Ignacio Antonio Saavedra Pino (born 12 January 1999) is a Chilean 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 plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Russian club

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

Club career

Beginnings

Ignacio was born into a family linked to sports. At six years old, he started participating in the

Colo-Colo Colo-Colo (), officially Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo, is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano, it competes in the Chilean Primera División, from which the club has never been ...

Academy, and at 13 he moved to the youth ranks of rivals Universidad Católica. His talents quickly caught the attention of both club and nation, getting called up to the Chile U20 squad.

Universidad Católica

After the arrival of the Spanish

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Beñat San José Beñat San José Gil (born 24 September 1979), is a Spanish football manager and former footballer who played as a left winger, who is currently in charge of SD Eibar. He is the youngest manager in Gulf and Saudi history to have won a title, t ...

, Saavedra made his professional debut on August 4, 2018, in a match against Everton. He played 88 minutes in a 2–1 win. From there on, he has maintained a steady flux of starts in the defensive midfield position, amassing 131 official career appearances with the club.

Sochi

On 24 January 2024, Saavedra signed a contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

International career

He represented Chile U17 at the

2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the sixteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, held in Chile from 17 October to 8 November 2015. Host selection The following four countries bid to host the tournament: * * * * Venues Along with proposing ...

, reaching the second stage and proving his reliability by playing all the matches. At under-20 level, Saavedra represented Chile in the

2018 South American Games The 2018 South American Games was a multi-sport event that took place in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It was the 11th edition of the ODESUR South American Games. A total of 373 sporting events are scheduled to be contested across a variety of sports. ...

, winning the gold medal. At senior level, after being called up to some '' training microcycles'' by both

Reinaldo Rueda Reinaldo Rueda Rivera (born 16 April 1957) is a Colombian football coach who currently serves as a manager for the Honduras national team. When he was the coach of the Colombia U-20 team, they finished 3rd at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Cham ...

and

Martín Lasarte Martín Bernardo Lasarte Arróspide (born 20 March 1961) is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a defender, and recently the manager of Nacional Montevideo. He represented five teams in his country, and also had a three-and-a-half-yea ...

, making his international debut in the

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 ...

against

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

on March 26, 2021, at the 87th minute.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

;Universidad Católica * Primera División:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Supercopa de Chile The Supercopa de Chile (''Supercup of Chile'') is an annual one-match football official competition in Chile organised by the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (ANFP). This competition serves as the season opener and is played between t ...

;Chile U20 *

South American Games The South American Games (also known as ODESUR Games; Spanish: ''Juegos Suramericanos''; Portuguese: ''Jogos Sul-Americanos''), formerly the Southern Cross Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Cruz del Sur'') is a regional multi-sport event held between nat ...

Gold medal:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saavedra, Ignacio 1999 births Living people Footballers from Santiago, Chile Chilean men's footballers 21st-century Chilean sportsmen Chile men's youth international footballers Chile men's under-20 international footballers Chile men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Chilean Primera División players Russian Premier League players Russian First League players Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers PFC Sochi players South American Games gold medalists for Chile South American Games medalists in football Competitors at the 2018 South American Games South American Games competitors for Chile Chilean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Russia