Julio Daniel dos Santos Rodríguez (born 7 May 1983) is a Paraguayan former

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 ...

. He played usually in the hole-position, and sometimes as a

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

Club career

Born in

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

, Dos Santos started his professional career with

Cerro Porteño Club Cerro Porteño is a professional Paraguayan Association football, football club, based in the neighbourhood of Obrero (Asunción), Obrero in Asunción. Founded in 1912, Cerro has won 34 Paraguayan Primera División, Primera División titles ...

, before eventually moving to

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

of Germany, in January 2006. He was elected

Paraguayan Footballer of the Year The Paraguayan Footballer of the Year is an award given to the best Paraguayan professional Association football, football player every year. The award began officially in 1997 and it is presented by Paraguayan newspaper ''ABC Color''. Players tha ...

in 2005 by national newspaper ''

Diario ABC Color ''ABC Color'' is a Paraguayan daily newspaper that is part of Editorial Azeta S.A., a subsidiary of Grupo Azeta. It was established in 1967 by Aldo Zuccolillo. Founded in August 1967, it is often regarded as Paraguay's newspaper of record. Histor ...

''. Upon his arrival in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, he was touted as a long-term successor to

Michael Ballack Michael Ballack (; born 26 September 1976) is a German former professional footballer. He was selected by Pelé as one of FIFA's 100 Greatest Living Players, and as the UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year in 2002. He won the German Footballer of ...

, but faced stiff competition from Iran's

Ali Karimi Mohammad Ali Karimi ( ; born 8 November 1978) is an Iranian football coach and former professional footballer. During his professional football career, he has played as a playmaker in the Iran Pro League, UAE Pro League, Qatar Stars League and B ...

. Eventually, both players struggled to break into the starting lineup. In the first half of

2006–07 Bundesliga The 2006–07 Bundesliga was the 44th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 11 August 2006 and ended on 19 May 2007. Bayern Munich were the defending champions. Team changes from 2005–06 Three teams from th ...

season, Bayern's leadership publicly stated its impatience with Dos Santos' progress. Club coach

Felix Magath Wolfgang Felix Magath (; born 26 July 1953) is a German football manager and former player. The most notable spell of his playing career was with Hamburger SV, with whom he won three Bundesliga titles, the 1977 European Cup Winners' Cup Final a ...

said: "It is clear that Julio's development does not please us, It does not make sense to keep a player at the club who does not create". This led to widespread rumours of his departure from the club; the speculation ended in December 2006, when Bayern announced they had reached a deal to send the player on loan to fellow

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

side

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

for the remainder of the season. Having failed to break into Wolfsburg's first team (mainly due to a major injury), he returned to Bayern in June. At the conclusion of the 2006–07 season, Dos Santos had made four league appearances, as well as one appearance in the

2006–07 DFB-Pokal The 2006–07 DFB-Pokal was the 64th season of the annual German football cup competition. 64 teams competed in the tournament of six rounds, which began on 8 September 2006 and ended on 26 May 2007. In the final, 1. FC Nürnberg defeated VfB Stu ...

and two appearances in the

2006–07 UEFA Champions League The 2006–07 UEFA Champions League was the 15th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded from the European Cup, and the 52nd season overall. The final was contested by Milan ...

. However, after the arrivals of

Franck Ribéry Franck Henry Pierre Ribéry (; born 7 April 1983) is a French former professional footballer who primarily played as a winger, preferably on the left side, and was known for his pace, energy, skill, and precise passing. He is regarded as one ...

Hamit Altıntop Hamit Altıntop (; born 8 December 1982) is a Turkish people, Turkish former professional association football, footballer and current board member of the Turkish Football Federation. He was a versatile midfielder who could play either in a Midfi ...

José Sosa José Ernesto Sosa (born 19 June 1985) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Argentina Primera Division club Estudiantes de La Plata. He also represented the Argentina national team. Club career Estudiantes ...

and

Zé Roberto José Roberto da Silva Júnior (born 6 July 1974), commonly known as Zé Roberto, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a left wing-back or as a midfielder. He is most well-known for his time with Bayer Leverkusen and Bay ...

, it soon became clear that he would again struggle to find a place in the first team.

Ottmar Hitzfeld Ottmar Hitzfeld (; born 12 January 1949) is a German former professional football player and a former manager. He accumulated a total of 18 major titles, mostly in his tenures with Grasshopper Club Zürich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. ...

, who had replaced Magath as Bayern manager by that time, stated that the club sought to sell dos Santos. Therefore, he would split 2007–08 between

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

(with no first-team appearances) and Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense. In June 2008, dos Santos signed with

Clube Atlético Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (abbreviated CAP, commonly known as Athletico Paranaense and up to 2019 known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded ...

, also from Brazil. In June 2009, Julio went back to his original club Cerro Porteño to play the 2009 Clausura and Copa Sudamericana. On 29 December 2014, Julio dos Santos joined Brazilian club

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

. Before signing with Sportivo Luqueño, dos Santos rejected the opportunity to sign with Olimpia Asunción – being Cerro Porteño's rival – thanking however the club's president for interest in him but stating that his Cerro-ism would not permit him to join Olimpia.

International career

A Paraguayan international since 2004, dos Santos appeared for the nation at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

in two matches, assisting for the first goal against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

(2–0). He played the 2007 Copa America but has not been called up for the World Cup Qualifiers.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Julio dos 1983 births Living people Paraguayan people of Brazilian descent Paraguayan people of Spanish descent Footballers from Asunción Men's association football midfielders Paraguayan men's footballers Paraguayan Primera División players Cerro Porteño players Club Presidente Hayes footballers Bundesliga players FC Bayern Munich II players FC Bayern Munich footballers VfL Wolfsburg players UD Almería players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Grêmio FBPA players Club Athletico Paranaense players CR Vasco da Gama players Sportivo Luqueño players Paraguay men's under-20 international footballers Paraguay men's international footballers 2004 Copa América players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Paraguayan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Germany Copa Libertadores top scorers 21st-century Paraguayan sportsmen

Club career

International career

See also

References

External links