Jefferson Agustín Farfán Guadalupe (; born 26 October 1984) is a Peruvian former 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 ...

who mainly played as a winger. Commonly known as Farfán or the nickname ''Foquita'' (Spanish for ''Little Seal''), he is known for his speed and technical ability and was one of the best providers of assists during his time in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

. Farfán began his career with

Deportivo Municipal Club Centro Deportivo Municipal, commonly known as Deportivo Municipal, is a Peruvian football club based in Lima, Peru. They are among Peru's most recognizable clubs and enjoy considerable popularity. The bulk of their success was won a few ye ...

and Alianza Lima; the latter club saw him make his professional debut in 2001. In 2002, Farfán was highlighted as one of the next best players of Peruvian football and a year later, won his second Primera División title. After winning his third league title with Alianza in 2004, he was recognized as the best Peruvian player of that year. Having joined

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, wh ...

in mid-2004, Farfán helped the Dutch giants win four

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

titles. He signed for Bundesliga side

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

in 2008 and during his time with the club, he won the 2011 DFB-Pokal Final. In 2012, he was named the most expensive Latin American player in the league. Farfán briefly played for

Al-Jazira Jazira or Al-Jazira ( 'island'), or variants, may refer to: Business *Jazeera Airways, an airlines company based in Kuwait Locations * Al-Jazira, a traditional region known today as Upper Mesopotamia or the smaller region of Cizre * Al-Jazira (c ...

in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at ...

before leaving due to a

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other par ...

. He last played in Russia for Lokomotiv, when, in his second season, helped the club win their first league title in 14 years and finished as the team's top scorer. With the national team, Farfán is the country's second top goalscorer, behind only Paolo Guerrero. He is very popular in Peru, with coach

Ricardo Gareca Ricardo Alberto Gareca Nardi (; born 10 February 1958), nicknamed ''el Tigre'' and ''el Flaco'' ("Tiger " and "Slim"), is an Argentine football manager and former player. Gareca was the manager of the Peru national team, with his contract end ...

naming him "one of the most important players in the history of Peruvian football." He helped his side finish third at the

2015 Copa América The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, ...

and second in Brazil 2019.

Club career

Alianza Lima

Farfán began his professional career with Alianza Lima of Peru. He made some appearances in 2001 on the first-team, and began to break through in 2002, and impacting Alianza with its 2003 Peru championship. In his final season with the club in 2004, Farfán scored 14 goals, helping the club to another Peru championship. Jefferson Farfán PSV

PSV Eindhoven

Following that season he was purchased by Dutch club

after being scouted by

Guus Hiddink Guus Hiddink (; born 8 November 1946) is a Dutch former football manager and professional player. He enjoyed a long career playing as a midfielder in his native Netherlands. Retired as player in 1982, Hiddink went into management, leading both c ...

, for a reported 2 million Euro transfer fee. Farfán made his debut in the

on 14 August in a 5–2 win against RBC Roosendal. Almost two weeks later, Farfán's European debut would come in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, a 5–0 win against

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in ...

. PSV qualified for the final tournament and he played in all twelve games. In the group match against the Norwegian Rosenborg BK, he scored his inaugural European goal in 2–1 win. A month earlier, he had scored his first league goal, in a 4–0 win against

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 Jul ...

. With PSV, Farfán won both the league and the cup tournament in his first season in the Netherlands. The Eredivisie would be won by PSV in the following three consecutive seasons. In the 2005/06 season, Farfán finished with 21 goals as club top scorer and fourth top scorer in the league. In his last season with PSV, Farfán was less dominant, partly due to an ankle injury he sustained during the

2007 Copa América The 2007 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, known simply as the 2007 Copa América or 2007 Copa América Venezuela, was the 42nd edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The c ...

. In March 2008, rumors began to circulate about a departure from Eindhoven.

FC Schalke 04

On 5 June 2008, it was reported that PSV had reached an agreement with German side

over the transfer of Farfán for around €10 million. On 10 June 2008, the club officially confirmed the transfer of Farfán on a four-year contract. On 28 April 2012, Schalke announced that Farfán had signed a contract extension, which would keep him at S04 until 30 June 2016.

Al Jazira Club

On 20 July 2015, after seven years at the club, Schalke confirmed that Farfán had joined

Al Jazira Club Al Jazira Club is an Emirati professional football club based in Abu Dhabi, that currently competes in the UAE Pro League. History Al-Jazira was established in 1974 as a merger between ''Khalidiyah'' and ''Al Bateen''. The club struggled to ...

for a reported fee of €6 million on a three-year deal, where he could earn up to €10 million a year. Farfán left the club on 19 October 2016, because the club did not respect all the clauses in his contract.

Lokomotiv Moscow

On 28 January 2017, he signed with the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 200 ...

side

FC Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three o ...

. The Russian team announced his signing after an irregular 2016, where he even was inactive for a hundred days after finishing in October 2016 a millionaire contract with Al Jazira. After 6 months of recovery, Farfán had a good season making goals that allowed his team to get the national title after 14 years. He didn't appear for Lokomotiv for 14 months from May 2019 due to knee injury and a following positive test for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

. He made his first appearance upon recovery on 12 July 2020 in a game against

FC Ufa FC Ufa (russian: ФК «Уфа», ba, Өфө, Öfö) is a Russian football club based in Ufa that will play in the second-tier Russian First League in the 2022–23 season. History During the summer of 2010, Rustem Khamitov, the second Pres ...

and scored a late equalizer for his club in a 1–1 draw. On 5 August 2020, Lokomotiv announced that Farfán left the club as his contract expired.

