César Zabala Fernández (3 June 1961 – 31 January 2020) was a Paraguayan

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

defender. He played professional football in Paraguay for

Cerro Porteño Club Cerro Porteño is a professional Paraguayan Association football, football club, based in the neighbourhood of Obrero (Asunción), Obrero in Asunción. Founded in 1912, Cerro has won 34 Paraguayan Primera División, Primera División titles ...

, and had short spells in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

with

Talleres de Córdoba Club Atlético Talleres (; ), mostly known simply as Talleres ( in Rioplatense Spanish, Rioplatense accent and or in Cordobés Spanish, Cordobés accent; ), is an Football in Argentina, Argentine professional sports club based in the city of C ...

and in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

with

Sport Club Internacional Sport Club Internacional (), commonly known as Internacional, Inter de Porto Alegre, a cidade do Grêmio or simply Inter, is a Brazilian professional Association football, football club based in Porto Alegre. They play in the Campeonato Bras ...

Career

Zabala was born in

Luque Luque () is a city in Central Department of Paraguay, part of the Gran Asunción metropolitan area. Both 1635 and 1750 have been recorded as dates of its founding. It was temporarily the capital of Paraguay in 1868 during the Paraguayan War ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, and played professionally for

Sportivo Luqueño Club Sportivo Luqueño is a Paraguayan football club, based in the city of Luque on the outskirts of the capital Asunción. It currently plays in the Paraguayan Primera División, the country's top tier of football, where it has won thrice, in 19 ...

and

International

Zabala made his international debut for the

Paraguay national football team The Paraguay national football team (), nicknamed ''La Albirroja,'' represents Paraguay in men's international Association football, football competitions, and are controlled by the Paraguayan Football Association, Asociación Paraguaya de Fút ...

on 3 February 1985 in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

(1-0 loss) in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. A participant at the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

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 ...

, Zabala held 49 international caps and scored three goals for the national side.

References

1961 births 2020 deaths Paraguayan men's footballers Paraguay men's international footballers Men's association football central defenders Talleres de Córdoba footballers SC Internacional players Cerro Porteño players 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1987 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players 1991 Copa América players Paraguayan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Footballers from Luque Deaths from bladder cancer Deaths from cancer in Paraguay Sportivo Luqueño players {{Paraguay-footy-defender-stub