Marcelino Ignacio Núñez Espinoza (born 1 March 2000) is a Chilean 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 club

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

and the Chile national team.

Club career

Universidad Catolica

Nuñez made his professional debut in February 2020, coming on as a sub and playing 25 minutes in a home win against

Deportes Iquique Club de Deportes Iquique S.A.D.P. is a Chilean professional football club based in Iquique, currently playing in the Chilean Primera División. Founded in 1978, the club's home stadium is the Estadio Tierra de Campeones, which has a 13,171 capac ...

in San Carlos de Apoquindo. His

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

debut was a few days later, on 3 March 2020, on a 0-3 away loss against Brazil's Internacional de Porto Alegre. His first professional goal came just a week later, on a 1-2 home loss against

América de Cali América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...

, after bending a free-kick right into the goalkeeper's upper right corner.

Norwich City

On 2 August 2022, Núñez joined English side

for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal for Norwich in a loss to

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

on 13 August. On 21 February 2023, he scored a brace against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

, including a spectacular volley from 25 yards out, the goal later winning the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

Goal of the Month for February 2023.

International career

Núñez was called up to the

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 ...

squad for the

2021 Copa América The 2021 Copa América was the 47th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football, football championship organised by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament took place in Brazil from 13 June to ...

, but he didn't make any appearances. He made his debut in the

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

match against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

on 9 September 2021. Núñez scored his first international goal for Chile in a qualification match against

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 ...

on 1 February 2022.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Chile's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Núñez goal.''

Honours

Universidad Católica * Primera División:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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 ...

Supercopa de Chile The Supercopa de Chile (''Supercup of Chile'') is an annual one-match football official competition in Chile organised by the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (ANFP). This competition serves as the season opener and is played between t ...

Individual *

Goal of the Month: February 2023

References

External links

Profile
at the Norwich City F.C. website * 2000 births Living people Footballers from Santiago, Chile Chilean men's footballers 21st-century Chilean sportsmen Men's association football forwards Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Norwich City F.C. players Chilean Primera División players English Football League players Chile men's international footballers 2021 Copa América players 2024 Copa América players Chilean expatriate men's footballers Chilean expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England {{Chile-footy-midfielder-stub