Leonardo Nicolás Pisculichi (; born 18 January 1984) is an Argentine retired

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 ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He won the

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American fo ...

in 2014 and

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

in 2015 with River Plate.

Club career

Pisculichi started his career with

Argentinos Juniors Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Paternal, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, and was recognized as one of th ...

, making his first division debut on 20 February 2002, against

Talleres de Córdoba Club Atlético Talleres (; (lit. Workshops Athletic Club) mostly known simply as Talleres (lit. Workshops) or Talleres de Córdoba ) (Córdoba Workshops) is an Argentine sports club from the city of Córdoba. The institution is mostly known for ...

. He was transferred to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

on 4 January 2006. He netted three times in his first five games - including a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

equalizer against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

on 26 February, in an eventual 2–1 home triumph. Leonardo Pisculichi, Fábio César Montezine 2011

On 30 November 2006, he was transferred to Al-Arabi Sports Club in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the c ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

3.6 million, with the move being made effective in January of the following year. In July 2012, Pisculichi transferred to the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

side

Shandong Luneng Taishan Shandong Taishan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Jinan, Shandong and their home stadium is ...

. In 2014, he joined the Argentine powerhouse River Plate. During his tenure at River Plate, he won the

2014 Copa Sudamericana The 2014 Copa Sudamericana (officially the 2014 Copa Total Sudamericana for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's secondary international club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. Lanús were ...

against Atletico Nacional. He left River in December 2016 and signed for Brazilian side

Esporte Clube Vitória Esporte Clube Vitória, commonly referred to as Vitória, is a Brazilian professional club based in Salvador, Bahia founded on 13 May 1899. It competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B, the second tier of Brazilian football, as well as ...

in January 2017.

Return to Argentina

Having left Vitória in May 2017, Pisculichi signed with newly promoted

, the team he started his career with in August 2017. He was the first signee of the campaign.

Burgos CF

In June 2019, Pisculichi joined Spanish

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Fo ...

club

Burgos CF Burgos Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1985, it started to play in 1994. It currently plays in Segunda División, holding home matches at the '' Est ...

International career

Pisculichi played 134 minutes in the

2003 South American Youth Championship The 2003 South American Youth Championship (Sudamericana sub-20) is a football competition contested by all ten U-20 national football teams of CONMEBOL. The tournament was held in Uruguay between 4 January and 28 January 2003, it was the 21st ti ...

that was held in Uruguay, representing the Argentina youth football team. He started in the game against hosts Uruguay and scored in the 82nd minute. He also came on as a substitute in a match against Brazil. He was set to be naturalized to play for the Qatar national team by 2009. However, he neglected to mention that he had previously represented the Argentina under-20 team, rendering him ineligible to play for the Qatar team without special permission from FIFA. However, the same scenario occurred in 2012. The Al-Arabi administration wanted to naturalize him so they could have an extra foreign player in their squad to participate in the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

. He did not gain Qatari citizenship and the club's management were criticized by the local media.

Personal life

Pisculichi is of

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

n descent. His family

Hispanicized Hispanicization ( es, hispanización) refers to the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by Hispanic culture or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-Hispanic becomes Hispanic. Hispanicization is il ...

their surname ''Piškulić'' (originally from the town of

Novi Vinodolski Novi Vinodolski (, often also called Novi or ''Novi del Vinodol'' o ''Novi in Valdivino'' in Italian) is a town on the Adriatic Sea coast in Croatia, located south of Crikvenica, Selce and Bribir and north of Senj. The population of Novi is 3,98 ...

) to its current spelling.

Career statistics

Club

Honors

;River Plate *

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana ( pt, CONMEBOL Recopa Sul-Americana), known also as the Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as the Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club football competition organized by CO ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

;Vitória *

Campeonato Baiano The Campeonato Baiano is the football league of the state of Bahia, Brazil. The championship has been played since 1905 without interruption. 2020 format First stage: 10 teams are included in one group, playing once only against all teams i ...

: 2017

References

External links

Argentine League statistics
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pisculichi, Leonardo 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province Argentine people of Croatian descent Argentine footballers Argentina under-20 international footballers Association football forwards Argentine Primera División players Argentinos Juniors footballers La Liga players RCD Mallorca players Club Atlético River Plate footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Al-Arabi SC (Qatar) players Expatriate footballers in Qatar Qatar Stars League players Chinese Super League players Expatriate footballers in China Shandong Taishan F.C. players Esporte Clube Vitória players Club Atlético Temperley footballers Burgos CF footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Segunda División B players Primera Nacional players