Ronaldo Luis Peña Vargas (born 10 March 1997) is a Venezuelan

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

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 ...

for Portuguesa.

Club career

Caracas

Peña made his debut as a senior with

Caracas FC Caracas Fútbol Club is a Venezuelan professional football team based in Caracas. The club has won twelve First Division titles making it the most successful in Venezuelan football history. They are nicknamed ''Los Rojos del Ávila'', or the ...

's B-team after coming through the club's youth academy. He first appeared with the main squad on 23 February 2014 by starting and scoring in a 4–1 home win

Deportivo La Guaira Deportivo La Guaira (formerly known as Real Esppor) is a professional football club promoted to the Venezuelan league in 2009, based in La Guaira but playing its home games in Caracas at the Estadio Olímpico de la UCV. History Real Esppor The ...

in a Primera División match. He appeared in a further three matches for the first team before being loaned to

Portuguesa FC Portuguesa Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Portuguesa, is a Venezuelan professional football club based in Acarigua, that competes in the Primera División. History The club was founded on 10 April 1972, in Acarigua in the northern part ...

on 25 August. On 22 July 2015, Peña was loaned to

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas S.A.D. is a professional association football, football club based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The club will compete in Segunda División, the 2nd division in the Spanish football league syst ...

for two years. After spending nearly nine months without playing a single match for the club due to bureaucratic problems, he made his debut with the C-team on 10 April 2016 by scoring 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 ...

in a 4–0 home routing of CD Becerril. Promoted to the reserves ahead of the 2016–17 season, Peña scored another hat-trick in his first game for the side, a 5–0 thrashing of CD Buzanada. Ahead of the 2017–18 season, Peña was loaned to Portuguese

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 ...

side

Moreirense Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaquim d ...

. He made his debut for Moreirense on August 6, scoring in the 83rd minute to give ''Os verdes e brancos'' a 1–1 draw with Vitória Setúbal. He had 3 goals and 2 assists from 30 games across all competitions, helping Moreirense finish 15th in the league and avoid relegation by 2 points.

Houston Dynamo

On 5 July 2018, Peña was sold to

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

club

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Established on December 15, 2005, the club was founded after their fo ...

. He made his debut on 4 August when he came on in a 1–0 loss to

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

. He would get his first goal with the Dynamo on 23 August, when he came on as a sub and scored a late equalizer in a 1–1 draw against the Dynamo's biggest rival,

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

. Peña was rewarded with his first start in the team's next match. However he failed to find the net as the team lost 1–0 to the

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conferenc ...

. He ended his first season in Houston with 1 goal from 9 appearances. It was a disappointing season for the Dynamo in league play, failing to qualify for the playoffs. They enjoyed a successful cup run, winning the

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

, but Peña did not appear in the tournament. Peña made his first appearance of the 2019 season on 26 February in a 2–1 win over C.D. Guastatoya in a

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, ...

match. He missed the start of the MLS season due to a red card in the final game of 2018. He then missed extended time due to a knee injury at the start of the season. Peña scored his first goal and picked up his first assist of the season on 11 June in a 3–2 win over

Austin Bold Austin Bold FC (ABFC) was an American professional soccer team located in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2017, the team made its debut in the USL Championship in 2019. In 2021, Austin Bold FC announced it would be moving to Fort Worth, Texas leaving ...

in a

US Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

match. Peña would score again on 18 June in a 3–2 defeat to

Minnesota United Minnesota United Football Club, often shortened to MNUFC, is an American professional soccer club based in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Th ...

in the US Open Cup. He ended the season with 4 appearances and no goals or assists in MLS play, but did score 2 goals from 2 appearances in the Open Cup. Peña also spent time on loan with Houston's

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

affiliate

Rio Grande Valley FC Rio Grande Valley FC, also known as RGVFC or Rio Grande Valley FC Toros, was an American professional soccer team based in Edinburg, Texas operated by Lone Star, LLC. They joined the USL Championship in the 2016 season. The team served as a hy ...

, making 3 appearances. In 2020, Peña made 1 appearance all season, coming off the bench in a 1–1 draw against the LA Galaxy on July 23. His contract option was declined by Houston following their 2020 season.

Universidad Central

In April 2021, Peña signed with

Venezuelan Primera División The Primera División (; ), or Liga Venezolana (; ) is the top-flight professional football league of Venezuela. It was created in 1921 and turned professional in 1957. It is organized by the Federación Venezolana de Fútbol. Format Starting i ...

side Universidad Central de Venezuela FC. He made his debut for UCV FC on 25 April, coming off the bench in a 2–0 loss to

Monagas Monagas State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. Monagas State covers a total surface area of and, as of the 2011 census, had a population of 905,443. Monagas State is surrounded by Sucre State in the north, Anzoátegui State in the ...

. In June 2022, Peña joined Argentine

Primera Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, (English "National B Division"), and known as Primera B Nacional until the 2019–20 season) is the second division of the Argentine football league system. The competition is made up of 38 teams ...

club

Chacarita Juniors Club Atlético Chacarita Juniors (usually known simply as Chacarita) is an Argentine association football, football club headquartered in Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, while the stadium is located in Villa Maipú, General San Martín Partido of Gre ...

on loan for 18 months, with a purchase option.

International career

On 2 October 2018, Peña was called up for the Venezuela National team for friendlies against the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

and Basque Country but did not feature in either game.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

;

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

International

; Venezuela U-20 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

: Runner-up

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

South American Youth Football Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as South American U-20 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 20, is a South American football tournament organized by the CONMEBOL for South American national teams of men under age o ...

: Third Place

; Venezuela U-17 *

South American Under-17 Football Championship The South American U-17 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 17, is a football competition held every two years for South American under-17 teams. The tournament was born in 1985 out of a need for a classification tournament for the newly cre ...

: Runner-Up

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Personal life

His father played for professionally for Venezuelan club Portuguesa. Peña is named after legendary Brazilian footballer

Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima (; born 18 September 1976), mononymously known as Ronaldo, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the owner and president of La Liga club Real Valladolid. Nicknamed ('The P ...

References

External links

Soccer Sport Group profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pena, Ronaldo 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Acarigua Footballers from Portuguesa (state) Venezuelan men's footballers Venezuelan expatriate men's footballers Men's association football forwards Venezuela men's under-20 international footballers Venezuelan Primera División players Caracas F.C. players Portuguesa F.C. players Tercera División players UD Las Palmas C players UD Las Palmas Atlético players Primeira Liga players Moreirense F.C. players Houston Dynamo FC players Rio Grande Valley FC Toros players Chacarita Juniors footballers Major League Soccer players USL Championship players Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina