Rafael Márquez Lugo (born 2 November 1981) is a Mexican

sports analyst A sports analyst is a person looking through technical, tactical, physiological, and psychological performance metrics working with the sports coach and sports science team to improve athlete performance. They will often use Video motion analysis ...

and former 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 played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Club career

Club Universidad Nacional

Márquez Lugo joined the

Pumas UNAM Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., simply known as Pumas UNAM, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 1954 as Club Deportivo Universidad, and they play ...

youth academy when he was six years old. He made his debut in the Primera División on 10 September 2000 against

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

. Márquez Lugo played infrequently over the next two years, often as a substitute, making 38 appearances and scoring 9 goals.

Chiapas

On 23 November 2003 Jaguares de Chiapas announced they had signed Márquez to a three-year contract. Márquez only managed to score three goals in 28 appearances.

Morelia

In search of more playing time, he signed a three-year deal with

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid; Otomi language, Otomi: ) is a city and municipal seat of the municipalities of Mexico, municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. It is both th ...

in 2003. In the 2003 Clausura season, he scored seven goals in 13 appearances, and followed that with a team-leading 11 goals in 16 games during the Apertura 2004 season. In the Clausura 2005 season he scored 6 goals. Márquez's contract expired in 2007 and the club chose not to renew him despite his 34 goals in 96 appearances.

Pachuca

Márquez was transferred to

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

in 2007. Coach

Enrique Meza Enrique Meza Enríquez (born 3 March 1948) is a Mexican professional football Manager (association football), manager who most recently coached C.D. Veracruz, Veracruz. Prior to pursuing a career in coaching, he was a Goalkeeper (association fo ...

chose to place him on the loan list after his poor season with the team, where he only managed to net 3 times.

Loan to UAG Tecos

On January 11, 2008, he was loaned to UAG Tecos for six months. After his stint at Tecos, Márquez was loaned to América.

Loan to Club América

Márquez Lugo was loaned to América for six months. He scored 2 goals in 9 appearances

Atlante

Atlante F.C. Atlante Fútbol Club, is a Mexican professional football club based in Mexico City, that competes in Liga de Expansión MX, the second level division of Mexican football. Founded in 1916 as Sinaloa, also later named as Lusitania, then as U-53 ...

announced they had signed Márquez Lugo for the Clausura 2009 season. Márquez Lugo scored 14 goals during his time with "Los Potros".

Return to Monarcas

In 2010, Márquez Lugo returned to

. In his first season, he scored two goals with the club. His return debut goal was scored in a 6–0 victory against

Querétaro Querétaro, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Querétaro, 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Querétaro Cit ...

. His second goal of the season came in a 1–0 home win against

Club Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

. In the 2011 Clausura season, Marquez Lugo was a regular starter for Morelia. His first goal of the season against C.D. Guadalajara. It was the equalizer in the 1–1 tie. His second goal came in the very next match against

. The game ended in a 3–0 away victory. His third goal of the season came against América in the 2–1 away victory. On the 6 of March 2011, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

for the first time in his career. It came in the 6–1 away victory against

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 ...

. With this hat-trick he reached 6 goals. On 19 March 2011 he made his seventh goal of the tournament against

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V., simply known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club based in Torreón, Coahuila. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 1983 as Club Santos I ...

in a 1–0 away win for Morelia. His eighth goal of the tournament came on the 9 of April against

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 ...

. He scored the 1–1 draw for Morelia in an eventual 3–2 away win. On April 12 against Jaguares he scored his ninth goal. He scored the equalizer and eventually Monarcas Morelia won 2–1. He scored the first goal of the Clausura 2012 against

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 ...

. His performances earned him a call-up to the Selección de fútbol de México (Mexico national football team). After playing the best football of his career with Morelia, C.D. Guadalajara announced that they had reached an agreement to sign him.

C.D. Guadalajara

On June 6, 2012, it was announced that C.D. Guadalajara purchased him as their second signing of the transfer window. On July 22, 2012, he made his first official appearance with Guadalajara during an away game against

Club Toluca Deportivo Toluca Fútbol Club S.A. de C.V. is a Mexican professional football club based in Toluca, State of Mexico. The club plays in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football, from which they have never been relegated. The club was f ...

