Rodolfo Martín Arruabarrena (born 20 July 1975) is an Argentine professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former footballer, who is the current head coach of the United Arab Emirates national football team. As a footballer, he played as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and spent most of his career with

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

, where he began his professional career, and Spanish club Villarreal.

Club career

Argentina

''"El Vasco"'' Arruabarrena (The Basque) debuted professionally in 1993 with

, where he played until 2000, except for the Apertura 1996, when he was lent to Rosario Central for 6 months. After returning to Boca, he gained a place in the regular squad. While with Boca, Rodolfo Arruabarrena won the Apertura in 1998 and the Clausura in 1999 Argentine first division tournaments, as well as the

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 ...

2000. He played a total of 178 games for Boca in all competitions, scoring 7 goals.

Villarreal

From Boca he moved to Spanish Villarreal in mid 2000. Because of his reliability while playing as the team's left-back, he has been the team's captain in several occasions. He holds Villarreal's record of appearances in La Liga, with 178 first division matches with ''El Submarino Amarillo'' (as of 9 December 2005). Arruabarrena's goals in the 2005–2006 Champions League helped to eliminate Scottish giants Rangers F.C. and Italians Internazionale to reach the semi-finals in the club's first ever season in the competition. With Villarreal CF he won the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

in 2003 and 2004, and played 200 league and international matches for the Spanish team (as of 10 September 2006).

AEK Athens

On 3 May 2007, ''El Vasco'' signed a three-year contract with Greek Super League runners-up AEK for 800,000 euros per year for two years, extendable for a third. According to Arruabarrena, an important role for his decision to continue his career in Greece was played by Lorenzo Serra Ferrer (AEK manager) and Demis Nikolaidis (former star player and later president of his new club who played for

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

in 2003–2004). In Rivaldo's debut with AEK Arruabarrena set up the Brazilian legend to score on a header. Arruabarrena also set up

Ismael Blanco Ismael Blanco (born 19 January 1983) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Argentine club Club Ciudad de Bolívar. Club career Argentina Blanco started his career with Colón in 2002. He suffered a serious knee in ...

to score against Getafe in a UEFA Cup match. Arruabarrena managed to have 25 appearances for AEK in one season but halfway through the season he suffered a serious injury. On 29 July 2008, AEK Athens manager Giorgos Donis announced to the press that Arruabarrena was no longer in the team's plans.

International career

''El Vasco'' played five matches with the

Argentina national football team The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in men's international football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body for football in Argentina. Nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' ('The White and S ...

, as well as several with the youth team. Arruabarrena made his first cap against Chile in 1994. He also played some matches in 1995 and one against England on 23 February 2000. Arruabarrena was not called up again for national team duty until September 2006, when Alfio Basile called him for a friendly match against Spain, and then again in February 2007 for another friendly against France. Arruabarrena was also called up for another friendly match against Chile on 18 April 2007 but he was left on the substitutes' bench.

Career statistics

International career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

;Boca Juniors (4) *

Primera División 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, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

(2): 1998 Apertura, 1999 Clausura *

(1):

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Copa de Oro The Copa de Oro (English: ''Gold Cup'', Portuguese: ''Copa Ouro''), or Copa de Oro Nicolás Leoz, was a football cup winners' cup competition contested on 3 occasions by the most recent winners of all CONMEBOL continental competitions. These inclu ...

(1):

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

;Villarreal *

(2):

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

;Universidad Católica (1) *

(1):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Manager

;Boca Juniors *

(1):

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 Apri ...

* Copa Argentina (1): 2014–15 ;Al-Rayyan *

Sheikh Jassim Cup The Sheikh Jassim Cup ( ar, كأس الشيخ جاسم) is an annual men's super cup competition in Qatari football held between the winner of the Qatar Stars League and the Emir of Qatar Cup. History The inaugural Sheikh Jassim Cup was held in ...

(1): 2018 ;Shabab Al Ahli * UAE President's Cup (1): 2018–19 *

UAE League Cup The UAE League Cup ( ar, كأس رابطة المحترفين الإماراتية) or the Pro League Cup is a knockout tournament for clubs in the UAE Pro-League. The first edition of the tournament was played in the 2008–2009 season. In the ...

(1): 2018–19 * UAE Pro League: Runner-up 2018–19

References

External links

Football database

Champions League

Argentine Primera statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arruabarrena, Rodolfo 1975 births Living people Argentine people of Basque descent Citizens of Spain through descent People from Marcos Paz Partido Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province Argentine footballers Association football fullbacks Boca Juniors footballers Rosario Central footballers Villarreal CF players AEK Athens F.C. players Club Atlético Tigre footballers Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Argentine Primera División players La Liga players Super League Greece players Chilean Primera División players Argentina youth international footballers Argentina international footballers 1995 King Fahd Cup players Footballers at the 1995 Pan American Games Pan American Games medalists in football Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina Argentine expatriate footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Greece Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Chile Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Chile Argentine emigrants to Spain Argentine football managers Club Atlético Tigre managers Club Nacional de Football managers Boca Juniors managers Al-Wasl F.C. managers Al-Rayyan SC managers Argentine Primera División managers Uruguayan Primera División managers UAE Pro League managers Qatar Stars League managers Argentine expatriate football managers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate football managers in Uruguay Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in Qatar Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games Pyramids FC managers