Edgar Fabián Espíndola (born 4 May 1985) is an Argentine

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 ...

Club career

Early career

Espíndola started his career in 2005 with Argentine giants

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

. He played six games for the club, but Boca failed to win any of them. However, he was a member of the Boca Juniors squad that captured the

2005 Copa Sudamericana The 2005 Copa Sudamericana, also known as the 2005 Copa Nissan Sudamericana de Clubes for sponsorship reasons, was the 4th edition of the international football cup competition played annually by clubs of CONMEBOL, and starting with this edition i ...

. In 2006, he was offloaded to Talleres. He then had spells with Ecuadorian teams Aucas and

Deportivo Quito Sociedad Deportivo Quito is an Ecuadorian club football club based in Quito. For most of its existence, it competed in Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. And currently competes in the Second Category of Pi ...

before joining Real Salt Lake.

Major League Soccer

He was acquired by Real Salt Lake at the same time as fellow Argentines Matias Mantilla and

Javier Morales Javier Morales (born 10 January 1980) is an Argentine former footballer and an assistant Inter Miami CF coach. Career Argentina From 1998 to 2006, Morales played for four different clubs in the Argentine Primera División, including two stints ...

. He scored his first goal against

Kansas City Wizards Sporting Kansas City is an American professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The administrative offices are located in downtown K ...

, and celebrated this goal by doing his customary backflip. Six minutes into a game against

Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

on 6 September 2008, Espíndola scored a goal that was later ruled offside. However, before he had seen the final decision on the goal he had commenced his celebratory backflip, which resulted in him injuring his ankle, ruling him out for around eight weeks. Real Salt Lake decided not to purchase Espíndola's contract and he was released in January 2009. He then signed to play for Venezuelan team

Deportivo Anzoátegui ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable), an aerial lift station in Ecatepec, Mexico * Deport ...

, scoring 3 goals in 5 matches for the club. On 29 January 2009 Espíndola scored Deportivo Anzoátegui's first ever goal in the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

helping the club to a 2–0 victory over

Deportivo Cuenca Club Deportivo Cuenca is an Ecuadorian football club based in Cuenca. They currently play in the Serie A, the top-flight football league in the country, and is one of two clubs from Cuenca to have played in the top-flight (the other being LDU ...

. Espíndola returned to Salt Lake in April 2009 and helped them win the MLS Cup in November 2009. In 2011 Espíndola had his most productive season for Salt Lake as he scored a career high 10 goals in 27 matches. In February 2012, Espíndola signed a four-year contract extension with Real Salt Lake. During the 2012 season Espíndola continued his fine form as he scored 9 goals and provided 7 assists in 30 matches. On 3 December 2012, Espíndola was traded with

Jamison Olave Jamison may refer to: People with the surname *Jamison (surname) Places * Jamison, California * Jamison, Nebraska, US * Jamison City, Pennsylvania, US * Jamison, Pennsylvania, US * Jamison Valley, New South Wales, Australia Other * Jamison, a WWE ...

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 ...

in exchange for allocation money. On 3 March 2013 Espíndola made his debut for New York scoring twice in a 3–3 draw at

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

. On 27 July 2013 Espíndola converted on a pair of penalty kicks to help New York to a 4–3 victory over his former club

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

. On 18 December 2013, Espíndola joined

D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

in the second stage of the

2013 MLS Re-Entry Draft The two-stage 2013 MLS Re-Entry Draft took place on December 12, 2013 (Stage 1) and December 18, 2013 (Stage 2). All 19 Major League Soccer clubs were eligible to participate. The Stage 1 and Stage 2 Drafts were conducted in the same order as th ...

He was known to be a usual starter for DC. On 20 July 2016, D.C. United traded Espíndola to

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The MLS ite ...

for allocation money. He finished at D.C. United with 59 games played, 20 goals scored, and 17 goals assisted.

Necaxa

Espíndola was sold by the Whitecaps (without having played a game for them) to recently promoted

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

side

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

on 26 July 2016.

Albacete

On 8 August 2017, Espíndola signed a one-year contract with Spanish

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

club

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 ...

Personal life

A report in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' on D.C. United roster statuses in November 2014 did not include Espíndola as a player using an international roster slot. It is believed that he received a U.S. green card during the 2014 season. On 27 March 2017, former D.C. United goalkeeper Charlie Horton sued Espíndola, coach

Ben Olsen Benjamin Robert Olsen (born May 3, 1977) is an American sports executive, soccer coach, and former professional player who was formerly the president of Washington Spirit, a professional women's soccer club in the National Women's Soccer Leagu ...

, and Major League Soccer. Espíndola allegedly assaulted Horton during practice and Horton received a concussion. The filing states that, "due to the severity of his ongoing post-concussive neurological symptoms, which directly inhibited his ability to perform at a level necessary to continue his professional career, Mr. Horton was forced to officially retire from professional soccer." Olsen is being sued for failing to adequately supervise Espíndola. MLS is liable, the suit says, because, in its centralized business structure, the league owns all teams and player contracts. Horton dismissed the lawsuit in late 2019.

Career statistics

Honours

;Boca Juniors *

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 ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

;Real Salt Lake *

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

;New York Red Bulls *

MLS Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 199 ...

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 ...

References

External links

*
Statistics
at Guardian Stats Centre * {{DEFAULTSORT:Espindola, Fabian 1985 births Living people Footballers from Buenos Aires Men's association football forwards Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Boca Juniors footballers Talleres de Córdoba footballers S.D. Quito footballers Real Salt Lake players Deportivo Anzoátegui players New York Red Bulls players S.D. Aucas footballers D.C. United players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Club Necaxa footballers Albacete Balompié players San Martín de Tucumán footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador Expatriate men's footballers in Venezuela Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the United States Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine Primera División players Primera Nacional players Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars Designated Players (MLS) Liga MX players Segunda División players 21st-century Argentine sportsmen