Ángelo Smit Preciado Quiñónez (born 18 February 1998) is an Ecuadorian 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

right-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 ...

or winger for

Czech First League The Czech First League () also known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Czech Republic and the highest level of the Czech Republic football league system. Seasons typically run from A ...

club

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

and the Ecuador national team.

Club career

Born in Shushufindi, Sucumbíos, Preciado joined

Independiente del Valle Club de Alto Rendimiento Especializado Independiente del Valle, known simply as Independiente del Valle, is a professional football club based in Sangolquí Ecuador that currently plays in the Ecuadorian Serie A. Founded in 1958, the club plays ...

's youth setup in 2015, from América de Quito. In February 2018, during the semifinals of the 2018 U-20 Copa Libertadores, he went viral after using the corner flag to defend himself from a fight with the River Plate Montevideo players. Promoted to the first team after playing a short period in the

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 ...

, Alianza Cotopaxi, Preciado made his senior – and

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 on 9 July 2018, starting in a 3–1 away loss against Aucas. He soon became a regular starter, and scored his first goals on 25 August by netting a brace in a 4–2 home defeat of El Nacional. On 28 December 2020,

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

club

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

announced the signing of Preciado on a two-and-a-half-year contract, with an option for a further two years, for a reported fee of €3 million. He made his debut for the Belgian club on 16 January 2021, starting in a 2–0 away loss at Royal Excel Mouscron. On 4 September 2023,

club

announced the signing of Preciado on a long-term contract (the specific duration was undisclosed), for a reported fee of €2.5 million, which could increase to €3 million with add-ons. On 15 February 2024, Preciado scored his first goal in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

against Galatasaray.

International career

On 4 May 2017, Preciado was called up to Ecuador under-20s for the year's

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 ...

, On 30 August of the following year, he was called up to the full side by manager Hernán Darío Gómez, for two friendlies against

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

and

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. Preciado made his full international debut on 12 October 2018, replacing Independiente teammate Stiven Plaza in a 4–3 loss against

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

at the

Jassim bin Hamad Stadium Jassim bin Hamad Stadium () is an association football stadium in Doha, Qatar, located about west from the centre of Doha. It is the home of the Al Sadd Sports Club's association football team, who play in the top-flight Qatar Stars League, ...

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

. Preciado was selected in the 28 player Ecuador squad for the

2021 Copa América The 2021 Copa América was the 47th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football, football championship organised by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament took place in Brazil from 13 June to ...

. Preciado was named in the Ecuadorian squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. Preciado was called up to the final 26-man Ecuador squad for the 2024 Copa América.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Independiente del Valle *

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Genk *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 2020–21 Sparta Prague *

: 2023–24 *

Czech Cup The Czech Cup (), officially known as the MOL Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the major men's football cup competition in the Czech Republic. It is organised by the Czech Football Association. The Czech Cup was first held in 1961. The winner ...

: 2023–24

References

External links

Ángelo Preciado profile
at Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol {{DEFAULTSORT:Preciado, Angelo Living people 1998 births People from Shushufindi Canton Ecuadorian men's footballers 21st-century Ecuadorian sportsmen Men's association football defenders Men's association football fullbacks Ecuador men's international footballers Ecuador men's under-20 international footballers 2021 Copa América players 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2024 Copa América players Copa Sudamericana–winning players Segunda Categoría players Ecuadorian Serie A players Belgian Pro League players Czech First League players Independiente del Valle footballers K.R.C. Genk players AC Sparta Prague players Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic