Maximiliano Javier Araújo Vilches (born 15 February 2000), known as Maxi Araújo, is a Uruguayan 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 left-winger or

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

and the Uruguay national team.

Club career

Araújo is a youth academy graduate of

Montevideo Wanderers Montevideo Wanderers Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Wanderers, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club are currently members of the Primera División and play at the Estadio Viera. Beside football, the cl ...

. He made his professional debut for the club on 11 March 2018 in a 2–1 league win against

Montevideo City Torque The Montevideo City Torque is an Uruguayan association football, football club based in Montevideo. The Torque currently plays in the Uruguayan Segunda División, the Second division of Uruguayan football league system, Uruguayan league system, h ...

. At the end of December 2019 it was confirmed, Araújo had signed a deal until the end of 2023 with

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

club

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 ...

. On 27 August 2024, Araújo joined

club

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

on a five-year contract. On 5 November 2024, Araújo scored his debut goal in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

in a 4-1 victory.

International career

As a youth international, Araújo has represented Uruguay at the

2019 South American U-20 Championship The 2019 South American U-20 Championship was the 29th edition of the South American U-20 Championship (, ), the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONMEBOL for the men's under-20 national teams of South America. It wa ...

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 a ...

2019 Pan American Games The 2019 Pan American Games (), officially the XVIII Pan American Games () and commonly known as Lima 2019, were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization held in Lima, Peru from July 26 to August 11, 2019, with preliminar ...

and the

2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament The 2020 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament was the 13th edition of the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted association football, football tournament organised by the CONMEBOL, Confederación Sudamericana ...

. On 21 October 2022, Araújo was named in Uruguay's 55-man preliminary squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. In June 2023, he received his first call-up to the senior team for friendly matches against

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

and

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. He made his debut on 14 June in a 4–1 win against Nicaragua.

Personal life

Araújo is the elder brother of fellow professional footballer César Araújo.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Sporting CP *

: 2024–25 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 2024–25 Uruguay *

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

third place:

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Sporting CP website
Profile
at the Uruguayan Football Association website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Araujo, Maximiliano 2000 births Living people Uruguayan men's footballers Uruguay men's youth international footballers Uruguay men's under-20 international footballers Uruguay men's international footballers 2024 Copa América players Montevideo Wanderers F.C. players Club Puebla players Deportivo Toluca F.C. players Sporting CP footballers Uruguayan Primera División players Liga MX players Primeira Liga players Men's association football defenders Men's association football wingers Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Footballers from Montevideo