Diego Armando Calderón Espinoza (born October 26, 1986) is an Ecuadorian

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 ...

. He was part of the squad who won the

2008 Copa Libertadores The 2008 Copa Libertadores de América was the 49th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's premier annual international club tournament. This marked the first year the competition was sponsored by Spanish bank Grupo Santander, Santander. As ...

with Liga de Quito.

Club career

Calderón participated in

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 ...

's campaign in the

Copa Libertadores 2008 The 2008 Copa Libertadores de América was the 49th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's premier annual international club tournament. This marked the first year the competition was sponsored by Spanish bank Grupo Santander, Santander. As ...

. He made great defensive displays against many of Liga's opponents. However, he sustained an injury during the Round of 16 and was replaced by

Renán Calle Renán Calle Camacho (born August 9, 1976) is a retired Ecuadorian football defender. Club career Calle started his professional playing career in 1999 with Aucas. He had a short spell with El Nacional before returning to Aucas in 2002. In 2 ...

for the rest of the tournament. His team became the first

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

ian team to win the Copa Libertadores. Calderón again became a regular starter during Liga's campaign in the

2008 FIFA Club World Cup The 2008 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2008 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth FIFA Club World Cup, a football tournament for the champion clubs from each of FIFA's six continental c ...

. He played both games against

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

and

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. Although Liga was able to defeat Pachuca 2–0 in the semifinals, they lost the final to Manchester United, 1–0. He and the rest of his team had a good, solid performance throughout the tournament. He was loaned to the

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 ...

in advance of the 2013 season, although he missed much of the season following knee surgery.

Honours

L.D.U. Quito *

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

(3): 2005 Apertura,

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

(1):

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 ...

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 ...

(1):

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

(2):

Deportivo Azogues *

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

(1): 2006 E1

References

External links

* * *
Player's card on FEF's website
1986 births Living people Footballers from Quito Ecuadorian men's footballers 21st-century Ecuadorian sportsmen Ecuador men's international footballers 2011 Copa América players L.D.U. Quito footballers Deportivo Azogues footballers Colorado Rapids players Barcelona S.C. footballers Zacatepec F.C. players C.D. Cuenca footballers S.D. Aucas footballers Ecuadorian Serie A players Major League Soccer players Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Men's association football defenders Copa Libertadores–winning players Copa Sudamericana–winning players {{Ecuador-footy-defender-stub