Fernando Carlos Redondo Neri (; born 6 June 1969) is an Argentine 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

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He most notably played for

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

and

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defensive midfielders of all time. A

with the ability to contribute offensively and creatively, he turned professional playing for

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 ...

and played one full decade in

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 ...

, for

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

and

, then finished his career (curtailed by several injury problems) in Italy, with

. With Real Madrid, he won two

championships and as many Champions League trophies, adding the 2003 Champions League with Milan. Redondo was a member of the Argentina national team in the 1990s, representing the nation in the 1994 World Cup, and also winning the 1992 FIFA Confederations Cup and the

1993 Copa América The 1993 Copa América was the 36th Copa América, CONMEBOL's football tournament for national teams. It was held in Ecuador between 15 June and 4 July. All 10 CONMEBOL members took part, but for the first time two nations from outside CONMEBOL w ...

Club career

Early years / Tenerife

Born in Adrogué,

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 ...

, Redondo played his first game in the Primera División at only 16 for

, and remained five years with the team before moving abroad to Spain. Redondo made his debut in

with

, under the management of countryman Jorge Solari. During this period,

twice lost the league title to arch-rivals

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

on the final day of the season, in matches against Tenerife who were managed by

Jorge Valdano Jorge Alberto Francisco Valdano Castellanos (born 4 October 1955) is an Argentine former football player, coach, and the former general manager of Real Madrid. He is currently working as a commentator for beIN Sports. Nicknamed "The Philosophe ...

and, when the coach was appointed at Real Madrid in the summer of 1994, the player also made the move for a fee of

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

5 million.

Real Madrid

The key years of Redondo's career were spent at Real Madrid, where he won two league championships and the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

. During the second victorious campaign in the latter competition, his performances won him the competition's

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

award, with new coach

Vicente del Bosque Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquess of Del Bosque (; born 23 December 1950) is a Spanish retired football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and is to date the only football manager to ha ...

utilising him in a midfield combination with

Steve McManaman Steven McManaman (born 11 February 1972) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. He is one of the most decorated English footballers to have played for a club abroad, with the UEFA website stating in 2012 that "of al ...

. In the quarter-finals against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

, he was the author of a spectacular play in which he

dribble In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. As ...

d past Henning Berg by backheeling the ball around him, recovering it and assisting Raúl for his side's third goal (3–2 win, 3–2 on aggregate); after the game, opposing manager

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

said "What does this player have in his boots? A magnet?”. For his performances, he was subsequently voted the Champions League and

UEFA Club Footballer of the Year The UEFA Club Footballer of the Year was a football award presented by UEFA to the most outstanding performers of every European club football season. The award, along with "Best Goalkeeper", "Best Defender", "Best Midfielder," and "Best Forward", ...

. During his time in Madrid, Redondo earned the nickname ''El Principe'' ("The Prince"). In April 2013 he was named by daily newspaper Marca as a member of the "Best foreign eleven in Real Madrid's history", and four years later was selected by its readers to the club's all-time XI; during one full decade, he amassed Spanish top division totals of 268 games and 12 goals.

AC Milan

In 2000, Redondo transferred to

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 ...

club

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

in a controversial £11m move: he stated that he was not involved in transfer discussions and expressed his desire to stay at Madrid. In response, a section of Real Madrid supporters gathered outside the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (, ) is a retractable roof association football, football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a seating capacity of around 83,000 following its extensive renovation completed in late 2024, the stadium has the second-largest ...

protesting the transfer. However, he suffered a serious knee injury in one of his first training sessions for his new team, and was unable to play for the next years; he suspended his £2.74m-a-year salary, and even tried to give back the house and car which the Milan board had given him. Redondo did manage to contribute (albeit in a peripheral role) to Milan's successes in the 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons, making a combined 16 league appearances and adding five in the 2002–03 Champions League and six in the same edition of the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

, including the two-legged final. In late 2004, at the age of 35, he retired from professional football following another knee injury.

