Roberto Abbondanzieri

Roberto Abbondanzieri
Roberto Abbondanzieri (2008)
Personnel
Surname	Roberto Carlos Abbondanzieri
birthday	19th August 1972
place of birth	Bouquet ,  Argentina
size	186 cm
position	goal
Juniors
Years	station
	Rosario Central
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1994-1996	Rosario Central	57 (0)
1996-2006	Boca Juniors	204 (0)
2006-2009	Getafe CF.	83 (0)
2009-2010	Boca Juniors	41 (0)
2010	Internacional Porto Alegre	8 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
2004-2008	Argentina	49 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Roberto Carlos Abbondanzieri (born August 19, 1972 in Bouquet , Santa Fe , Argentina ) is a former Argentine football player . The goalkeeper , whose nickname is "El Pato" ("The Duck"), also has Italian citizenship because of his ancestors. He got his nickname, which he also wears on his jersey, because of his gait.

Club career

Abbondanzieri played from 1994 at Rosario Central , where he became a regular goalkeeper in 1996. In 1997 he was signed by Argentina's top team Boca Juniors , where he was active for the next 9 years and in addition to 6 Argentine championship titles ( Apertura 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2005; Clausura 1999 and 2006), he was also able to celebrate many international successes.

Abbondanzieri won the World Cup with the Boca Juniors in both 2000 and 2003 . In 2000, 2001 and 2003 he won the Copa Libertadores , in 2004 and 2005 the Copa Sudamericana , and in 2005 the Recopa Sudamericana . In 2003 he was named South America's Goalkeeper of the Year.

In July 2006 Abbondanzieri signed a 3-year contract with Getafe FC and moved to the Spanish league . From there he switched back to the Boca Juniors for the duration of the Apertura 2009 . Since February 2010 he has been under contract with Internacional Porto Alegre in Brazil. He ended his career in January 2011.

National team

On June 6, 2004 he made his international debut in the World Cup qualification against Paraguay. After the Copa America , he surprisingly managed to oust Pablo Cavallero from the Selección's goal , as he had failed on penalties in the final of the Copa America and Abbondanzieri was considered a good goalkeeper on the line.

He was seeded number one for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and was in goal at all games. In the quarter-finals against Germany, however, the experienced goalkeeper had to be replaced after a clash with Miroslav Klose and replaced by Leo Franco .

Web links

• Roberto Abbondanzieri in the database of weltfussball.de
• Roberto Abbondanzieri in the database of fussballdaten.de