. He netted his first goal during his first appearance in a 2–1 loss. On September 14, 2012, on a visit to

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 ...

, he scored a goal, giving Guadalajara their second win of the season. He led Guadalajara with seven goals in the 2012 Apertura season. In November 2012, the club announced Márquez Lugo was going to have surgery on his left knee after suffering an injury and he was ruled out of action for 3 months. After his return from injury, Márquez Lugo once again led the club's scoring sheet by scoring 14 more goals in all of 2013. In March 2014, Guadalajara had announced that Márquez Lugo had injured the same left knee. He was successfully operated on April 1 and was expected to return in 3–4 months. During physical therapy Márquez Lugo complained that the pain would not alleviate and after further examination from the club doctor, Dr. Rafael Ortega, it was announced that he needed to have a cartilage transplant. Surgery was performed on 19 August 2014 and Dr. Ortega informed the public that Márquez Lugo would be ruled out of action for approximately 6 months. Márquez Lugo's recovery was taking longer than the doctor expected, and his knee was not improving. On April 22, 2015, during a news interview with TDN Deportes, Márquez Lugo announced his retirement from play after three surgeries and a year-long battle he had failed to win against his knee injury.

International career

Márquez Lugo made numerous appearances for Mexico youth national teams, including the U-20 and U-23 levels. He appeared in the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

with the Under-23 squad. He has also was called up by

Ricardo Lavolpe Ricardo Antonio La Volpe Guarchoni (; born 6 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager. He is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper who played for most of his career in Argentina and Mexico. As a coach, La Volpe was i ...

to play for the

Mexico national football team The Mexico national football team () represents Mexico in men's international association football, football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation, Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (). It has been a member of FIFA since 1929 and c ...

, which included call-ups to the

2005 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup association football, football tournament was the seventh FIFA Confederations Cup. It was held in Germany between 15 June and 29 June 2005, as a prelude to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The tournament was won by 2002 FI ...

and the

2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the eighth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was contested in the United States in July 2005. The United States emerged victorious i ...

. Márquez Lugo was announced as one of the 3 over-aged players named to the U-22 team that represented Mexico in the

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international association football, football tournament for national ...

. Márquez Lugo appeared in all three of Mexico's matches before they were eliminated.

Career statistics

International

Internationals goals

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Reliant Stadium NRG Stadium (previously known as Reliant Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. Construction was completed in 2002, at a cost of $352 million and has a seating capacity of 72,220. It was the first NFL facility to h ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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Personal life

Márquez Lugo is married to Mexican television personality, actor, and beauty pageant

Marisol González Marisol González Casas (; born 12 March 1983) is a Mexican actress, TV host and beauty pageant titleholder who competed in the Miss Universe 2003 pageant, held in Panama City, Panama on 3 June 2003. Career After winning the title of Nuestra Bel ...

who was part of the 2003 Miss Universe and winner of the 2002 Nuestra Belleza México. Márquez Lugo and González have two daughters together and have been married since 2014.

Honours

Pachuca *

North American SuperLiga The SuperLiga was an annual association football competition in North America between four clubs from the Major League Soccer (United States and Canada) and four clubs from the Primera División (Mexico), the top professional league in each count ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Atlante *

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, ...

: 2008–09 Morelia *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Mexico U23 * CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Individual *

CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship The CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship was an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its continental qualifying tournament for the men's olympic teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean, to determin ...

Best XI:

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 ...

Best Forward: Clausura 2011

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marquez Lugo, Rafael 1981 births Living people Club Universidad Nacional footballers Atlético Morelia players C.F. Pachuca players Jaguares F.C. footballers Tecos F.C. footballers Atlante F.C. footballers Club América footballers C.D. Guadalajara footballers Mexico men's international footballers Footballers from Mexico City Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2011 Copa América players 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Olympic footballers for Mexico Liga MX players Men's association football forwards Mexican men's footballers Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Mexico Competitors at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in football CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning players 21st-century Mexican sportsmen