopa Sudamericana The 2024 CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana () was the 32nd edition of the CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Recopa Sudamericana''), the football competition organized by CONMEBOL between the winners of the previous season's two m ...

second leg on 29 February 2024, a game which Zambrano and Quito lost, Zambrano tested positive for doping. He was, however, allowed to keep playing competitive football. That was until 5 November 2024, when

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

suspended Zambrano for 16 months. By this time, he had gone out on loan to Hull and made 8 league appearances for his new team, scoring one goal in the process. Five months later, on 13 March 2025, Zambrano had his appeal heard by the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

. On 24 April, it was reported that the ban had been reduced, with the new expiry date set for 3 November 2025.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zambrano, Óscar 2004 births Living people People from Santo Domingo de los Colorados Ecuadorian men's footballers 21st-century Ecuadorian sportsmen Men's association football midfielders L.D.U. Quito footballers Hull City A.F.C. players Ecuadorian Serie A players English Football League players Copa Sudamericana–winning players Ecuador men's youth international footballers Ecuador men's under-20 international footballers Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England