Francisco José Rodríguez Araya (born 8 February 1995) is a Swiss 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

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

. His older brothers are the Swiss international Ricardo Rodríguez and the winger Roberto Rodríguez.

Club career

FC Zürich

Rodríguez is a youth exponent from

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

. He made his

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

debut on 20 July 2014 in the derby against

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ), commonly referred to as Grasshopper Club or simply just GC, is a professional sports club, multisports club based in Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. They are nicknamed the ''Grasshoppers'' or sometimes just ''Hopper ...

, playing the entirety of a 1–0 win.

VfL Wolfsburg

After a year with his first senior side, Rodríguez joined his brother

Ricardo Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name * Ricardo de Araújo Pereira (born ...

at German side

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 ...

signing a three-year contract until 2018. The transfer fee was believed to be €1.6 million. He received his first call for the senior team on 26 September 2015, when he was an unused substitute in a

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 ...

match versus

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

. He was loaned to

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia is most well known as ...

on 22 January 2016. On 31 August 2016, the loan deal with Bielefeld was terminated and Rodríguez joined

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (). It is best known for its professional association football, football team, which plays in the Swiss Super League, Super League, the top tier of the ...

FC Luzern

In June 2017, it was confirmed that Rodriguez had transferred to FC Luzern for an undisclosed fee.

International career

Rodríguez is a Swiss under-19 international who is eligible to play for

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

through his parents' nationality. On 18 August 2014, manager

Jorge Sampaoli Jorge Luis Sampaoli Moya (; born 13 March 1960) is an Argentine football coach. Sampaoli started out as a youth player and eventually switched to management after a severe injury. Sampaoli started with an impressive coaching run at Coronel Bol ...

called Rodríguez to play for Chile in two friendlies 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 ...

and

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, and he was set to make his full international debut. But on 21 August 2015, he refused the call up to the senior squad for a match against

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 ...

, saying that he still preferred to play for Switzerland's U21 team.

References

Living people 1995 births Men's association football midfielders Swiss men's footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Switzerland men's youth international footballers Swiss Super League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Swiss Challenge League players Swiss Promotion League players Swiss 1. Liga (football) players FC Zürich players VfL Wolfsburg II players Arminia Bielefeld players FC Luzern players FC Lugano players FC Schaffhausen players FC Winterthur players FC Baden players Swiss expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Swiss people of Basque descent Swiss people of Spanish descent Swiss people of Chilean descent Swiss people of Galician descent Sportspeople of Spanish descent Sportspeople of Chilean descent Footballers from Zurich 21st-century Swiss sportsmen {{Switzerland-footy-midfielder-stub