César Nahuel Araújo Vilches (born 2 April 2001) is a Uruguayan 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

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, 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 sanc ...

club Orlando City and the Uruguay national team.

Club career

Montevideo Wanderers

Growing up in

Cerrito, Montevideo Cerrito, officially Cerrito de la Victoria, is a ''barrio'' (neighbourhood or district) of Montevideo, Uruguay. Most of the barrio is on a hill (''cerrito'' is Spanish for "hill") on which is the church named Santuario Nacional del Cerrito. This h ...

, Araújo played for youth club Marconi FC before joining the academy at

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 ...

. On 1 August 2019, Araújo made his professional debut as a 68th-minute substitute in a 2–1 defeat to Brazilian side

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in C ...

in the

2019 Copa Sudamericana The 2019 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana was the 18th edition of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Copa Sudamericana'', or ), South America's secondary club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. Ecuadorian club Independiente d ...

round of 16. He didn't make another senior appearance for 12 months until substituting on for his

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , , local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional Association football, football league in Uruguay organized b ...

debut on 9 August 2020 in a 2–0 win against

Boston River Club Atlético Boston River, simply known as Boston River, is a Uruguayan sports club located in Montevideo. Founded on 20 February 1939, their football section is currently playing in the Uruguayan Primera División. At the futsal Futsal i ...

. At the end of the 2021 season, Araújo was named on the bench in the Primera División Team of the Year. He was also named Wanderers' Player of the Year in 2021.

Orlando City

On 7 January 2022, Araújo transferred to

team Orlando City for a reported $2,000,000 fee. He signed a three-year contract with an additional option year and joined as part of the new MLS U22 initiative. On 27 May, Araújo was fined by the MLS Disciplinary Committee for failing to leave the field in a timely manner after receiving a red card during a match against

Austin FC Austin FC is an American professional soccer club based in Austin, Texas. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 2018, the club began play in the 2021 season. Their home stadium is Q ...

five days earlier. Having never previously scored a goal in his senior club career spanning 88 matches, Araújo scored his first goals on 27 July when he netted twice during a 5–1 victory over

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conferenc ...

in a 2022 U.S. Open Cup semifinal. On 4 April 2023, Araújo was fined by the MLS Disciplinary Committee for violating the league's simulation/embellishment policy in a match against

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Nashville, Tennessee. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team spent two seasons in the USL Championship before joining ...

three days earlier. On 1 March 2025, Araújo made his 100th appearance for the club in a match against

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

. Araújo scored the opening goal, a free kick which hit the post before going into the goal, before assisting in the third goal of the match scored by Martín Ojeda, helping the match end 4–2 in Orlando City's favor. Araújo's performance saw him named to the Team of the Matchday.

International career

Araújo was named to multiple Uruguay under-20 training camps in 2020 and 2021. On 7 January 2022, Araújo received his first senior Uruguay national team call-up as part of a 50-player preliminary roster for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. On 21 October 2022, he was named in Uruguay's 55-man preliminary squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. Araújo made his debut on 5 June 2024 in a friendly against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

at the

Empower Field at Mile High Empower Field at Mile High is an American football stadium in Denver, Colorado. Its primary tenant is the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). It opened in 2001 to replace the Broncos' original home, the old Mile High Stadium. T ...

in Denver. He substituted Rodrigo Bentancur in the 89th minute as Uruguay won 4–0.

Personal life

Araújo is the younger brother of professional footballer

Maximiliano Araújo Maximiliano Javier Araújo Vilches (born 15 February 2000), known as Maxi Araújo, is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a left-winger or left-back for Primeira Liga club Sporting CP and the Uruguay national team. Club career A ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

;Orlando City *

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Individual *

Team of the Year:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Araujo, Cesar 2001 births Living people Footballers from Montevideo Men's association football midfielders Uruguayan men's footballers Uruguayan Primera División players Major League Soccer players Montevideo Wanderers F.C. players Orlando City SC players Uruguay men's youth international footballers Uruguay men's international footballers Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States