Rodrigo Zalazar Martínez (born 12 August 1999) 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

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

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

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

and the Uruguay national team.

Club career

Early career

Zalazar joined the youth categories of

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 5 July 1939, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish foo ...

in 2007, aged eight. In 2014, he moved to

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

and was initially assigned to the ''Cadete'' squad. In 2018, after finishing his formation, Zalazar was promoted to Málaga's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

, but remained unregistered for the entire season after the club had no free registration spots; he then refused a loan to a

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

side, as his contract was due to expire in the following summer.

Eintracht Frankfurt

On 2 July 2019, Zalazar signed a four-year contract with

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

on 2 July 2019.

Loan to Korona Kielce

Three days after joining Eintracht Frankfurt,

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

side

Korona Kielce Korona Kielce (, Korona – ''Crown'' – symbol of club and city, Kielce – name of city where club is based) is a Polish professional football club based in Kielce, competing in Ekstraklasa in the 2025–26 season. From 2002 to ...

signed Zalazar on a one-year loan deal for 2019–20 season. He made his professional debut on 20 July 2019, coming on as a 70th minute substitute for

Erik Pačinda Erik Pačinda (born 9 May 1989) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a forward or winger for MFK Snina. Club career Pačinda previously played for DAC Dunajská Streda, Košice or Viktoria Plzeň. International career Pačinda was ...

in a 1–0 league win against

Raków Częstochowa Robotniczy Klub Sportowy Raków Częstochowa Spółka Akcyjna (commonly referred to as Raków Częstochowa, or simply Raków) is a Polish professional football club, based in Częstochowa, that competes in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of natio ...

. Rarely used in the first team, Zalazar also played for Korona Kielce II in the

III liga III liga (Trzecia liga), currently named Betclic III liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, is a Polish football league that sits in the fourth tier of the Polish football league system. Until the end of the 2007–08 season, III liga ref ...

, scoring three goals in 10 appearances.

Loan to FC St. Pauli

On 6 August 2020, 2. Bundesliga club

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St. Pauli (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team plays in the Bundesliga from the 2024–25 Bundesli ...

announced the signing of Zalazar on a season-long loan deal. He scored his first professional goal on 19 October, netting the equalizer through a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

in a 2–2 home draw against 1. FC Nürnberg. Zalazar finished the 2020–21 season with six goals in 35 appearances overall, as St. Pauli finished in the 10th position.

Schalke 04

On 4 August 2021, Zalazar agreed to join fellow second division side

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

on a season-long loan with an option to make the move permanent until 2026. On 25 March 2022, Schalke exercised this option, and he agreed to a permanent four-year contract with the club, effective as of 1 July. He ended the campaign as a starter as the club achieved promotion to the

as champions. Zalazar made his debut in the main category of German football on 7 August 2022, starting in a 3–1 away loss against

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

. He scored his first goal in the top tier six days later, netting the opener in a 2–2 home draw against

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

. In June 2023, after Schalke's relegation back to the second level, newspaper ''

Bild ''Bild'' (, ) or ''Bild-Zeitung'' (, ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper '' Bild am Sonntag'' () is published instead, which has a differen ...

'' reported that Zalazar was seeking a move away from the club.

International career

Born in Spain to Uruguayan parents, Zalazar was eligible to represent both Uruguay and Spain at international level. While his older brother chose Spain, he followed his father's footsteps and chose to play for Uruguay. Zalazar started to feature for the nation's under-20 team in 2018, being also included in Fabián Coito's squad for 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 ...

in January 2019. He played seven matches in the tournament, helping his team to finish third. In June 2023, Zalazar 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, scoring two goals in a 4–1 win against the former.

Personal life

Rodrigo is the son of former Uruguay international footballer José Zalazar, and the brother of former Spanish youth international Kuki Zalazar and

player Mauro Zalazar. He was born in

Albacete Albacete ( , , ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the area around the city is known as Los Llan ...

Castilla–La Mancha Castilla–La Mancha (, ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Comprising the provinces of Province of Albacete, Albacete, Province of Ciudad Real, Ciudad Real, Province of Cuenca, Cuenca, Province of Guadalajar ...

, while his father was a player of the local club Albacete.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Schalke 04 * 2. Bundesliga: 2021–22 Braga *

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual club football competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the top two tiers of Portuguese football – the ...

: 2023–24 Individual *

Midfielder of the Month: January 2024

References

External links

Profile
at the Uruguayan Football Association website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zalazar, Rodrigo 1999 births Living people Footballers from Albacete Spanish people of Uruguayan descent Sportspeople of Uruguayan descent Men's association football midfielders Spanish men's footballers Uruguayan men's footballers Uruguay men's youth international footballers Uruguay men's international footballers Ekstraklasa players III liga players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Primeira Liga players Atlético Malagueño players Korona Kielce players FC St. Pauli players FC Schalke 04 players S.C. Braga players Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Poland Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Germany Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Naturalized citizens of Uruguay 21st-century Spanish sportsmen