Rubén Ariel Olivera da Rosa (born 4 May 1983 in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

) is a Uruguayan former

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

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 ...

, and current coach. A versatile player, he is capable of playing anywhere in midfield and throughout his career he has been deployed as a left or right winger, as a

central 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 ...

, as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, and even as a forward.

Playing career

Olivera began his career in

Danubio Danubio Fútbol Club is a Uruguayan association football, football club based in Jardines del Hipódromo, Montevideo that currently plays in the Uruguayan Primera División. Founded in 1945, the club's home stadium is Jardines del Hipódromo Ma ...

, in 2001, and after making good performances for Danubio, was later signed by

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

in 2002. He made his

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

debut in 2–1 win to A.S. Roma, on 19 April 2003, as Juventus won the title that

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, under manager

Marcello Lippi Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional association football, football player and manager, who led the Italy national football team, Italy national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was appoin ...

. He was loaned to

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

during the second half of the 2003–04 season, after he did not make any appearances for the club. He returned from his loan in 2004, but was also used scarcely under manager

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional association football, football manager (association football), manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL, AS Roma, Roma, AC Milan and Juventus FC, Juventus. H ...

, in particular during the 2005–06 season. In 2007, while playing for Sampdoria on loan, he was banned for 5 matches for punching an opponent in the ribs, and also for kicking him in the groin. Following his time on loan with Sampdoria, Olivera returned to Juventus in 2007, although he was loaned out again to Urugyan side

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (), more commonly referred to as Peñarol, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club currently competes in the Uruguayan Primera División, the highest tier in Uruguayan football. The nam ...

in 2008. In 2008, he signed permanently with

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

on a year contract. For the 2009–10 season, he went back to Uruguay on loan with

.Ruben Olivera Set For Penarol Return
/ref> On 1 July 2010, he returned to Italy, signing a 3-year contract with

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

. In 2012, he was signed by

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

, and he remained at the club for a season and a half. On 30 January 2014, Olivera joined

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

side

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

on an 18-month deal. In January 2015 he moved to Latina. He played 3 games and scored a goal for the team before an injury put an end to his season in April 2015. In 2015-16 he scored 5 goals in 33 appearances in Serie B. Olivera then joined Liga de Quito on 1 January 2017. However, he returned to Latina in Italy in September 2017 who now was playing in

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

. In February 2018, he was also appointed technical director of Latina. He left Latina in the summer 2018 and said to the medias, that his career was over. However, his former Latina teammate, Daniele Corvia, convinced him to join fellow league club, Aprilia Racing, which he also did on 16 July 2018. In December 2019, 36-year old Olivera joined Ostiamare. He moved back to Aprilia in June 2020, but announced his retirement in May 2021 after being diagnosed with a heart condition.

International career

Olivera made 18 appearances for

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

between 2001 and 2005, and he represented his country at the 2001 Copa América under manager

Daniel Passarella Daniel Alberto Passarella (born 25 May 1953) is an Argentine former Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager, who is considered one of the greatest Defender (association football), defenders of all time. As a ...

, as Uruguay were eliminated in the semi-finals, finishing the tournament in fourth place.

Coaching career

On 3 June 2022, Racing Aprilia announced to have hired Olivera as their new head coach. He was however sacked just two months later, on 19 August, a few weeks before the start of the 2022–23 Serie D season.

Honours

;

(1): 2002–03 * Italian Super Cup (1):

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

References

External links

Ruben Olivera profile with statistics and timelineRuben Olivera profile – myjuve.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olivera, Ruben 1983 births Living people Footballers from Montevideo Uruguayan men's footballers Uruguayan football managers Uruguay men's international footballers Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Danubio F.C. players Peñarol players Juventus FC players Atlético Madrid footballers UC Sampdoria players Genoa CFC players US Lecce players ACF Fiorentina players Brescia Calcio players Latina Calcio 1932 players AS Ostia Mare Lido Calcio players FC Aprilia Racing Club players L.D.U. Quito footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie D players Ecuadorian Serie A players La Liga players Uruguayan Primera División players 2001 Copa América players Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador