Washington Sebastián Abreu Gallo (; born 17 October 1976) is a Uruguayan football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former player who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He is the current manager of Peruvian club Universidad César Vallejo. He is best known for his record of appearing for 32 teams in 11 countries during his professional career. Nicknamed ''Loco'' (

Madman Pierfrancesco Botrugno (born 25 July 1988), better known by the stage name Madman sometimes stylized as MadMan is an Italian rapper. Biography Early years, ''Escape from Heart'' Madman entered the world of hip hop by participating in the 2 ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

), the prolific scorer for club and national team initially retired in 2021 after a four-month stint with

Sud América Institución Atlética Sud América, usually known as Sud América or just IASA, is a football club from Montevideo. They currently play in the Uruguayan Segunda Division. History Sud América has won the Uruguayan 2nd Division on 7 occasions, ...

, but later that same year came out of retirement with Olimpia de Minas. A Uruguayan international for more than 15 years, Abreu represented his country in two World Cups and three

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

tournaments, winning the latter in 2011.

Playing career

Club

Early career

Born in

Minas Minas or MINAS may refer to: People with the given name Minas * Menas of Ethiopia (died 1563) * Saint Menas (Minas, 285–309) * Minias of Florence (Minas, Miniato, died 250) * Minas Alozidis (born 1984), Greek hurdler * Minas Avetisyan (192 ...

Lavalleja Department Lavalleja () is a department of Uruguay. Its capital is Minas. It is located in the southeast of the country, bordered to the north by the department of Treinta y Tres to the east with Rocha, to the south with Canelones and Maldonado, and to ...

, Abreu played in numerous clubs throughout the Americas (Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil). He also had an unsuccessful stint with Spain's

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. They currently play in the Primera División RFEF – ...

, which loaned him several times for the duration of his contract. In his sole season in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

, which started in January 1998, having been signed from

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

, Abreu scored for the

Galicians Galicians ( gl, galegos, es, gallegos, link=no) are a Celtic- Romance ethnic group from Spain that is closely related to the Portuguese people and has its historic homeland is Galicia, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. Two Romance ...

in a 3–1 home defeat of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern 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 ...

on 25 January.

River Plate and Beitar

After having joined Mexico's UANL in 2007, Abreu was able to rescind his contract with them in order to join River Plate – the

Mexican Football Federation The Mexican Football Federation (; abbreviated as Femexfut or FMF) is the governing body of association football in Mexico. It adm the Mexico national team, the Liga MX and all affiliated amateur sectors, and controls promoting, organizing, dire ...

stalled on recognising the transfer because of an imposed moratorium between the clubs. He became the only foreigner to score in the '' Clásico Regiomontano'' (Tigres vs.

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is ancho ...

, which he represented the previous year) against each team. In the middle of 2008, after exhausting negotiations, Abreu signed a deal with Israeli League champions

Beitar Jerusalem Beitar Jerusalem Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל בית"ר ירושלים, Moadon Kaduregel Beitar Yerushalayim), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply as Beitar (), is an Israeli football club based in the city of Je ...

. He appeared in the qualifying rounds of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

, but his team was quickly eliminated. Additionally, he could not play in the domestic front due to lack of payment. Abreu re-signed with River Plate in September 2008 after terminating his link with Beitar, with a deal lasting until June 2009. Due to being a late addition, he was not able to play for the side in the

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 ...

, only featuring in the

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American fo ...

. The next year, he was eligible for both the domestic and

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 ...

fronts.

Real Sociedad

In early January 2009, Abreu returned to Spain after a ten-year absence, being loaned by River to Segunda División side

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septemb ...

, which had lost habitual first choice Iñigo Díaz de Cerio for the season due to a serious leg injury. On 14 March 2009, he 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 wi ...

in a 3–1 away win against league leaders

Xerez Xerez Club Deportivo, known simply as Xerez, is a Spanish football team based in Jerez de la Frontera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Xerez currently plays in Tercera División RFEF, the fifth tier of Spanish football. Founded on 24 ...

. His team, however, ultimately failed in returning to the top flight.

Botafogo

On 13 June 2009, Aris in Greece signed Abreu from River Plate. However, in January of the following year, the 33-year-old changed club and country again, agreeing on a two-year contract with Brazil's

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

. Abreu scored the second goal in the 2–1 victory over

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football ...

on 18 April 2010, which gave the team the

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, B ...

title. In July, he had his link extended until 31 December 2012 with a release clause of US$11.3 million, with the player declaring he had previously held talks with

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

and

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

of Turkey. On 6 February 2011, Abreu was involved in a dramatic match against Fluminense: his team won a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

as they were losing 2–1, and he shot it in Panenka-style, with

Diego Cavalieri Diego Cavalieri (born 1 December 1982) is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who last played as a goalkeeper for Botafogo. Cavalieri is of Italian ancestry and holds both Italian and Brazilian passports. He has earned three caps fo ...

saving the shot by simply standing still. Another penalty was awarded just five minutes later, and he shot it in the same fashion, this time into the right-hand corner of the goal, as the goalkeeper dived the other way; a few minutes later, Botafogo scored again and won the game. Abreu was loaned to fellow Série A side Figueirense on 5 July 2012. However, as the season went on to end in relegation, his contract was ended via

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on 24 November, one day before the last game against Grêmio.

Sol de América

From January 2013 to December 2015, Abreu was under contract to Nacional, also being loaned to

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central () is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on December 24, 1889, by a group of railway workers, taking its name from the English ...

and

Aucas The Huaorani, Waorani, or Waodani, also known as the Waos, are an Indigenous people from the Amazonian Region of Ecuador ( Napo, Orellana, and Pastaza Provinces) who have marked differences from other ethnic groups from Ecuador. The alternate ...

during this timeframe. On 28 December 2015, Paraguayan newspaper D10 reported that he had met in Uruguay with Sol de América chairman Miguel Figueredo. He had already received a more lucrative offer from Mexico, but declined in order to be closer to his country, and was officially confirmed on 6 January 2016.

Bangu

On 12 November 2016, 40-year-old Abreu joined Brazil's Bangu from Santa Tecla, with the deal being made effective the following January. After ten appearances in the Rio de Janeiro State League, he left.

Later years

On 4 April 2017, Abreu signed with Montevideo-based team

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 ex ...

of the Uruguayan Segunda División. In late December of the same year, he joined

Chilean Primera División The Chilean Primera División (English: First Division) is the top-tier league of the Chilean football league system. It is organized by the '' ANFP''. The league is known as the Campeonato AFP PlanVital for sponsorship reasons. Format As of the ...

Audax Italiano Audax Club Sportivo Italiano () is a Chilean football club based in La Florida. Founded in 1910, it plays in the Campeonato Nacional and has spent most of its history in the top tier of Chilean football. Audax has been national champions four ...

from

Puerto Montt Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune ...

, in the same country but one level below; this transfer broke a world record, as it marked him as the first player to have played for 26 professional clubs. Abreu returned to Brazil in December 2018 at age 42, agreeing to a contract at Série D's Rio Branco. He returned to his homeland the following July, signing with Boston River and making his

debut in a 0–0 draw against River Plate where he donned jersey number 113. On 8 February 2021, Abreu signed for Athletic Club in Brazil. After four matches in the

Campeonato Mineiro Campeonato Mineiro is the state football league of the state of Minas Gerais and is controlled by the Minas Gerais Football Federation FMF (Federação Mineira de Futebol). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: befo ...

, he terminated his contract on 21 March due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. On 30 March 2021, Abreu joined newly promoted Uruguayan top-tier club

. On 10 June, he announced his decision to retire from professional football, and it was reported on news the game against

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

the following day would be his last. Abreu's hometown side Olimpia de Minas announced on 29 August 2021 that he would briefly come out of retirement to play for them in the local ''Campeonato Minuano''. He finished as champion of the ''+40 category tournament of ADIC'' (Asociación Deportiva de Integración Colegial), and also top scorer with 17 goals in 11 matches for the amateur (college) team ''Colegio Jesús María 2019'', being the second championship won in the year after the ''Apertura'', where he also ranked first in the scoring charts.

International

Abreu played for

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del 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 ...

at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea ...

– three matches – and the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

and 2011

editions, netting twice in the latter. He made his debut for the national side on 17 July 1996 in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

with China, going on to earn 70

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

. On 27 May 2010, Abreu stood only five goals short of Uruguayan all-time goalscoring record, held by

Héctor Scarone José Juan Héctor Scarone Berreta (26 November 1898 – 4 April 1967) was a Uruguayan footballer who played as inside forward. Scarone was considered one of the best players in the world during his time,. being nicknamed ''El Mago'' ("the Magic ...

for 79 years. He was selected for the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

in South Africa, where he appeared three times as a substitute; in the quarter-finals against

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

he scored the decisive penalty shootout attempt (1–1 after 120 minutes), a Panenka to send his team to the semi-finals for the first time in

40 years ''40 Years'' is an album by The Dubliners, released in 2002. To celebrate 40 years together, the band recorded an album and undertook a European tour. Ronnie Drew and Jim McCann rejoined the group on both the album and the tour. Twelve new trac ...

Coaching career

On 26 April 2019, Abreu was announced as the

interim manager Interim management is the temporary provision of management resources and skills. Interim management can be seen as the short-term assignment of a proven heavyweight interim executive manager to manage a period of transition, crisis or change wit ...

of Santa Tecla on an initial one-and-a-half month spell, with the parties holding the option open of keeping him as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

or just as a player afterwards. He

won Won may refer to: *The Korean won from 1902–1910 *South Korean won, the currency of the Republic of Korea *North Korean won, the currency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea * Won (Korean surname) * Won (Korean given name) * Won Buddhis ...

the

Copa El Salvador The Copa El Salvador is the top knock-out football tournament in El Salvador. The first edition was played in 1999, resulting champion C.D. Águila of El Salvador. From 2000 to 2006, the competition was played two more times with Atlético Balboa ...

four days later, defeating Audaz 1–0 in the final. In December 2019, Abreu was appointed

at Boston River ahead of the upcoming campaign in the

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , en, First Division Professional League, local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional football league in Uru ...

. He resigned from the last-placed club the following 9 November. Abreu was named manager of Bolivian Primera División side Always Ready on 30 January 2022. On 1 March, he left by mutual consent. On 25 May 2022, Abreu was appointed at

Paysandú Paysandú () is the capital of Paysandú Department in western Uruguay. Location The city is located on the banks of the Uruguay River, which forms the border with Argentina. It lies northwest of Montevideo via Route 1 and Route 3, on the ju ...

in the

Uruguayan Primera División Amateur Primera División Amateur is the third division of the Asociación Uruguaya de Fútbol league system. The league is sometimes referred to as ''Segunda B Nacional'' or ''La C''.Diego Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. ...

, played for

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

at under-16 level. From October 2019 to August 2020 he hosted ''Trato Hecho'', the Uruguayan version of ''

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch ''Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this format is the final round (a.k. ...

'', being replaced by Maximiliano de la Cruz.

Honours

Player

San Lorenzo *

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). T ...

: 2001 Clausura Nacional *

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

, 2003 Apertura, 2004 Apertura,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

River Plate *Argentine Primera División: 2008 Clausura Botafogo *

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 ...

Taça Guanabara The Taça Guanabara, or Guanabara Cup, is a football tournament organized annually since 1965 by the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation. In its first four editions (1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968), the Taça Guanabara was a tournament in its o ...

: 2010 * Taça Rio: 2010,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Santa Tecla *

Salvadoran Primera División Salvadorans (Spanish: ''Salvadoreños''), also known as Salvadorians (alternate spelling: Salvadoreans), are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvado ...

: 2016 Apertura Uruguay *

: 2011 Individual * Mexican Primera División Golden Boot: Verano 2000, Verano 2002, Apertura 2005, Clausura 2006

Manager

Santa Tecla *

: 2018–19

References

External links