Facundo Hernán Quiroga (born 10 January 1978) is an Argentine retired 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 ...

. Mainly a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, he could also play as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Club career

Born in San Luis, Quiroga began his career at

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

in the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

in 1997. The following year he was signed by

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

, where he spent six years with a season-long loan at Italian side

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

in 2000–01. He was relatively important in the

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

team's 2000 conquest of the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

championship, playing alongside another Newell's youth graduate

Aldo Duscher Álvaro 'Aldo' Pedro Duscher (born 22 March 1979) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is the current manager of the Paraguay national under-20 team. Renowned for his physical presence on t ...

who also joined in 1998; at Napoli he played with former Sporting teammate Luis Vidigal, as they were eventually relegated from

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 ...

. In 2004, Quiroga moved to

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

, a club that acquired a number of Argentine players in that timeframe ( Oscar Ahumada,

Andrés D'Alessandro Andrés Nicolás D'Alessandro (born 15 April 1981) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He has played top-flight football in Argentina, Germany, England, Spain, Brazil and Uruguay. He won an Olym ...

, Diego Klimowicz and Juan Carlos Menseguez). A regular in the lineups from 2004 to 2007, he only appeared in 12

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

matches in his last year, subsequently returning to Argentina and joining

Club Atlético River Plate Club Atlético River Plate is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Belgrano neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Founded in 1901, the club is named after the English name for the city's estuary, Río de la Plata. ...

. In 2010, the 32-year-old Quiroga signed for

Club Atlético Huracán Club Atlético Huracán () is an Argentine sports club from the Parque Patricios neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is notable for its association football, football team, that currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, Primera Divi ...

. He retired three seasons later, with

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 ...

also in his country's top division.

International career

Quiroga earned 16

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Argentina national team, going on to represent the country at the

2004 Copa América The 2004 Copa América was the 41st edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body, and was held in P ...

. His debut came on 17 April 2002 in a friendly win in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

(1–0), playing the entire match and being booked; he was finally overlooked for the squad at that year's

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

Honours

Sporting *

: 1999–2000, 2001–02 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 2001–02

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Quiroga, Facundo 1978 births Living people Footballers from San Luis Province Argentine people of Spanish descent Argentine men's footballers Men's association football defenders Argentine Primera División players Newell's Old Boys footballers Club Atlético River Plate footballers Club Atlético Huracán footballers All Boys footballers Primeira Liga players Sporting CP footballers Serie A players SSC Napoli players Bundesliga players VfL Wolfsburg players Argentina men's international footballers 2004 Copa América players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Germany