Pablo César Aguilar Benítez (born 2 April 1987) is a Paraguayan 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

who plays for

Sportivo Luqueño Club Sportivo Luqueño is a Paraguayan football club, based in the city of Luque on the outskirts of the capital Asunción. It currently plays in the Paraguayan Primera División, the country's top tier of football, where it has won thrice, in 19 ...

. From March to July 2017, Aguilar served a ten-match suspension after head-butting a referee.

Club career

Early career

Aguilar won the

Paraguayan Primera División The División Profesional de la Paraguayan Football Association, Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol (; "Professional Division of the Paraguayan Football Association"), also known as the Primera División (; "first division"), or due to sponsorship ...

title with his first club,

, in 2007. He then transferred to

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

side

Colón de Santa Fe Colón, the primary Spanish translation of Christopher Columbus, may refer to: Places ;Argentina * Colón, Entre Ríos * Colón Department, Córdoba * Colón Department, Entre Ríos * Colón, Buenos Aires ;Colombia * Colón, Nariño * Coló ...

, where he played for one year. Subsequently, Aguilar played for San Luis of the

Mexican Primera División 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 Divi ...

, before joining Argentine Primera's side

Arsenal de Sarandí Arsenal Fútbol Club (), usually referred as Arsenal de Sarandí , or simply Arsenal, is an Argentine sports club from the Sarandí district of Avellaneda Partido, Greater Buenos Aires. The football team currently plays in Primera Nacional, t ...

Tijuana

In 2012, Aguilar was sent on loan to

Club Tijuana Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente, simply known as Tijuana or Xolos, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Tijuana, Baja California, that competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. The club ...

. He started in 20 matches for the club during the

Apertura The ' () and ' () tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is ...

tournament, which Tijuana won, defeating

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. Toluca has a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Grea ...

in the final, even scoring one of the goals himself.

América

On 18 December 2013, it was announced that Aguilar was transferred to

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

, with the announcement being made on the club's

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account. On 8 March 2017, during the

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 ...

round-of-16 match against Tijuana, Aguilar headbutted referee Fernando Hernández. Despite initially being given a ten-game suspension, a strike by the referee's association protesting the punishments of Aguilar and Enrique Triverio of

ultimately led to a revised year-long ban for Aguilar from any official football activity. On 31 March, it was reported that both Aguilar and Triverio would appeal their bans to the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

Cruz Azul

In the summer of 2018, Aguilar officially became a player for

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

. On 21 July 2018, Aguilar debuted in a 3–0 victory against Puebla and played the 90 minutes.

International career

As of 3 June 2015, Aguilar has played in 22 games with the Paraguay national team, scoring four times. He scored his first goal on 17 October 2012 in the 1–0 victory 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 ...

International goals

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

Personal life

In 2015, Aguilar became a naturalized Mexican citizen.

Honours

Sportivo Luqueño * Primera División: Apertura 2007 Tijuana *

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 ...

: Apertura 2012 América *

: Apertura 2014 *

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, ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16 Cruz Azul *

: Guardianes 2021 *

: Apertura 2018 *

Campeón de Campeones Campeón de Campeones () is an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic super cup between the Liga MX champions of the ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura'' tournaments. It was initially a super cup match between the league and cup cha ...

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 MX Supercopa MX () was an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic super cup between the Copa MX champions of the ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura'' tournaments. Initially played in a two-legged and later with a single final match. It w ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Leagues Cup The Leagues Cup is an annual soccer competition between clubs from Major League Soccer (MLS), the main soccer league in the United States, and Liga MX, the main soccer league in Mexico. It is hosted in Canada and the United States. It began in ...

Individual *

Defender of the Year: 2018–19 *

Best XI: Guardianes 2021 *

All-Star:

References

External links

* * * at Fútbol XXI {{DEFAULTSORT:Aguilar, Pablo 1987 births Living people Paraguayan men's footballers Paraguayan expatriate men's footballers Paraguay men's international footballers Sportivo Luqueño players Club Atlético Colón footballers San Luis F.C. players Club Tijuana footballers Club América footballers Arsenal de Sarandí footballers Paraguayan Primera División players Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico 2015 Copa América players Footballers from Luque Men's association football central defenders Naturalized citizens of Mexico Cruz Azul footballers 21st-century Paraguayan sportsmen