Alianza Lima

On 22 March 2021, Farfán signed with and returned to Alianza Lima.

Retirement

On 16 December 2022, Farfán announced his retirement at the age of 38.

International career

Farfán is an important player for the

Peru national football team The Peru national football team represents Peru in men's international football. The national team has been organised, since 1927, by the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF). The FPF constitutes one of the ten members of FIFA's South American ...

. Since making his debut for the side in February 2003, he has gained 95 caps and is second on the nation's career goalscoring list with 27 goals. Farfán ended the South American 2006 World Cup qualifiers as the second top scorer, with seven goals. He was suspended for 18 months from representing the national football team of Peru. But on 3 July 2008, after an investigation and a review of the facts, the suspension was changed to three months (from the date of appeal in April 2008) and $10,000. Farfan scored the winning goal in the World Cup qualifier at home to Chile on 23 March 2013. He was a member of the

that finished in third place at the

. Farfán has been a key performer for Peru during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers where he scored 3 goals. He scored 2 goals in a 3–4 home loss to Chile and the winner in a 1–0 home win over Paraguay. He scored one of two goals in a 2–0 home win against New Zealand that led Peru qualify to the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

after a 36-year absence. In June 2018 he was named in Peru's final 23-man squad for the

in Russia. He started in their first group game against

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, which resulted in a 0–1 loss. Farfán started as a substitute in their second group game against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, coming on in the 46th minute to replace Yoshimar Yotún. His side were eliminated from the competition after another 0–1 loss. He missed their final group game against Australia as he was rushed to hospital after a suffering a concussion in training. Peru won their final game 2–0. In Peru's second game of the

2019 Copa América The 2019 Copa América was the 46th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. It was held in Brazil and took place between 14 June and 7 J ...

, Farfán scored a goal in Peru's 3-1 victory over

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. Farfán suffered an injury to his left knee prior to Peru's last-eight clash against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del 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 ...

, ruling him out of the rest of the tournament. The

Peruvian Football Federation The Peruvian Football Federation ( es, Federación Peruana de Futbol or ) is the body that governs Association football in Peru. It was founded on August 23, 1922, and affiliated in 1924. A member of CONMEBOL since 1925, it directly oversees the ...

(FPF) confirmed the injury, with Farfán expected to be sidelined for 6 to 9 months. On 6 July 2019, Farfán underwent knee surgery in Barcelona, just hours before his team faced hosts

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the 2019 Copa América Final. Peru went on to lose the game 3–1 in his absence.

Playing style

Farfán is considered to be a fast and technically gifted forward or winger, and is regarded less as a goal-scorer, but instead as more of an assist provider and as a creator of goals. His one-on-one

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

ability, accurate

corner kick A corner kick is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defending team. The kick is taken ...

s and passes contributed heavily to Schalke's goals, especially in the international arena. Farfán is also known for his

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

and

direct Direct may refer to: Mathematics * Directed set, in order theory * Direct limit of (pre), sheaves * Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces Computing * Direct access (disambiguation), ...

or indirect free kick ability.

Career statistics

Club

International

:' :''Scores and results list Peru's goal tally first.''

Honours

Alianza Lima *

Peruvian Primera División The Peru First Division (; ''First Division'') —known as Liga 1 Betsson for sponsorship reasons and officially as Liga 1 — is the top flight of association football in Peru. It has been referred to as Torneo Descentralizado since 1966, when ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

PSV Eindhoven *

: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08 *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. O ...

: 2004–05; runner-up: 2005–06 *

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footba ...

runner-up:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

, 2006 Schalke 04 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

: 2010–11 * DFL-Supercup: 2011; runner-up:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Al Jazira Club *

UAE President's Cup The UAE President's Cup, or simply the President Cup, is a football tournament that takes place in United Arab Emirates, between clubs in the UAE Pro League and the UAE First Division League. The winner qualifies for the AFC Champions League. Hi ...

: 2015–16 Lokomotiv Moscow *

: 2017–18 * Russian Cup: 2016–17, 2018–19 *

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Russian Cup winners. If the Premi ...

runner-up:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Peru U18 * Bolivarian Games:

Peru *

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

runner-up:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

; third place:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

Personal life

Farfán has three children; two sons and one daughter. Having spent most of his career in Germany, he could speak

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, though not fluent. Despite his talents, since late 2000s, he is also widely known for being indisciplined and controversial. He has involved in three major national football team scandals in 2007, 2010 and 2019; the two former caused him to be suspended from the national team.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farfan, Jefferson 1984 births Living people Footballers from Lima Peruvian footballers Peru under-20 international footballers Peru international footballers Club Alianza Lima footballers PSV Eindhoven players FC Schalke 04 players FC Lokomotiv Moscow players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players Peruvian Primera División players Russian Premier League players 2004 Copa América players 2007 Copa América players 2015 Copa América players Peruvian expatriate footballers Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Russia Association football forwards Association football wingers Al Jazira Club players UAE Pro League players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 Copa América players FIFA Century Club