Ismael Blanco (born 19 January 1983) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Club career

Argentina

Blanco started his career with Colón in 2002. He suffered a serious knee injury (cruciate ligament) in 2004. Having lost his place on the first team, after his rehabilitation he was loaned out in January 2005 to

Club Libertad Club Libertad is a Paraguayan professional football club based in Asunción that currently plays in the Paraguayan Primera División. The club plays its home games at Estadio Tigo La Huerta; which holds 10,100 people. Founded in 1905, Liber ...

of Paraguay, where he had the opportunity to participate in the

Copa Libertadores 2005 The 2005 Copa Libertadores was the 46th edition of the Copa Libertadores. The champion also qualified for the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship. It was the first time ever that two teams from the same country reached the final. This year's tourn ...

, scoring twice during his team's unsuccessful effort in Group 1. After his loan spell in Club Libertad, he returned in June 2005 to Argentina, to play on loan for

Olimpo de Bahía Blanca Club Olimpo, usually referred to as Olimpo de Bahía Blanca, is an Argentine sports club based in the city of Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires Province. The club was founded October 15th, 1910. Its primary activity is soccer. The club is recognized in ...

, a

Primera B Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, (English "National B Division"), and known as Primera B Nacional until the 2019–20 season) is the second division of the Argentine football league system. The competition is made up of 38 team ...

team. During his stay there he managed to score 46 times in 90 games, helping his team win the Primera B Nacional and the promotion to Primera División and being the top scorer in both the

Apertura The ' () and ' () tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is ...

2006 (18 goals) and the

Clausura The ' () and ' () tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is ...

2007 (11 goals). In the summer of 2007, he rejoined Colón.

AEK Athens

He did not stay with Colon for long; on 10 August 2007, Blanco joined

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

on loan. He got his first appearance in a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

match against Red Bull Salzburg on 20 September 2007. He then debuted in

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repl ...

against

Atromitos Atromitos (Greek: Ατρόμητος, "fearless") may refer to: * Atromitos F.C., a football team based in Peristeri, Greece * Atromitos Piraeus, a football team based in Piraeus, Greece * Atromitos Yeroskipou Atromitos Yeroskipou () was a Cy ...

and scored twice leading AEK Athens to a 2–0 win. Blanco's first goal in a European competition occurred on 13 February 2007 against

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city c ...

with a back flick in the 94th minute to end the game as a 1–1 draw. Blanco finished top scorer in the 2007–08 Superleague Greece having scored 19 goals in 28 games (he scored once more during his six playoff apps). His performances led AEK Athens to announce the activation of the clause in his contract on 28 April 2008. Blanco started his second season in AEK scoring the winning goal via a penalty against

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club based in the City of Athens. Panathinaikos is one of the mos ...

in the year's first derby match. Blanco also stated to the press that he does not want to leave AEK and wants to be playing for many years in Greece. Blanco scored his first

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

goal against

Chaidari HaidariFor the spelling, see thmunicipal website (, ''Chaidari'') is a suburban town in the western part of the Athens agglomeration, west of Athens city center. Geography The municipality has an area of 22.655 km2. The geography of the mu ...

. Blanco finished top scorer in the 2008–09 Superleague Greece having scored 14 goals in 30 games (plus three goals at six playoff games). Blanco's third season at AEK wasn't as successful as the previous years as he scored only 13 goals all season, (eight in the league, four in Europe, and one in playoffs). In his fourth season, he scored 15 goals in all competitions. His first goals came in the 5–1 win against

Panthrakikos F.C. Panthrakikos Football Club () is a Greek Association football, football club based in Komotini, Thrace in North Eastern Greece founded in 1963. The club competed in Super League Greece 2008-09, Super League Greece during the 2008–09 season for t ...

for the Greek Cup, in which Blanco scored his first hat-trick. He scored also a game-winner against arch-rivals Olympiakos in the 90th minute (he came into the game as a substitution). Blanco decided not to renew his contract with AEK and not to accept the proposal of AEK and he was released to a free agent. Blanco promised that if ever returned to Greece that would be only to wear AEK Athens' colours.

San Luis

On 18 August 2011, Blanco was signed by Mexican club San Luis. He managed to score two goals in 15 appearances for the Mexican League.

