German Giovanni Ruano González (born 17 October 1971), popularly known as ''El Chino'', is a Guatemalan former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who played 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 ...

, spending the majority of his career for

Municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

in the Guatemalan top division, and was also a member of the Guatemala national team.

Club career

Born in

Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

, Ruano, a

of outstanding defensive and attacking skills, began his career with local side Suchitepéquez. In 1993, he was brought by coach

Horacio Cordero Horacio Raúl Cordero Vásquez (born 22 May 1950 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine football manager and former player. Playing career Cordero played for a number of clubs in Argentina including Argentinos Juniors, Racing Club, Unión de Santa ...

, where he would remain for the next 16 years, winning 12 league titles and five domestic cups, thus becoming one of the most honoured players in the history of the club. By 2008, he had become the second-longest serving active squad member after

Juan Carlos Plata Juan Carlos Plata (born 1 January 1971), nicknamed El Pin or Pin Plata, is a Guatemalan professional football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the highest-scoring player in the history of Guatemala's top division. As of ...

. After finishing second on the 2008–09 clausura tournament, Municipal did not renew his contract, and afterwards Ruano, who wore the number 17 on his shirt throughout his career, announced his retirement.

International career

Ruano made his debut for

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 ...

in a December 1995

UNCAF Nations Cup The Copa Centroamericana () was an association football competition organized by UNCAF as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from Central America. The tournament was held from 1991 to 2017, every two years in the years be ...

match against

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and went on to collect 57 caps in the next six years, appearing in a total 19 matches during the qualification processes to the

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

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

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. He also played four matches at the

1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the third edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). The tournament returned to the United States and California; the games were hosted by Los ...

and two matches at the

1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the fourth edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Gold Cup, the association football, soccer championship for the member associations of CONCACAF, which governs the sport in North America, Central America, and the Caribb ...

. His final international was a January 2001

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

match against

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, a game which also marked the end of the international careers of national team stalwarts Jorge Rodas and Edgar Valencia.

Honours

;Club * Liga Mayor / Liga Nacional winner (12): 1993–94, 2000 Apertura, 2000 Clausura, 2001, 2002 Clausura, 2003 Apertura, 2004 Apertura, 2005 Clausura, 2005 Apertura, 2006 Clausura, 2006 Apertura, 2008 Clausura * Domestic Cup tournament winner (5): 1994, 1995, 1998, 2003, 2004 * Campeón de Campeones (Super Cup) winner (2): 1994, 1997

References

External links

*
FIFA.com - Individual record at FIFA tournaments
1971 births Living people Guatemalan men's footballers Footballers from Guatemala City Men's association football fullbacks Guatemala men's international footballers 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players C.S.D. Municipal players C.D. Suchitepéquez players {{Guatemala-footy-bio-stub