Ronald Alejandro Vargas Aranguren (; born 2 December 1986) is a Venezuelan 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Club career

Caracas

Vargas started his career in the youth teams of

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. He was promoted to the first team in 2006. His debut in the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

came on 14 March 2006 against

Cienciano Club Cienciano, more commonly known as Cienciano, is a Peru, Peruvian professional association football, football club based in Cusco, that currently plays in the Peruvian Primera División. It gained worldwide recognition after defeating Club At ...

. Ronald scored his first goal in the final of the 2006–07 Primera División against Unión Atlético Maracaibo, in a 0–1 victory. The 2007–08 season established him as a regular player in the starting line-up of Caracas. His first goal of the season came on 21 October 2007 in a league match against

El Vigía The Alberto Adriani Municipality () is one of the 23 municipalities () that makes up the Venezuelan state of Mérida and, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality has a popula ...

. He ended the campaign with 29 games and 8 goals. In that season he also made his debut in

Copa Venezuela The Copa Venezuela () is the national cup football competition of Venezuela. Organized by the Venezuelan Football Federation, it is contested in the second half of the season by the teams in the Primera División and Segunda División, excluding ...

and scored his first goal in Copa Libertadores.

Club Brugge

On 14 May 2008, Vargas signed with the Belgian team

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,042. They pl ...

on a four-year deal. Caracas received €1.5 million, making this the most expensive transfer from a Venezuelan team in history. He made his debut on 29 August in a league match against

AFC Tubize Royale Union Tubize-Braine, also known as Tubize-Braine or RUTB, is a football in Belgium, Belgian football club based in the cities of Tubize and Braine-le-Comte. The team set to play in Belgian National Division 1 from 2024–25, third tier of ...

, in a 4–1 victory. His debut in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

came on 18 September, in a 2–2 draw against

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

, and he scored his first goal in the competition on 27 November in another draw, this time 1–1, against

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), abbreviated as A.S.S.E. () and commonly known as Saint-Étienne, is a French professional football club based in Saint-Étienne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The club was founded in 1933 and competes ...

. In the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season Ronald started with top performances, scoring, among other goals, four braces against

Westerlo Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. Th ...

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

Zulte-Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. The club set to play in Belgian Pro League from 2025–26 after promotion f ...

and

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

. Vargas continued his good form in the start of the second part of the tournament, but on 6 February 2011 he suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

in a league match against

KRC Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk or Racing Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four championship title ...

, only eight minutes after the start of the match. He was expected to be out for over six months, missing the chance of playing with his national team in 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 ...

Anderlecht

Contractual differences between Vargas and Club Brugge emerged in summer 2011, finishing with his transfer to

R.S.C. Anderlecht Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, commonly abbreviated to RSC Anderlecht (, , ) or RSCA (, , ), is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian First Division A and is the mos ...

on 29 June 2011. The transfer fee was reported to be €2.5 million. Because of the rivalry between the two clubs mutual transfers aren't very common. It was the first transfer from Club Brugge to Anderlecht since Aleksandar Ilić in 2000. Vargas made his debut with the team in a

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

match against

Lommel United Lommel SK is a Belgian association football club based in the city of Lommel, Limburg, that competes in the Challenger Pro League. History The roots of the club date back to the 1920s when the club Vlug & Vrij Overpelt-Usines (Fast & Free ...

, on 21 September. This meant his return seven months after his injury, and he scored once in the 4–0 victory. However, on 26 October he fell injured again on the same knee, in a cup match which Anderlecht lost against Rupel Boom. Kanu fed the ball to Vargas down the left wing, and the Venezuelan looked smooth and he moved infield past his marker. He then tried, and failed, to whip a right-footed cross into the area, but that mattered little as he went down gripping his left knee in obvious, spine-tingling pain. The diagnosis was four months out by the medical staff. The American team

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conferenc ...

and

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

were interested in Ronald Vargas, if Anderlecht managed to get Thorgan Hazard. At the end of this season Vargas finished his contract with Anderlecht. However, the club was willing to keep him one more year. Anderlecht hoped that, with Vargas playing on loan, they would have been able to sell him for more money afterwards.

Balıkesirspor

On 28 July 2014, Vargas signed a one-year contract with the

Super Lig Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter/player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard button) ...

side club

Balıkesirspor Balıkesirspor is a Turkish sports club, club based in Balıkesir. Established in 1966, the Association football, football team played in the Süper Lig after achieving promotion having finished as runners-up of the TFF First League in 2013–14 T ...

. On 20 September 2014, he made his debut with the club in a 2–0 home win against

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

and he scored his first goal two months later in a 3–1 home loss against

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Net Global Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department has competed in Süper Lig since t ...

. At the end of the season did not renew his contract with the club.

