Christian Bassedas

Christian Bassedas

Personal information
Full name	Christian Gustavo Bassedas
Date of birth	February 16, 1973 (1973-02-16) (age 38)
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Midfielder (retired)
Youth career
	Vélez Sársfield
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1990–2000	Vélez Sársfield	267	(21)
2000–2003	Newcastle United	24	(1)
2002	→ Tenerife (loan)	14	(0)
Total		305	(22)
National team
1996	Argentina Olympic
1994–1999	Argentina	22	(0)
Honours Competitor for  Argentina Men's Football Olympic Games Silver 1996 Atlanta Team Competition Pan American Games Gold 1995 Mar del Plata Team Competition
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Christian Gustavo Bassedas (born 16 February 1973 in Buenos Aires) is a former Argentine football midfielder who works as general manager (not to confuse with coach) for Vélez Sársfield of the Argentine Primera División.

Bassedas is most notable for his spell at Vélez Sársfield, where he made 267 appearances for the club, giving him the eleventh most appearances in their history.

Career

Club

Bassedas is a product of Vélez Sársfield youth divisions, club where he debuted professionally on March 3, 1991. He played as an attacking midfielder, and was an important part of Vélez most successful years during the 1990s. He won four national championships with the club, and five international (including the 1994 Intercontinental Cup, where he was a starter in the 2-0 victory over A.C. Milan).

In 2000 he joined English FA Premier League club Newcastle United for £3,500,000. He played for them in the period 2000–2003, though on loan to Tenerife briefly during the 2001–02 season. He scored once in the league for Newcastle in a 3-1 defeat at Chelsea in January 2001.^[1]

In 2003 he joined Argentine Newell's Old Boys, but after two months of pre-season training he decided to retire from football at the age of 30.^[2]

He later worked for Fox Sports en Latinoamérica as a commentator on FA Premier League matches.^[3]

For the end of 2008, Bassedas was appointed as general manager of Vélez Sársfield. His first order of business was to recommend Ricardo Gareca to fill the coaching spot.^[4] He was also essential in the negotiations to join Maximiliano Moralez, Sebastián Domínguez and Joaquín Larrivey to the club. On his first season as manager, Vélez won the Clausura 09.

National team

Bassedas played for the Argentine national team during the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification matches, but was not part of the squad for the World Cup. He also won a silver medal at the 1996 Olympics and a gold medal at the 1995 Pan Americans, where he captained the team.

Honours

Player

Vélez Sársfield

• Primera División Argentina (4): Clausura 93, Apertura 95, Clausura 96, Clausura 98
• Copa Libertadores (1): 1994
• Intercontinental Cup (1): 1994
• Copa Interamericana (1): 1994
• Supercopa Sudamericana (1): 1996
• Recopa Sudamericana (1): 1997

Argentina national team

• Pan American Gold Medal (1): Mar del Plata 1995
• Olympic Silver Medal (1): Atlanta 1996

General manager

Vélez Sársfield

• Primera División Argentina (1): Clausura 09

References

1. ^ "No capital return for Newcastle". BBC. 31 January 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/1144919.stm. Retrieved 3 November 2009. 
2. ^ "'Perdí el amor por el fútbol'" (in Spanish). Página/12. 2003-08-30. http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/deportes/8-24801-2003-08-30.html. Retrieved 2009-10-05. 
3. ^ Daily Hairdryer
4. ^ "Bassedas: "Gareca siempre fue mi candidato"" (in Spanish). TyC Sports. 2008-12-17. http://tycsports.com/global/not_detail.php?id=45567. Retrieved 2009-10-05. 

External links

• Christian Bassedas at National-Football-Teams.com
• (Spanish) Argentine Primera statistics at Fútbol XXI
• (Spanish) Career statistics at BDFA
• (Spanish) Profile at Vélez Sársfield's official website

Persondata
Name	Bassedas, Christian
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1973-02-16
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date of death
Place of death