Federico Almerares (born 2 May 1985 in
Mar del Plata,
Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...
) is an
Argentine
Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
former
footballer who played as
striker or centre forward.
Almerares came through the ranks at
Club Atlético River Plate
Club Atlético River Plate is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Belgrano neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Founded in 1901, the club is named after the English name for the city's estuary, Río de la Plata. ...
and made his debut in 2003, but never established himself in the first team, only making three appearances between 2005 and March 2008 when he went on trial with
Swedish Allsvenskan club
Djurgårdens IF.
Svenskafans.com
/ref> The trial with the Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
club was unsuccessful, but he did gather attention from several other Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an clubs including R.S.C. Anderlecht and FK Austria Wien.
On 8 August 2008, he signed for Swiss side FC Basel
Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...
. He joined Basel's first team for their 2008–09 season under head coach Christian Gross. In his first season Almerares played mainly for the Basel U-21 team in the Promotion League, in the third tier of Swiss football, but he also played in various test matches for the first team. He played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 7 March 2009 as Basel won 3–1 against FC Aarau. Almerares was substituted in the 62nd minute for Orhan Mustafi. At the end of the 2008–09 Super League season Basel were third in the table, seven points behind new champions Zürich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
and one adrift of runners-up Young Boys. In the 2008–09 Swiss Cup Basel advanced via Schötz, Bulle, Thun and Zurich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
to the semi-finals. But here they were stopped by Young Boys. After a goalless 90 minutes and extra time YB decided the penalty shoot-out 3–2 and advanced to the final to become runners-up, as Sion became cup winners.
For their 2009–10 season Basel appointed Thorsten Fink as their new head coach. Almerares advanced to becoming a regular player, often as joker. Basel joined the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League in the second qualifying round and were matched against Andorran club Santa Coloma. Almerares played in both matches and scored in both. Basel advanced to the group stage and were drawn in the group with Roma, Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...
and CSKA Sofia. In the first round in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 17 September 2009 Almerares scored the winning goal in Basel's impressive 2–0 win over Roma. In the group stage, despite winning three of the six games, they ended in third position and were eliminated. They finished four points behind group winners Roma and one behind Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...
, against whom they lost 3–2 in the last game of the stage. Almerares scored his first domestic league goal for the team in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 1 April 2010. In fact the scored twice as Basel won 4–3 against Sion. At the end of the 2009–10 season he won the Double with his club. They won the League Championship title with 3 points advantage over second placed Young Boys. The team won the Swiss Cup, winning the final 6–0 against Lausanne-Sport.
Basel started in the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round and advanced to the group stage, but ended the group in third position. Therefore, they dropped to the 2010–11 Europa League knockout phase, but here they were eliminated by Spartak Moscow due to a last minute goal against them. Almerares played in seven of the 10 Champions League matches. In the 18 league matches until the winter break, Almerares had 14 appearances, 11 of which as substitute. But since he was only number three striker behind Alexander Frei and Marco Streller, the club allowed a transfer. Basel won the Swiss Championship at the end of the 2010–11 season, topping the table just one point clear of rivals Zürich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
. During his time with the first team, Almerares played a total of 123 games for Basel scoring a total of 78 goals. 41 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, eight in the Swiss Cup, 17 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 57 were friendly games. He scored seven goals in the domestic league, seven in the cup, six in the European games and the other 58 were scored during the test games.
On 21 January 2011 Almerares transferred within Switzerland to Neuchâtel Xamax. Until the end of the season, he played 16 games, scoring four goals, for the Xamax, but after the second game in the 2011/12 season he was fired for lack of efficiency.
Almerares returned to Argentina as he transferred to Club Atlético Belgrano in July 2011. He made his debut for Belgrano on 17 August 2011 in the 1:1 home draw against Club Olimpo and scored his first goal for the club on 1 October in the 1:2 home defeat against Argentinos Juniors
Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Paternal, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its association football, football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, and was reco ...
.
Honours
Basel
* Swiss Super League: 2009–10
* Swiss Cup: 2009–10
References
Sources
* Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2017/2018. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG.
* Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage
External links
*
* at Fútbol XXI
*
Profile at Swiss Football League Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Almerares, Federico
1985 births
Living people
Footballers from Mar del Plata
Argentine men's footballers
Men's association football forwards
Club Atlético River Plate footballers
FC Basel players
Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players
Club Atlético Belgrano footballers
Atlético Tucumán footballers
Mushuc Runa S.C. footballers
C.S.D. Macará footballers
FC Schaffhausen players
Argentine Primera División players
Torneo Federal A players
Swiss Super League players
Swiss Challenge League players
Argentine expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland
Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador
Argentina men's under-20 international footballers
21st-century Argentine sportsmen