Legia Warsaw

The 29-year-old cut short a spell in Europe with AEK to move to Mexican side San Luis last summer, but has quickly headed back to Europe. Blanco was highly rated back in 2007 when AEK snapped him up from Club Atletico Colon; the striker had enjoyed impressive spells on loan with Libertad and Olimpico. The striker will now hope to pick up his success in Europe with Polish outfit Legia Warsaw. On 24 February 2012, Blanco was signed by Polish club

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

until 30 June 2012 with an option of extending to another season. Legia managed to win the Polish Cup of that season. He was released on 15 May 2012 as he did not fulfil the club's expectations, having only scored two goals in the

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

1860 Munich

After leaving Legia Warsaw, Blanco signed for

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's association football, football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football league system ...

, as well as his former teammate at AEK Athens,

Grigoris Makos Grigoris Makos (; born 18 January 1987) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Panionios In 2000, Makos signed for Panionios from Ilioupoli at the age of 13. After impressing in the youth academy, he ...

. He did not fulfill the expectations of the club, not finding the net in 13 caps for the 2. Bundesliga.

Return to South America

In February 2013, Blanco returned to his homeland, Argentina to join

Lanús Lanús () is the capital of Lanús Partido, Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It lies just south of the capital city Buenos Aires, in the Greater Buenos Aires conurbation, metropolitan area. The List of cities in Argentina, city has a populati ...

. He was given his favourite number, "18" On 16 June, Blanco scored twice against River Plate in a 5–1 victory. He scored five goals in 16 appearances for the 2013 Torneo Final and Lanús took the third place. On 17 August 2014 Blanco signed a two years' contract for

Barcelona SC Barcelona Sporting Club (), internationally known as Barcelona de Guayaquil, is an Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil, known best for its professional football team. They currently play in the Ecuadorian Serie A, the highest level of fo ...

an Ecuadorian

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

based in

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

. The total amount of transfer is estimated to €2.9 million. On 22 August 2016, he rejoined Colón. On 11 August 2017, he joined Atlético Tucumán.

Egaleo

In January 2020, he joined Greek club Egaleo in the Football League, who compete in the Greek third tier. Blanco previously played for

Club Atlético Mitre Club Atlético Mitre is an Argentina, Argentine sports club located in the Santiago del Estero. The club is mostly known for its association football, football team, that currently plays in Primera B Nacional, the second division of Argentine footb ...

in the Argentine second division where he scored three goals in 11 matches last season. He did not renew his contract with the Argentine club and decided to return to Greece at the age of 37.

Celebration

On 26 September 2007, in a match against

Veria Veria (; ), officially transliterated Veroia, historically also spelled Beroea or Berea, is a city in Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the regional unit of Imathia. It is located north-nor ...

, after putting AEK Athens in front, Blanco revealed a

Zorro Zorro ( or , Spanish for "fox") is a fictional character created in 1919 by American Pulp magazine, pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo de Los Ángeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed as a dashin ...

mask from his sock and drew a big Z in the air celebrating the winning goal. He kept doing so from time to time though

referees A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titles ...

usually punished him with a

yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative co ...

. As a result, he gained the nickname "Zorro" by the fans.

Personal life

Blanco is of Egyptian descent. He is the oldest brother of Sebastián Blanco.

Career statistics

Honours

Olimpo * Nacional B:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

AEK Athens *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Legia Warsaw *

: 2011–12 Lanús *

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, also known as Copa Sudamericana (; ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club com ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Individual * Nacional B top scorer:

*Best foreign player of Greek Super League: 2007–08 *Super League Greece top scorer: 2007–08, 2008–09 *Greek Cup top scorer: 2008–09,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanco, Ismael Living people 1983 births Copa Sudamericana–winning players Argentine people of Egyptian descent Argentine men's footballers Egyptian men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Entre Ríos Province Men's association football forwards AEK Athens F.C. players Club Atlético Colón footballers Barcelona S.C. footballers Club Libertad footballers Club Olimpo footballers San Luis F.C. players Legia Warsaw players TSV 1860 Munich players Club Atlético Lanús footballers Atlético Tucumán footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador Expatriate men's footballers in Paraguay Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Paraguay Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Poland Egaleo F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Germany Argentine Primera División players Paraguayan Primera División players Primera Nacional players Super League Greece players Liga MX players Ekstraklasa players 2. Bundesliga players Ecuadorian Serie A players 21st-century Argentine sportsmen 21st-century Egyptian sportsmen