Leonardo Julián Balerdi Rosa (born 26 January 1999) is an Argentine 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

centre-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 ...

for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

, whom he

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, and the Argentina national team.

Club career

Boca Juniors

Balerdi made his debut for Boca Juniors in the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

starting against

Club Atlético Huracán Club Atlético Huracán () is an Argentine sports club from the Parque Patricios neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is notable for its association football, football team, that currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, Primera Divi ...

on 27 August 2018. Although only appearing 5 times for Boca Juniors (a total of 450 minutes on the pitch), Balerdi's performances took Argentinian football by storm and he has rapidly been hailed as Argentina's best upcoming defender.

Borussia Dortmund

In January 2019, Balerdi agreed to a four-and-a-half-year contract with

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

. According to several Argentine reports, Dortmund has agreed to pay €15 million for the central defender. An additional €2 million might need to be paid due to agreed add-ons. Balerdi made his Dortmund and

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 ...

debut on 7 December 2019 against

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...

coming onto the pitch as a substitute in the 78th minute. After a few substitute appearances, Balerdi made his first start against

1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. (), commonly known as TSG Hoffenheim (), are a German professional football club based in Sinsheim. Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, Hoffenheim came into being in their modern for ...

in the last Bundesliga fixture of the 2019–20 season. He was substituted in the 65th minute as Dortmund trailed 4–0.

Marseille

In July 2020, Balerdi signed with

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

on a year loan with an option to buy for €15 million. On 3 July 2021, he joined Marseille permanently, signing a five-year contract with the club. At the start of the 2024–25 season, Balerdi extended his contract by 2 more years until 2028, being also promoted as captain of the squad.

International career

He debuted for the Argentina senior squad on 10 September 2019 in a friendly match against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, replacing

Lucas Martínez Quarta Lucas Martínez Quarta (born 10 May 1996) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Argentine Primera División club River Plate and the Argentina national team. Club career On 5 October 2020, Martínez Quarta s ...

in the 83rd minute.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Boca Juniors *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

runner-up:

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 ...

Marseille *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the Super cup, super cups found in many other count ...

runner-up:

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 ...

Argentina U17 *

South American U-20 Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as South American U-20 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 20, is a South American football tournament organized by the CONMEBOL for South American national teams of men under age o ...

runner-up:

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 ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Olympique de Marseille website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balerdi, Leonardo 1999 births Living people People from Villa Mercedes, San Luis Footballers from San Luis Province Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Argentine people of Basque descent Argentine men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Argentina men's international footballers Argentina men's youth international footballers Argentina men's under-20 international footballers Argentine Primera División players Boca Juniors footballers Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Borussia Dortmund players Borussia Dortmund II players Ligue 1 players Olympique de Marseille players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in France Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Germany Argentine expatriate sportspeople in France 21st-century Argentine sportsmen