Ronald Federico Araújo da Silva (born 7 March 1999) is an Uruguayan 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 plays as a defender for club

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and the Uruguay national team. Primarily a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, he is also capable of playing as a right-back on occasion.

Club career

Rentistas

Born to a Brazilian-Uruguayan father and a Brazilian mother in Rivera, a city near the Brazilian border, Araújo joined Rentistas from hometown club Huracán de Rivera. He made his senior debut with the former on 24 September 2016, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

away win against

Tacuarembó Tacuarembó ( Guaraní language, Guarani: ''Takuarembo'', literally: "Bamboo shoot") is the capital city of the Tacuarembó Department in north-central Uruguay. History On 24 October 1831, a presidential decree by Fructuoso Rivera ordered the cr ...

. Araújo scored his first senior goal on 9 December 2016, netting the equaliser in a 2–2 home draw against

Central Español Central Español Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Central Español is a Uruguayan football club based in Montevideo. History The F.U.F era Together with Peñarol, Central founded FUF (Uruguayan football federation) in 1923 after being expel ...

. He became a regular starter during the 2017 season, and scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a 3–2 away win over

Villa Española Villa Española is a ''barrio'' (neighbourhood or district) of Montevideo. Location This barrio shares borders with Mercado Modelo to the west, Pérez Castellanos to the northwest, Ituzaingó to the north, Flor de Maroñas to the northeast, Mar ...

on 17 June of that year. It was at Rentistas that Araújo made the significant switch in position from forward to defender.

Boston River

On 28 July 2017, Araújo joined Primera División side Boston River. He made his debut in the category on 18 September, replacing Maximiliano Sigales late into a 1–0 home success over El Tanque Sisley.

Barcelona

On 29 August 2018, Araújo signed a five-year contract with

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

for a fee of €1.7 million, plus €3.5 million in variables; he was initially assigned to the reserves in

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: 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 ...

. He made his first team – and

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

– debut on 6 October of the following year, coming off the bench to replace Jean-Clair Todibo in the 73rd minute of a 4–0 home win against Sevilla; however, he was sent off in the 86th minute for fouling Javier Hernández. For the 2020–21 season, Araújo was promoted to the main squad, being handed the number 4 jersey, which was previously worn by Ivan Rakitić. On 19 December 2020, he scored his first

goal for Barcelona in a 2–2 home draw against

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. On 20 March 2022, Araújo scored his first goal in El Clásico, heading in a corner from Ousmane Dembélé in a 4–0 away victory against the league leaders at Santiago Bernabéu. For the first 21 league games of the 2022–23 season, Araújo formed a defensive partnership alongside Andreas Christensen and occasionally Jules Koundé at centre-back, helping Barcelona keep the most clean sheets (16) in all of Europe's top 5 leagues. On 21 July 2023, Barcelona announced Araújo as the club's third captain. On 4 November 2023, he scored his first goal of the 2023–24 season in the 92nd minute of stoppage time in a 1–0 away win over

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

. On 16 April 2024, Araújo received a straight red card for fouling Bradley Barcola in the first-half of Barcelona's Champions League quarter-final second leg match against

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

which shifted the momentum in PSG's favor, turning the tide of the match despite Barcelona's two goal lead and eventually ended up losing 4–1 on the night, and 6–4 on aggregate. On 23 January 2025, he extended his contract with the club until 2031.

International career

After representing

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 ...

at under-18 and under-20 levels, Araújo received his first call up for the senior side on 5 October 2020, for two 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. He made his full international debut eight days later, starting in a 2–4 loss against the latter. In June 2021, Araújo was included in the final 26-man Uruguay squad for the 2021 Copa América in Brazil, but he didn't feature in any of Uruguay's five games in the tournament while also suffering a muscle injury. Despite nursing an injury, Araújo was included in the Uruguay squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

, having expected a recovery during the knockout phase. However, he did not make an appearance as Uruguay were eliminated in the group stage. On 16 November 2023, he scored his first goal with the national team against

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 ...

in the

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fifth round at

La Bombonera La Bombonera (; , named after its resemblance to a chocolate box, per Viktor Sulčič), officially known as Alberto José Armando Stadium (, ; named after Alberto Armando), is an association football stadium located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. In the 41st minute, Araújo received the ball after a Matías Viña's low cross into the penalty box and beat Argentine keeper

Emiliano Martínez Damián Emiliano Martínez Romero (born 2 September 1992), also known as Dibu, is an Argentine professional association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa a ...

with a shot from the right side of the goal to the bottom left corner.

Style of play

Originally a striker, Araújo's physicality made his youth coaches move him to centre-back at age 17. Primarily a right-footed centre-back, Araújo is also comfortable playing as a right-back, a role in which he has been deployed on occasion to counter skilled wingers. Known for his defensive solidity, Araújo excels in one-on-one duels and has an ability to time his challenges effectively. His pace and athleticism allow him to recover quickly and cover large spaces, making him an invaluable asset in high defensive lines. Brazilian winger Vinícius Júnior has called him ''The best defender I have ever faced. He's very strong and very good''. Standing at 1.88 meters, Araújo is dominant in the air, both defensively and offensively. His aerial prowess makes him a constant threat from set pieces, where his ability to outjump opponents has led to crucial goals for both club and country. Despite his defensive strength, his ball-playing abilities have often been criticized. During the Champions League quarter-final, Luis Enrique stated that he ordered his men to press Araújo when he had the ball. Araújo's defensive decision-making has also been lacking as he sometimes lacks positional sense, and the sense of when to intercept and when to be proactive.

Personal life

Araújo is

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Uruguay score listed first, score column indicates score after each Araújo goal.''

Honours

Barcelona *

: 2022–23, 2024–25 *

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

: 2020–21, 2024–25 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

Uruguay U20 * South American Games silver medal:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Uruguay *

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

third place:

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Individual * La Liga Team of the Season: 2021–22, 2023–24 *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

Men's CONMEBOL Team: 2023

References

External links

Profile
at the FC Barcelona website
Profile
at the Uruguayan Football Association website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Araujo, Ronald 1999 births Living people Footballers from Rivera Department Uruguayan men's footballers Men's association football defenders C.A. Rentistas players Boston River players FC Barcelona Atlètic players Uruguayan Primera División players Uruguayan Segunda División players Uruguay men's youth international footballers Uruguay men's under-20 international footballers Uruguay men's international footballers 2021 Copa América players 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2024 Copa América players South American Games silver medalists for Uruguay South American Games medalists in football Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Uruguayan people of Brazilian descent