Leonardo Alberto Fernandez Napollitano (born January 13, 1974) is a retired Argentine-born Bolivian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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. He played for 13 professional clubs in six countries.

Club career

Fernández has an extensive career in football. He started out at

Argentinos Juniors Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Paternal, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its association football, football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, and was reco ...

, where he was promoted to the first team in 1994. He then transferred to

Defensores de Belgrano Club Atlético Defensores de Belgrano (usually known as Defensores de Belgrano) is an Argentina, Argentine sports club from Nuñez, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its association football, football team, which currently plays in Primer ...

. After a short spell, he moved to

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

in 1997 to join

Oriente Petrolero Club Deportivo Oriente Petrolero () is a Bolivian football club based in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. They play at the 38,000-capacity Estadio Tahuichi Aguilera. Oriente have been Bolivian champions five times, Copa Aerosur winners two ti ...

, a club which acquired his playing rights shortly thereafter. Fernández spent a good portion of his career at Oriente, playing there on four occasions. During his first period with Oriente he had a series of impressive displays, a situation that encouraged him to apply for Bolivian citizenship in hopes of getting a call from the Bolivia national team. Fernández also played professionally for Independiente,

Unión de Santa Fe Club Atlético Unión (; mostly known as Unión de Santa Fe ) is a sports club from Santa Fe, Argentina, Santa Fe, the capital city of the Santa Fe Province, in Argentina. The club was founded on 15 April 1907. Unión is mostly known for its asso ...

Chacarita Juniors Club Atlético Chacarita Juniors (usually known simply as Chacarita) is an Argentine association football, football club headquartered in Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, while the stadium is located in Villa Maipú, General San Martín Partido of Gre ...

and

Tiro Federal Club Atlético Tiro Federal Argentino (mostly known just as Tiro Federal or Tiro Federal de Rosario) is an Argentina, Argentine association football, football club from the city of Rosario, Santa Fe, Rosario, in Santa Fe Province. The team curren ...

in the

Argentine Primera Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

CF Extremadura Club de Fútbol Extremadura was a Spanish football team based in Almendralejo, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1924, it played two seasons in La Liga, and held home games at '' Estadio Francisco de la Hera'', with a cap ...

of the Spanish

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

Atlético Nacional Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the country's history, the other ...

in the

Copa Mustang Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Association * Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association * Parlia ...

and

Sociedad Deportiva Aucas Sociedad Deportiva Aucas (), also known as "Papá Aucas", is a football club based in Quito, Ecuador. They play in the top tier of Ecuadorian football and have spent the majority of their history in the top-flight Serie A. The team is amongst th ...

of the

Serie A de Ecuador The Liga Pro Ecuador Serie A, simply known as the Liga Pro or the Serie A (or the Ecuadorian Serie A to distinguish it from the Italian Serie A and the Brazilian Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Série A), or as Liga Pro Ecuabet for sponsorship re ...

. In April 2007, while playing for Oriente, Fernández tested positive for marijuana consumption after a league game's doping control test. He appealed for a second test, and after the results came positive again the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

decided to suspend him for a two-year period. In 2009, Fernández returned to professional football with Bolivian first division club Real Mamoré. Later in the year, he joined La Paz F.C., club where he finished his career.

Bolivia national team

After his naturalization, Fernández was called up to represent the Bolivia national team. Between 2003 and 2005, he earned 17 caps, including 3 appearances in

Copa América 2004 Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Association * Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association * Parlia ...

. He represented his newly adopted country in 13

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches.

Club titles

References

External links