Rodolfo Arruabarrena

Rodolfo Arruabarrena
Arruabarrena playing for Villarreal in 2007
Personal information
Full name Rodolfo Martín Arruabarrena
Date of birth (1975-07-20) 20 July 1975
Place of birth Marcos Paz, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position Left-back
Team information
Current team
 Boca Juniors (head coach)
Youth career
1985–1992 Boca Juniors
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–2000 Boca Juniors 178 (11)
1996 → Rosario Central (loan) 15 (0)
2000–2007 Villarreal 219 (11)
2007–2008 AEK Athens 16 (0)
2008–2010 Tigre 67 (2)
2010 Universidad Católica 13 (0)
International career
1995–2006 Argentina 5 (0)
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
2024–2025 Al-Taawoun
2026– Boca Juniors
Medal record
Representing  Argentina
Men's football
FIFA Confederations Cup
Runner-up1995 Saudi Arabia
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Rodolfo Martín Arruabarrena (born 20 July 1975), known as El Vasco (The Basque), is an Argentine professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of the Boca Juniors. 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 and Italians Inter Milan to reach the semi-finals in the club's first ever season in the competition.

With Villarreal, 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 Georgios 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

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[2]
Club Season League Cup Continental Total
DivisionGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsApps
Boca Juniors 1992–93 Argentine Primera División 10——10
1993–94 10—1020
1994–95 200—20220
1995–96 80—20100
1996–97 120——120
1997–98 356—51407
1998–99 363—50413
1999–2000 332—175507
Total 14611—32617811
Rosario Central (loan) 1996–97 Argentine Primera División 150—51201
Villarreal CF 2000–01 La Liga 372——372
2001–02 36610—376
2002–03 320—41361
2003–04 34230160532
2004–05 260—170430
2005–06 330—132462
2006–07 2112010241
Total 219116051328414
AEK Athens 2007–08 Super League Greece 1601090260
Tigre 2008–09 Argentine Primera División 361——361
2009–10 331—20351
Total 692—20712
Universidad Católica 2010 Chilean Primera División 14010—150
Career total 4792480991059434

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year[3]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Argentina 199420
199510
199600
199700
199800
199900
200010
200100
200200
200300
200400
200500
200610
Total50

Managerial statistics

As of match played 23 August 2026
Team Nat From To Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Tigre Argentina 5 January 2011 21 October 2012 762826229986+13036.84
Nacional Uruguay 26 March 2013 31 December 2013 2716294534+11059.26
Boca Juniors Argentina 29 August 2014 29 February 2016 7547131512257+65062.67
Al Wasl United Arab Emirates 1 July 2016 30 June 2018 6337141213079+51058.73
Al-Rayyan Qatar 5 July 2018 8 October 2018 943289−1044.44
Shabab Al Ahli United Arab Emirates 11 October 2018 8 March 2020 56398911848+70069.64
Pyramids Egypt 11 November 2020 29 June 2021 41181765739+18043.90
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 13 February 2022 1 July 2023 144371019−9028.57
Al-Taawoun Saudi Arabia 6 July 2024 9 February 2025 29136103631+5044.83
Boca Juniors Argentina 18 June 2026 present 115421610+6045.45
Total 4012119694641412+229052.62

Honours

Player

Boca Juniors

Villarreal

Universidad Católica

Argentina U23

Manager

Boca Juniors

Al-Rayyan

Shabab Al Ahli

References

  1. ↑ "El adiós de Arruabarrena" (in Spanish)
  2. ↑ "R. Arruabarrena". Soccerway. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  3. ↑ Rodolfo Arruabarrena at National-Football-Teams.com
  4. ↑ "Villarreal 0-0 Heerenveen (Aggregate: 2 – 1)". UEFA. Archived from the original on 6 October 2003. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  5. ↑ "Atletico 2-0 Villarreal (Aggregate: 2 – 2)". UEFA. Archived from the original on 29 August 2004. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
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