International career

Redondo earned 29

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, the bulk of his appearances coming from 1992 to 1994 while Alfio Basile was the manager. His first appearance was on 18 June 1992, in a 2–0 friendly win over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Redondo turned down a call-up to the national team just before the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

, when it was coached by Carlos Salvador Bilardo. The player excused himself on account of not wanting to interrupt his law studies, but it was also reported that he objected to Bilardo's defensive strategy. Redondo later explained: "I was picked for Argentina's World Cup squad in 1990 but I knew I wasn't going to be in the starting line-up, I would just be another squad member, so I preferred to stay home." In the 1994 World Cup, Redondo started in all of Argentina's matches, but was unable to prevent the country from falling 2–3 to

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

in the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. Following the tournament in the United States he refused to play under

Daniel Passarella Daniel Alberto Passarella (born 25 May 1953) is an Argentine former Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager, who is considered one of the greatest Defender (association football), defenders of all time. As a ...

who had banned long hair, earrings and homosexuals in his squad, leading to disputes with several players. The former refused the latter's demand to cut his hair, and was left out of the national team as even

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

and president

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) served as the 50th president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronism, Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years (from 1990 to 200 ...

went on to take sides in the situation. Passarella excluded Redondo from his 1998 World Cup squad, stating: "Twice he was asked to play for the national team and twice he refused and gave a different reason each time. Then he announced publicly he did not want to play for the national team and I do not pick any player who does not want to play for Argentina." The player later explained: "I was in great form. But he had particular ideas about discipline and wanted me to have my hair cut. I didn't see what that had to do with playing football so I said no again." In 1999, when Argentina was managed by

Marcelo Bielsa Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera (, nicknamed ''El Loco Bielsa'' , meaning 'The Madman Bielsa'; born 21 July 1955) is an Argentine professional Association football, football manager who is the current manager of the Uruguay national football team ...

, Redondo was recalled to the national side for two exhibition matches with

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Although he was chosen ''

Player of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

'' in the 2–0 victory in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

he refused any subsequent call-ups, preferring to focus on club football; in 2015, he was included in an all-time team by the

Argentine Football Association The Argentine Football Association (, ; AFA) is the governing body of football in Argentina based in Buenos Aires. It organises the main divisions of Argentine football league system, Argentine league system (from Argentine Primera División, Pri ...

Style of play

An elegant

deep-lying playmaker In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

who played in front of the defence, Redondo's main attributes were his creative passing, vision, technique and close control with his left foot, his ability to control the tempo of his team's play in midfield making him a key member of the Real Madrid side of the 90s. Despite not having a great deal of pace, he possessed good acceleration and was an efficient and aggressive tackler, who contributed defensively just as much as he did offensively. As such, his role has also been likened to that of a '' metodista'' ("centre-half," in Italian football jargon), due to his ability to dictate play in midfield as well as assist his team defensively. Although he was regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation, Redondo's career was also largely marked by injuries, in particular during the final years of his career.

Personal life

Redondo was born into an industrialist family and enjoyed a wealthy upbringing, later studying law at university in the early years of his playing career. He married the cousin of fellow footballer Santiago Solari, and his sons

Federico Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick (given name), Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese and Italian language, Italian. People with the given name Federico Ar ...

and Fernando Jr. were also involved in the sport. An avid reader, Redondo counted

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

and

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...

as his two favourite authors.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 1994–95, 1996–97 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

: 1997–98, 1999–2000 * Intercontinental Cup:

Milan *

: 2003–04 *

: 2002–03 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Argentina U17 *

South American U-17 Championship The South American U-17 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 17, is a association football, football competition held every two years for South American under-17 teams. The tournament was born in 1985 out of a need for a classification tourna ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

Argentina *

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 ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

Individual *

: Golden Ball

* FIFA XI: 1996 *Tenerife Player of The Year: 1992–93, 1993–94 *Real Madrid Player of The Year: 1996–97, 1999–2000 * ESM Team of the Year: 1997–98 *

Trofeo EFE Trofeo EFE is an annual football award given by the EFE news agency since the 1990–91 La Liga, 1990–91 season to the best Latin-American player in Spanish football. Recipients are selected based on assessments from the agency's sports editors. ...

: Player of The Decade 1990–99 *

: 1999–2000 * AFA Team of All Time (published 2015) *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

Argentina All Times Dream Team: 2021

References

External links

* * *
SuperFutbol biography

Futbol Factory biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Redondo, Fernando 1969 births Living people Footballers from Adrogué Argentine men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Argentine Primera División players Argentinos Juniors footballers La Liga players CD Tenerife players Real Madrid CF players Serie A players AC Milan players UEFA Champions League–winning players UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award winners Argentina men's youth international footballers Argentina men's international footballers 1992 King Fahd Cup players 1993 Copa América players 1994 FIFA World Cup players FIFA Confederations Cup–winning players Copa América–winning players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy 20th-century Argentine sportsmen