Manuel Alejandro Neira Díaz (born 12 October 1977) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a forward for clubs including

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 ...

(Chile),

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas S.A.D. is a professional association football, football club based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The club will compete in Segunda División, the 2nd division in the Spanish football league syst ...

(Spain), Racing Club (Argentina) and

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional football club based in the Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile currently participating in the Primera División de Chile. History Foundation, Amateur Era and First seasons ...

(Chile), and scored 2 goals in 13 internationals, including selections for the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

and the 2001 Copa América.

Club career

Early career

Neira began his career, aged seventeen, at Primera División Chilena club

before moving to the Brazilian club

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube () is a professional Association football, football club in the Morumbi, São Paulo, Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil. It plays in Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo (state), São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

in 1994, after a notable performance at the 1993 FIFA U-17 World Championships. In the next season, Neira return to Colo-Colo, but in 1996 Neira was loaned to Everton de Viña del Mar of the Primera B in this time. From 1997 to 1998, Neira was consolidated as player in Colo-Colo, winning the Primera División Chilena title in two consecutive occasions, the

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and 1998 season. In December 1998, Colo-Colo sold Neira to the Spanish club

. However, he was loaned back to Colo-Colo for one season. When Neira returned to the club, he proclaimed champion of the

1999–2000 Segunda División The 1999–2000 Segunda División was the 69th edition since the establishment of the competition. 22 teams participated in the league. The teams that promoted to La Liga were UD Las Palmas, Osasuna and Villarreal CF. The teams that relegated to ...

title. Neira was transferred to an Argentine "giant club"

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club () is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Avellaneda, Argentina. They compete in the Argentine Primera División, Primera División, the top tier of Argentine football league system, Argentine f ...

for the 2000–01 season. In the Torneo Apertura 2000, Neira only scored 2 goals in 9 games. During the summer of 2001, Neira was transferred to

, where he made a notable performance scoring 11 goals in 17 games, being one of the top-scorer of the Torneo Apertura. In June 2001, Neira was signed by the Colombian club América de Cali.

Colo-Colo

In January 2002, Neira was once again transferred to Colo-Colo. He obtained the runner–up title with the club in the Torneo Apertura, after Colo–Colo's 3–0 defeat against Cobreloa in the final. But in the Torneo Clausura of the same year, Neira made one of his most notable season in his career, winning the top–scorer title with 14 goals, and also winning the Primera Division title, after of win to Universidad Católica in the finals. In the next season, the team lost twice in the same year the final against Cobreloa. However, Neira scored 21 goals in 42 matches over the season. There were many rumors that he would be transferred to Europe, which did not materialize. He played the Torneo Apertura 2004 scoring 1 goal in 16 matches. In June 2004, he was transferred to the Mexican club

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

. He remained there for one season in and then was transferred to

for second time in his career.

Unión Española

With Unión, Neira won the Torneo Apertura 2005 title, after of the victory against Coquimbo Unido for 2–1. In the next season (2006), Neira scored 19 goals in 29 matches. In December 2006, he was released of Unión and he received many offers for several clubs. In January 2007, he agreed upon moving to Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. on a one-year deal with the club until December 2007, refusing an offer from

in this time. In his second game for the team, in the Channel One Cup, he was injured severely by

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

player

Elvir Rahimić Elvir Rahimić (born 4 April 1976) is a Bosnian football manager and former player. He is the current sporting director of Bosnian Premier League club Željezničar. Rahimić spent the majority of his career playing for Russian Premier League ...

. Neira suffered two fractures in his ankle, and had to sit out for the rest of the season before he even played a single league game for

Hapoel Hapoel (, ) is an Israeli Jewish sports association established in 1926 by the Histadrut Labor Federation. History During the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Palestine period Hapoel had a bitter rivalry with Maccabi World Union, Maccab ...

. For the Torneo Clausura 2007, Neira return to Unión, after of Neira was released of the club. He made his Unión re–debut against Everton at Sausalito Stadium, in a 0–0 draw. He scored his first goal in his third cycle in the club against his former club Colo–Colo, in a 2–2 draw. Finally, Neira scored 9 goals in 19 matches for the tournament. In December 2007, he tried his luck at the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matc ...

, Neira only trained with them for a couple of weeks, but was not liked by the coach, and returned to Unión Española. During 2008, in the Torneo Apertura 2008, he scored 3 goals in 12 matches. In the Torneo de Clausura 2008 he became a key player of the club, scoring 6 goals in 15 matches. However, the club ended up in the relegation/promotion play-offs. Neira helped the team by scoring 2 goals in 2 matches against Deportes Puerto Montt to save them from relegation.

International career

Neira's first international appearance with

Chile national football team The Chile national football team (), nicknamed ''La Roja'' (), represents Chile in men's international Association football, football competitions and is controlled by the Football Federation of Chile, Federación de Fútbol de Chile (), which ...

was in the FIFA U-17 World Championship 1993 celebrated in Japan. In this tournament he was one of top–scorers of the tournament with Peter Anosike and

Nwankwo Kanu Nwankwo Kanu (born 1 August 1976) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was a member of the Nigeria national team, and played for Nigerian club Iwuanyanwu Nationale, Dutch side Ajax, Inter Milan of Italy, a ...

with 5 goals under

Wilson Oruma Wilson Oruma (born 30 December 1976) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career in France. Club career Oruma was born in Warri, Nigeria. He arrived at RC Lens from Bendel Insurance in ...

with 6 goals winning the third place of the tournament. He participate in the Chile national under-20 football team, he played in the South American Youth Championship in the years 1995 and 1997. He was selected for the

Chilean squad, but did not play. Prior to this, he played for Chile B against England B on 10 February 1998. Chile won by 2-1 and Neira scored the two goals.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Chile's goal tally first.''

Honours

Colo-Colo *

Chilean Primera División The Chilean Primera División () is a professional association football league in Chile and the highest level of the Chilean football league system. Founded in 1933, it is organized by the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (ANFP). The l ...

: 1997 Clausura,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, 2002 Clausura Unión Española * Chilean Primera División: 2005 Apertura Individual * Chilean Primera División top scorer: 2002 Clausura

References

External links