Joao Robin Rojas Mendoza (; born 14 June 1989) is an Ecuadorian 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 winger for ADT. He also holds Mexican citizenship.

Club career

Ecuadorian clubs

At a young age, he had already played more than 80 games as a professional. He began in Municipal de Cañar as a juvenile for twelve months. The following year, he moved on to Deportivo Quevedo, but was then transferred to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

for a while. In 2007, he moved to Tecnico Universitario where he began his real career. In the 2008 season, he won the award of best juvenile player of the tournament with Tecnico. However, since Tecnico did not qualify for the liguilla final, the club loaned him to River Plate in the Ecuadorian Second Division until January. He has currently been linked with a move to Emelec in the offseason.

LDU Quito Liga Deportiva Universitaria () is an Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. They play their home games at the Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgad ...

, El Nacional, and

have been interested in him as well but they have been put down because of his $1 million price tag. On February 10, 2009, Rojas signed a contract with Emelec.

Monarcas Morelia

2011 season

Emelec loaned Rojas to Morelia in January 2011, in his first season Rojas scored five goals in 22 games, two of which goals were on the semi-final match against

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, and also scored on the final against

UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countries. It also has 34 ...

at home, drawing 1–1 in the first leg. but failed to win the championship, and settled for second.

2011–12 season

Monarcas secured his pass to the Michoacán club and received the number 10 shirt for the club. Rojas played 20 games and scored 2 goals. The second half of the season, also called the Clausura, Rojas helped the club to reach the semi-final stages of both the Mexican league and

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

as well.

2012–13 season

Before the start of the Apertura 2012 season Morelia signed

Jefferson Montero Jefferson Antonio Montero Vite (; born 1 September 1989) is an Ecuadorian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger for club F.C. St Helens, FC St Helens. He has represented the Ecuador national fo ...

, Rojas' former Ecuador U-20 teammate, Rojas and Montero continuously assisted each other in both League and

Copa MX Copa MX, also known as Copa Corona MX for sponsorship reasons, was an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic cup tournament for clubs at the highest and second levels of Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Copa ...

matches. His first league goal of the season came in a 3–0 win against

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

. Later he would score against

Club León Club León is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in León, Guanajuato, León, Guanajuato, that competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football league system, Mexican football. The club was founded in 1944 ...

both league and cup matches, both within a week. He would go on to score two more goals against

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and

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Cruz Azul

2013–14 season

On the Liga MX draft day, Joao Rojas was transferred to Cruz Azul, and was given the number 11 shirt. His club debut came on July 20, winning 1-0 against Monterrey. On July 26, Joao scored his first goal for Cruz Azul, losing 3-2 against Santos Laguna.

São Paulo

On 22 June 2018, Rojas joined Brazilian club

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube () is a professional Association football, football club in the Morumbi, São Paulo, Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil. It plays in Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo (state), São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

on a two-year contract.

Return to Ecuador

On 23 March 2022, Rojas returned to Ecuador and signed with Orense.

International career

He was called up to perform at the international level, getting his first cap 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 ...

in November 2008. He came on as a substitute in the final minutes of the game. Rojas earned his first senior start the next year in March 2009, in a friendly played against

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

. Rojas have been compared by "El Universo" to

Christian Benítez Christian Rogelio Benítez Betancourt (1 May 1986 – 29 July 2013), also known as Chucho, was an Ecuadorian professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. He began his career with Club De ...

because of his speed, skills, and size. He performed in the U-20 team in Venezuela for the

2009 South American Youth Championship The 2009 South American Youth Championship (Sudamericano sub-20) was a football competition for national teams U-20 who are associated with the football federation CONMEBOL. It was the 24th time the tournament was held and took place in Venezuela ...

. He scored the two goals in Ecuador's 2-1 win against

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

in the youth championship. Rojas has now been called up for the upcoming South American World Cup Qualifiers and is in contention for a starting line up alongside

Carlos Tenorio Carlos Vicente Tenorio Medina (born 14 May 1979) is an Ecuadorian former footballer who last played for Ecuadorian club Atlético Saquisilí. From 2001 to 2009, he played for the Ecuador national team. Club career Tenorio began his club caree ...

due to a shoulder injury. Rojas was picked in the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Reinaldo Rueda Reinaldo Rueda Rivera (born 16 April 1957) is a Colombian football coach who currently serves as a manager for the Honduras national team. When he was the coach of the Colombia U-20 team, they finished 3rd at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Cham ...

. He came on in the 77' in Ecuador first match against

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International goals

Career statistics

National team

Honours

;Cruz Azul *

: 2013–14 ;São Paulo *

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

References

External links

*
Rojas' FEF player card
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rojas, Joao 1989 births Living people People from La Troncal Naturalized citizens of Mexico Men's association football wingers Ecuadorian men's footballers 21st-century Ecuadorian sportsmen Ecuador men's international footballers Independiente del Valle footballers C.D. Técnico Universitario footballers C.S. Emelec footballers Atlético Morelia players Cruz Azul footballers Talleres de Córdoba footballers São Paulo FC players Orense S.C. players Ecuadorian Serie A players Liga MX players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Argentine Primera División players 2014 FIFA World Cup players Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Deportivo Garcilaso players CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning players Asociación Deportiva Tarma footballers