Aníbal Samuel Matellán (born 8 May 1977) is an Argentine former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who played as a defender.

Career

Matellán started his career with the Argentine giants

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

, after several years of success with the club. During his time there, Boca won six major titles in five seasons: three league titles, two

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

titles and one Intercontinental Cup. In 2001, he was transferred to the German]side, FC Schalke 04, Schalke 04, and helped the team to win the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

in 2002. After three seasons with Schalke 04, Matellán returned to Boca where he won another major title, the

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

. During his two spells with Boca, Matellán made 132 appearances for the club scoring three goals. In 2005, he signed for the Spanish side

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

. However, after playing for them for just one season, he moved to the new

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

team, Gimnàstic. After the 2006–07 season, he moved back to Argentina, signing for

Arsenal de Sarandí Arsenal Fútbol Club (), usually referred as Arsenal de Sarandí , or simply Arsenal, is an Argentine sports club from the Sarandí district of Avellaneda Partido, Greater Buenos Aires. The football team currently plays in Primera Nacional, t ...

. Matellán headed one of the most important goals of his career on 30 November 2007 in the first leg of the

Copa Sudamericana 2007 The 2007 edition of the Copa Sudamericana was played by 34 teams; 30 teams from the CONMEBOL and 4 teams from the CONCACAF. CONMEBOL organized the tournament and invited three North American clubs which were the best three of the CONCACAF Champi ...

final against América to help give Arsenal a valuable 3–2 lead going into the second leg. After three years with Arsenal de Sarandí, it was announced on 14 June 2010 that he would move to the Mexican side

San Luis FC San Luis Fútbol Club was a Mexican professional football club from the city of San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí. The club was founded in 1957, when they were known as Santos (saints). The team's nickname of ''Tuneros'', a reference to the tuna ...

. He last played for

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

After retirement

On 17 December 2018, Matellán returned to

in the role as a Sports Secretary. He left his position at the end of 2019.

Honours

Boca Juniors * Primera División: 1998 Apertura, 1999 Clausura, 2000 Apertura *

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 ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

Schalke 04 *

: 2001–02 *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Arsenal de Sarandí *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Suruga Bank Championship The J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship was an annual intercontinental football match held in Japan, contested by the reigning champions of the J.League Cup and the Copa Sudamericana. The tournament was previously officially called the ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

References

External links

* at Fútbol XXI
BDFA prolife
1977 births Living people Footballers from Buenos Aires Province Argentine men's footballers Argentine sportspeople of Spanish descent Men's association football defenders Boca Juniors footballers FC Schalke 04 players Getafe CF footballers Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Arsenal de Sarandí footballers San Luis F.C. players Argentinos Juniors footballers Argentine Primera División players Bundesliga players La Liga players Liga MX players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Copa Libertadores–winning players 20th-century Argentine sportsmen {{Argentina-footy-defender-1970s-stub