Ronald Raldes Balcázar (born April 20, 1981) is a Bolivian 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

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 ...

. He is the first Bolivian player in history to reach 100 international appearances.

Club career

Raldes was born in

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; ), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia), Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River (Bolivia), Pirai River in the eastern Tropical ...

. He started his career with

Club Destroyers Club Destroyers is a football club from Santa Cruz, Bolivia which plays in the second division Copa Simón Bolívar. The club was founded September 14, 1948, and they play their home games at the Estadio Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera. Destroyers com ...

in 1998, the following year he joined

Oriente Petrolero Club Deportivo Oriente Petrolero () is a Bolivian football club based in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. They play at the 38,000-capacity Estadio Tahuichi Aguilera. Oriente have been Bolivian champions five times, Copa Aerosur winners two ti ...

, where he was part of the Bolivian League Championship winning team in 2001. Due to his high performance displayed with Oriente Petrolero and the Bolivia national team, Raldes was signed by Argentine club

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central (), more commonly referred to as Rosario Central, or simply Central, is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on 24 December 1889, ...

in 2003. In 2008, and after five great years with the ''canallas'', Raldes announced his imminent departure from the institution once the Torneo Clausura ended in mid June. Not long after, he signed for Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal. On March 20, 2009, he joined Mexican side

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 made his debut on April 22, 2009, against Atlante, in the first-leg match of the CONCACAF Champions League finals. After only making two appearances for the ''cementeros'', Raldes decided to let go the contract with Cruz Azul and signed with Israeli football club

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

in September 2009. In May 2010, Raldes returned to Argentina and joined

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 ...

on a two-year deal. On January 25, 2012, while doing the pre-season with Colón, Raldes fractured his left fibula bone during a friendly match against Patronato causing him to miss the entire Clausura tournament. In November 2013, Raldes left Colón due to the club's failure to pay his wages. He was signed by Oriente Petrolero, on January 9, 2014.

International career

Since Raldes debuted for the Bolivia national team in 2001 he has appeared for the nation at five

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

tournaments. On 18 November 2014, he scored his first international goal in a 3–2 friendly home win over

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. Raldes was

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the Bolivian squad for the

2015 Copa América The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. On 15 June, he scored in the team's second group match – a 3–2 defeat of

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

– to give ''La Verde'' its first win at the Copa América since the 1997 tournament. On September 11, 2015, Raldes announced his retirement from the national team, but returned in 2016 after

Guillermo Ángel Hoyos Ángel Guillermo Hoyos Marchisio (born 9 June 1963), known as Guillermo Hoyos, is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Career Playing career Hoyos hails from Villa Maria, Cordoba, Argentina and has played ...

replaced

Julio César Baldivieso Julio César Baldivieso Rico (born 2 December 1971) is a Bolivian football coach and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He is the current manager of Always Ready. Baldivieso played for the Bolivia national team at the 1994 W ...

. He represented his country in 44

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches. On May 28, 2018, he reached 100 games with Bolivia, which was defeated 3–0 by the

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 ...

in an international friendly.

Career statistics

International

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

Honours

Oriente Petrolero *

Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Amer ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Bolívar * Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano: 2017 Apertura, 2017 Clausura

References

External links

* at Fútbol XXI
Ronald Raldes profile
at Football Lineups * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raldes, Ronald 1981 births Living people Footballers from Santa Cruz de la Sierra Bolivian men's footballers 21st-century Bolivian sportsmen Bolivia men's international footballers Bolivian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Club Destroyers players Oriente Petrolero players Rosario Central footballers Al Hilal SFC players Cruz Azul footballers Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Club Atlético Colón footballers Club Bolívar players 2001 Copa América players 2004 Copa América players 2007 Copa América players 2011 Copa América players 2015 Copa América players Liga MX players Argentine Primera División players Israeli Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Saudi Pro League players FIFA Men's Century Club