AEK Athens

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

officially announced that Vargas had signed a contract with his new team. The 28-year-old forward came to Athens and a few hours later he signed his two-year contract with his new team. On 22 August 2015, he made his debut with the club in a 3–0 home win against

Platanias Platanias (Greek: Πλατανιάς) is a village and municipality on the Greek island of Crete. It is located about west from the city of Chania and east of Kissamos, on Chania Bay. The seat of the municipality is the village Gerani. Platani ...

scoring the second goal. On 13 November 2015, AEK's midfielder suspended for three games after his red card in a

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

game. The Venezuelan was sent off in the last moments of first half against

Asteras Tripolis Asteras Tripolis Football Club (), currently known as Asteras AKTOR for sponsorship reasons, commonly referred to as Asteras, is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Tripoli in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Asteras Tripolis ...

for hitting an opponent. On 6 January 2016, AEK won against

Levadiakos Levadiakos Football Club (officially romanized: ''Levadeiakos'' ) is a Greek professional football club that plays in the Super League Greece. Based in Livadeia, Greece, the club was promoted to the Alpha Ethniki, forerunner of the Super League, ...

in their first leg

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

tie and are close to qualifying for the last eight of the tournament. Vargas scored a wonderful goal sealing his club victory. On 24 January 2016, thanks to a strike by Venezuelan midfielder, AEK won 1–0 against

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

and remain at the second

position, behind the previous year's champions

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

. Vargas was impressive in January 2016, scoring four times, and was honored by magazine ''Diario Goleador'' as the best Venezuelan footballer of the month. AEK Athens manager

Gustavo Poyet Gustavo Augusto Poyet Domínguez (; born 15 November 1967) is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former footballer who is the manager of K League 1 club Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Poyet played as a midfielder and began his career with s ...

used the 29-year-old international mostly as right winger, which helped him scoring more and also creating goals for his teammates. On 13 February 2016, Vargas scoring after

Diego Buonanotte Diego Mario Buonanotte Rende (; born 19 April 1988) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays for Chilean club Deportes Temuco as an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder and Midfielder#Winger, winge ...

's missed penalty kick, helping his club to escape with a 1–0 win against the undefeated champions Olympiacos. It was the key player coming as a substitute in the derby whereas referee sent off visitors' Alberto Botia, Luka Milivojević (for the penalty incident) and home team's

Rodrigo Galo Brito Rodrigo Galo Brito (born 19 September 1986) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a right-back. Career Early career In 2000, Rodrigo Galo joined the academy of club Juventus. He spent four years playing for the club's yo ...

, while

Felipe Pardo Édgar Felipe "Pipe" Pardo Castro (born 17 August 1990) is a Colombian professional Association football, footballer who currently plays for Deportivo Táchira Fútbol Club, Deportivo Táchira. Club career Early years Pardo began his profession ...

suffered a strain injury during first half. It was named Man of the match. On 28 February 2016, thanks to a free kick from Vargas, who was also the only scorer against

and Olympiacos, AEK beat rivals Panathinaikos 1–0.

's final against Olympiakos was most likely the last appearance of Vargas in

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, as the 29-year-old international has suffered a left adductor strain injury. In December 2016, the agent of Venezuelan attacking midfielder was in talks with the administration of AEK over his client's contract extension. The current contract of 30-year-old international expires at the end of 2016–17 season, and his agent wanted to ask technical director of the club Daniel Majstorovic if they are interested in extending it before January 2017 or not. On 22 April 2017, he received an offer for a two-year contract extension, with an annual fee of €300,000. Despite his team's desire to maintain his services, Vargas will leave the club as he isn't pleased with either the offer or his team role. After the announcement of his upcoming departure he was heavily linked with Panathinaikos.

Newcastle Jets

In September 2017, Vargas signed for Australian

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

club,

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

on a one-year deal as their marquee player for the 2017–18 season. In a Round 3 clash with the

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's football pyramid. When Queensland Lions F.C. were ...

, Vargas suffered a compound fracture of the leg, ruling him out for a large part of the season, a short time in to his A-League career. Four months later, he returned. He appeared in Newcastle's

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

loss to

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

. Vargas scored his first goal for Newcastle in their 1–1 draw with

Adelaide United FC Adelaide United Football Club is a professional men's Association football, soccer club located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club was one of the eight founding members of the A-League Men and have competed in it concurrently ...

in Round 2 of the 2018–19 season.

International career

Vargas has played 23 times for the Venezuela national team, scoring 3 goals. His debut came in the 1–0 match against Haití, in February 2008. He scored his first goal in the historic win against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

at the Gillete Stadium, in June 2008; his partner

Giancarlo Maldonado Giancarlo Gregorio Maldonado Marrero (; born 29 June 1982) is a Venezuelan football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the current manager of Portuguesa. Club career River Plate Maldonado began his footballing career i ...

scored too, and Venezuela won 2–0. On 9 September 2009, Ronald Vargas scored the last goal in Venezuela's 3–1 victory over

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. Vargas was among the 23-final squad for Copa America. Venezuela beat

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

1–0 at the

2015 Copa América The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, ...

, the biggest upset of the tournament so far and their first victory over their South American neighbours in the history of the competition. Vargas had an excellent performance, almost gave the Venezuelans the lead in the 27th minute, forcing David Ospina to make a fine reflex save.

Career statistics

Club

UEFA.com – Ronald Vargas
uefa.com,

International

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

Honours

Club

Caracas FC *

Venezuelan Primera División The Primera División (; ), or Liga Venezolana (; ) is the top-flight professional football league of Venezuela. It was created in 1921 and turned professional in 1957. It is organized by the Federación Venezolana de Fútbol. Format Starting i ...

: 2006–07 Anderlecht *

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

: 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14 *

Belgian Supercup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, t ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

AEK *

Greek Football Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 2015–16

Notes

References

External links

*
R.S.C. Anderlecht profile

Official website
(In Spanish) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vargas, Ronald 1986 births Living people People from Guatire Footballers from Miranda (state) Venezuelan men's footballers Venezuela men's international footballers 2015 Copa América players Caracas F.C. players Club Brugge KV players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Balıkesirspor footballers AEK Athens F.C. players Newcastle Jets FC players K.V. Oostende players Belgian Pro League players Super League Greece players Venezuelan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Men's association football forwards Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Greece Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Marquee players (A-League Men)