Rodolfo Arruabarrena

Rodolfo Arruabarrena
Personal information
Full name	Rodolfo Martín Arruabarrena
Date of birth	20 July 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth	Marcos Paz, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Left-back
Team information
Current team	Al-Taawoun (manager)
Youth career
1985–1992	Boca Juniors
Senior career*
Years	Team
1993–2000	Boca Juniors
1996	→ Rosario Central (loan)
2000–2007	Villarreal
2007–2008	AEK Athens
2008–2010	Tigre
2010	Universidad Católica
International career
1995–2006	Argentina
Managerial career
2011–2012	Tigre
2013–2014	Nacional
2014–2016	Boca Juniors
2016–2018	Al Wasl
2018	Al-Rayyan
2018–2020	Shabab Al Ahli
2020–2021	Pyramids
2022–2023	United Arab Emirates
2024–	Al-Taawoun
Medal record
Representing Argentina
Men's football
FIFA Confederations Cup
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Rodolfo Martín Arruabarrena (born 20 July 1975) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player, who is currently the manager of the Saudi Pro League club Al-Taawoun. A left-back, he spent most of his career with Boca Juniors, where he began his professional career, and Spanish club Villarreal.

Club career

Argentina

"El Vasco" Arruabarrena (The Basque) debuted professionally in 1993 with Boca Juniors, where he played until 2000, except for the Apertura 1996, when he was lent to Rosario Central for six 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 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 2005–06 UEFA Champions League helped to eliminate Scottish club Rangers F.C. and Italians Inter Milan to reach the semi-finals in the club's first ever season in the competition.

With Villarreal CF he won the UEFA Intertoto Cup 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 Athens for €800,000 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 in 2003–04).^[1]

In Rivaldo's debut with AEK Arruabarrena set up the Brazilian legend to score on a header. Arruabarrena also set up Ismael Blanco 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 team, 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

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[2]
National team	Year	Apps
Argentina	1994	2
	1995	1
	1996	0
	1997	0
	1998	0
	1999	0
	2000	1
	2001	0
	2002	0
	2003	0
	2004	0
	2005	0
	2006	1
Total		5

Managerial statistics

As of match played 9 November 2024

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
Team	Nat	From	To	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Tigre		5 January 2011	21 October 2012	76	28	26	22	99	86	+13	036.84
Nacional		26 March 2013	31 December 2013	27	16	2	9	45	34	+11	059.26
Boca Juniors		29 August 2014	29 February 2016	75	47	13	15	122	57	+65	062.67
Al Wasl		1 July 2016	30 June 2018	63	37	14	12	130	79	+51	058.73
Al-Rayyan		5 July 2018	8 October 2018	9	4	3	2	8	9	−1	044.44
Shabab Al Ahli		11 October 2018	8 March 2020	56	39	8	9	118	48	+70	069.64
Pyramids FC		11 November 2020	29 June 2021	41	18	17	6	57	39	+18	043.90
United Arab Emirates		13 February 2022	1 July 2023	14	4	3	7	10	19	−9	028.57
Al-Taawoun		6 July 2024	present	16	9	2	5	24	17	+7	056.25
Total				377	202	88	87	613	388	+225	053.58