Ricardo Villar (born August 11, 1979) is a Brazilian former 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 played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Career

Born in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Villar began his football career in the youth ranks of famed Brazilian side

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 1996, he left Brazil to attend

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

in the United States where he played College Soccer for four years. Upon ending his college career Villar remained in the United States and played for lower level sides

Hampton Roads Mariners Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia * Hampton, New South Wales * Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria ** Hampton railway station, Melbou ...

and

Pittsburgh Riverhounds Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1998 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American ...

. In 2004, he would leave the United States and join Austrian top flight side

SV Austria Salzburg SV Austria Salzburg is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional association football, football club, based in the city of Salzburg. The club was formed in 2005 by some supporters of the original SV (Austria) Salzburg after it was renamed FC ...

where he would remain for one year and be relatively used. After a brief stay in South Korea with

Chunnam Dragons The Jeonnam Dragons () are a South Korean professional football club based in the city of Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. The Dragons play their home matches at the Gw ...

, Villar joined Germany's

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern (), K'lautern or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to Association football, football ...

and remained there for one season. In 2007, he joined

SpVgg Unterhaching Spielvereinigung Unterhaching () is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. The club is widely known for playing in the first-division association football league ...

and was a key player for the club appearing in 63 league matches and scoring 9 goals. After three years in Germany Villar joined Greek side AS Rodos and remained at the club for one season making 15 appearances and scoring 1 goal. In the off-season he returned to

in time for the 2010–11 season. On February 7, 2011, Villar signed with Major League Soccer club

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

.FC Dallas signs Brazilian midfielder Ricardo Villar
/ref>

Personal life

He also holds Italian citizenship.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Villar, Ricardo 1979 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Penn State Nittany Lions men's soccer players Men's association football midfielders Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC players FC Red Bull Salzburg players Jeonnam Dragons players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players SpVgg Unterhaching players FC Dallas players A.S. Rodos players Major League Soccer players Austrian Football Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players K League 1 players Virginia Beach Mariners players A-League (1995–2004) players USL Second Division players FC Dallas draft picks 3. Liga players All-American college men's soccer players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Expatriate men's footballers in South Korea Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Footballers from São Paulo