Ariel Silvio Zárate Riga (born 13 July 1973) is an Argentine former 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 played mainly as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, and a

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 ...

. Only having made his debut in the Primera División in his own country well past his 30s, he spent the vast majority of his professional career in Spain, mainly with

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

which he represented in three full

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 ...

seasons.

Career

After completing his formation at

Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield () is an Argentine sports club based in Liniers, Buenos Aires. Its football team plays in Argentine Primera División, Primera División, the highest level of the Argentine football league system, Argentine league ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

-born Zárate began playing professionally in Mexico with

Club Toluca Deportivo Toluca Fútbol Club S.A. de C.V. is a Mexican professional football club based in Toluca, State of Mexico. The club plays in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football, from which they have never been relegated. The club was f ...

. He then had a stint with lowly A.S.D. Riccione 1929 of Italy and spent seven years in Spain, with

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20,724. Salvadoran ...

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

(helping the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

team achieve promotion to

in 1999),

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community, Spain. Founded in 1923, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025–26 season, holding home matches at ...

and

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo S. A. D. is a Spanish association football, football club based in the city of Jerez de la Frontera. It was founded in 1947 and plays in . History Due to the link between Jerez de la Frontera and the United Kingdom created b ...

. Subsequently, Zárate returned to Argentina, playing for modest clubs

Deportivo Morón Club Deportivo Morón is an Argentine sports club located in the city of Morón, Buenos Aires. Deportivo Morón's football team currently plays in Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Argentine football league system. The club was found ...

, C.S.D. Tristán Suárez and

All Boys Club Atlético All Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Floresta, Buenos Aires. The institution is mostly known for its association football, football team, which currently plays in the Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Arge ...

. He helped the latter to the

Primera B Metropolitana Primera B Metropolitana is one of two professional leagues that form the third level of the Argentine football league system. The division is made up of 17 clubs mainly from the city of Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area, Greater Buenos Aires ...

championship in his first season. As All Boys returned to the Primera División in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

after an absence of nearly 40 years, Zárate made his debut in the competition in a 1–0 home loss against

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club () is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Avellaneda, Argentina. They compete in the Argentine Primera División, Primera División, the top tier of Argentine football league system, Argentine f ...

for the campaign's ''

Apertura The ' () and ' () tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is ...

'', aged 37 years and 25 days. Following his retirement, he acted as their

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Personal life

Zárate's son luca debuted in admiral Brown yesterday and "el chino " had three brothers, all footballers: younger

Rolando Rolando may refer to: Entertainment *'' Rolando'', a 2008 puzzle-adventure video game *'' Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid'', a 2009 puzzle-adventure video game *"Rolando", a song by Roland Kirk from the album ''Domino'' People *Rolando (gi ...

and Mauro and older Sergio, with all of them eventually representing the Argentina national team. Ariel's nephew, Tobías, also became a professional footballer.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zarate, Ariel 1973 births Living people Argentine sportspeople of Chilean descent Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Argentine Primera División players Primera Nacional players Deportivo Morón footballers All Boys footballers Liga MX players Deportivo Toluca F.C. players ASD Riccione 1929 players La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Cádiz CF players Málaga CF players Elche CF players Xerez CD footballers Argentine football managers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Zárate family