Fernando Edgardo Correa Ayala (born 6 January 1974) is a

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 ...

an retired

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 striker, and is a current

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. Having represented in his country River Plate and

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 ...

, he had a lengthy spell in Spain with

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 ...

. He also competed professionally in China.

Club career

After four seasons with local

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. ...

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 ...

-born Correa moved abroad to

, making his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

debut on 10 September 1995 against

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

. Incidentally, he would be loaned for two years to the

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

ns, scoring 27 league goals in that period which was enough to earn a return to the Spanish capital. There, however, he would never be more than a decent attacking backup, at least in the top level; he did form an efficient partnership with compatriot

Diego Alonso Diego Martín Alonso López (; born 16 April 1975) is an Uruguayan professional football manager and former player who played as a striker. Other than in his own country, he played football in Argentina, Spain, Mexico and China in a 16-year ca ...

in 2001–02, as the ''Colchoneros'' returned to the top tier after two years, combining for 35 league goals. After a two-year stint with

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

and a further six games for

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

(

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 ...

), Correa returned to Uruguay and River Plate, signing for

after a short stint with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

's Shanghai Shenhua FC. In 2009, the 35-year-old rejoined his first professional club. Following his retirement, Correa worked as assistant to Alonso in several teams. He had his first

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

experience in January 2018, being appointed at C.A. Cerro. In December of the same year, after a spell that included 16

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , , local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional Association football, football league in Uruguay organized b ...

matches without one loss, he left.

International career

An intermittent Uruguay full international (one match in 1994, another in 1998 and two in 2004), Correa previously represented the nation at the

1993 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1993 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 9th edition FIFA World Youth Championship. U20 Brazil defeated Ghana, 2–1 for its third title. It took place a ...

. He made his debut for the senior team on 19 October 1994 (aged 20), in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

with

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

in the Estadio Nacional José Díaz in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, replacing

Darío Silva Darío Debray Silva Pereira (born 2 November 1972) is a Uruguayan retired professional footballer who played as a striker. After making a name for himself in his country and in Italy with Cagliari, he spent the following seven years of his car ...

in the 78th minute of the 1–0 win. In 2004, as he was a Mallorca player at the service of the national team, Correa tested positive for

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

and was suspended for one year, also being immediately released by Atlético. Upon appeal, it was reduced to nine months.

Honours

Atlético Madrid *

: 1995–96 *

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

: 1995–96 *

: 2001–02 Peñarol * Clausura 2008

References

External links

*
National team data
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Correa, Fernando 1974 births Living people Footballers from Montevideo Uruguayan men's footballers Men's association football forwards Uruguayan Primera División players Club Atlético River Plate (Montevideo) players Peñarol players La Liga players Segunda División players Atlético Madrid footballers Racing de Santander players RCD Mallorca players Real Valladolid players Chinese Super League players Shanghai Shenhua F.C. players Uruguay men's under-20 international footballers Uruguay men's international footballers Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in China Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in China Uruguayan sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in association football Uruguayan football managers Uruguayan Primera División managers C.A. Cerro managers