Marcelo Alejandro Estigarribia Balmori (born 21 September 1987) is a Paraguayan

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

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Sportivo Ameliano Club Sportivo Ameliano, also simply known as Ameliano, is a Paraguayan football club based in Virgen del Huerto neighborhood in the city of Asunción. The club competes in the Paraguayan Primera División for the 2022 season after their promotio ...

in the

Primera División Paraguaya Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Ely Rafael Primera Ros ...

. Estigarribia has been known since youth as ''Chelo'', as a diminutive of his name Marcelo. He also has an

Italian passport An Italian passport () is issued upon request to an Italian nationality law, Italian citizen for the purpose of international travel. It is valid for 10, 5 or 3 years, depending on the applicant's age. Its Biometric passports, biometric version ...

by way of his mother. At club level, Estigarribia has played for teams in Paraguay, France, Uruguay, Argentina, Italy, and Mexico. At international level, he has represented the

Paraguay national football team The Paraguay national football team (), nicknamed ''La Albirroja,'' represents Paraguay in men's international Association football, football competitions, and are controlled by the Paraguayan Football Association, Asociación Paraguaya de Fút ...

, and was member of the squad that finished second at the

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international association football, football tournament for national ...

Biography

Estigarribia was born and raised in Fernando de la Mora, one kilometer away from the Paraguayan capital

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 ...

. He comes from a strongly

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family.

Club career

Club Unión Pacífico

Estigarribia started his career in the youth divisions of Club Unión Pacífico before moving to

Sport Colombia Club Sport Colombia, is a Paraguayan football club based in the city of Fernando de la Mora. History The club was founded November 1, 1924 and plays in the Paraguayan third division. Their home games are played at the Estadio Alfonso Colmá ...

where he made his professional debut at the age of 17.

Le Mans

In 2006, Estigarribia moved to Paraguayan side

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 ...

, and in August 2008 he was transferred to

Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...

of the

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 ...

Newell's Old Boys

On 27 December 2009, Estigarribia signed for

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

on loan from Le Mans for 18 months. In June 2011, it was reported by the '' Daily Record'' that

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

club

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

were chasing Estigarribia when their boss

Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former association football, footballer who has since worked as a Manager (association football), manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Jo ...

spent a week scouting in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Juventus

On 28 August 2011, Estigarribia moved to

Juventus FC Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

on a season loan for a €500,000 fee, with an option of making the transfer permanent for €5 million at the end of the season, from a proxy club

Deportivo Maldonado Club Deportivo Maldonado is a football club from Maldonado, Uruguay. They currently play in the Uruguayan Segunda División following their relegation from the Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American ...

. He made his debut as a substitute against

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona. History The name came from t ...

and got his first start against

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. He scored his first goal for Juventus against

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

where the match ended in a 3–3 tie.

Sampdoria

On 4 August 2012, Estigarribia moved to

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the List of football club mergers, merg ...

on a season-long loan for a €700,000 fee, with the option of making his stay with Sampdoria permanent for €5 million at the end of the season. He made his debut with ''Blucerchiati'' against

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

, winning 0–1.

Chiapas

On 25 January 2017, Estigarribia joined

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

side

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 ...

Colón

On 22 August 2017, Estigarribia joined Argentine club

Club Atlético Colón Club Atlético Colón de Santa Fe (), commonly referred to as Colón de Santa Fe , is a sports club from Santa Fe, Argentina. The football team plays in the second Division of the Argentine football league system, the Primera Nacional. It was ...

Olimpia Asunción

In January 2021, it was announced that Estigarribia signed a one-year agreement with

Olimpia Asunción Club Olimpia is a Paraguayan professional sports club based in the city of Asunción. It promotes the practice of various sports, with most importance given to the football, rugby and basketball sides, football being the most successful. Fou ...

. The club announced the signing through its official website. His arrival at the club was through a request of the coach, the Argentine

Nestor Gorosito Nestor may refer to: * Nestor (mythology), King of Pylos in Greek mythology Arts and entertainment * "Nestor" (''Ulysses'' episode) an episode in James Joyce's novel ''Ulysses'' * Nestor Studios, first-ever motion picture studio in Hollywood, L ...

, who stated that Estigarribia can be used in three positions.

International career

Estigarribia received his first senior international cap for

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

in a friendly match against

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

on 22 May 2008. He scored his first international goal in a friendly match against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

on 31 March 2010. His performances in the

, where Paraguay went on to reach the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the tournament, only to lose out 3–0 to

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, prompted Italian giants Juventus to make a move for him.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

, - , 1. , , 31 March 2010 , ,

Defensores del Chaco Defensores del Chaco Stadium (, ; , named after the Paraguayan Chaco soldiers in the Chaco War) is a multi-purpose stadium in Asunción, Paraguay. Located in the Sajonia neighbourhood, it is the owned by the Paraguayan Football Association. It i ...

, Asuncion, Paraguay , , , , 1–0 , , 1–1 , , Friendly

Honours

Juventus *

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

: 2011–12

References

External links

* * * * * at Fútbol XXI {{DEFAULTSORT:Estigarribia, Marcelo 1987 births Living people People from Fernando de la Mora, Paraguay Footballers from Central Department Paraguayan people of Basque descent Paraguayan men's footballers Paraguayan expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Cerro Porteño players Le Mans FC players Newell's Old Boys footballers Juventus FC players UC Sampdoria players AC ChievoVerona players Atalanta BC players Jaguares F.C. footballers Club Atlético Colón footballers Deportivo Maldonado players Club Olimpia footballers Club Sol de América footballers Paraguayan Primera División players Uruguayan Primera División players Ligue 1 players Argentine Primera División players Serie A players Liga MX players Paraguay men's international footballers Paraguay men's under-20 international footballers 2011 Copa América players Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Uruguay Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in France Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Italy Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay 21st-century Paraguayan sportsmen