Nicolás Pareja

Nicolás Pareja

Personal information
Date of birth	January 19, 1984 (1984-01-19) (age 27)
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	Spartak Moscow
Number	21
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2006	Argentinos Juniors	53	(2)
2006–2008	Anderlecht	51	(1)
2008–2010	Espanyol	58	(3)
2010–	Spartak Moscow	24	(1)
National team‡
2008	Argentina U23	5	(0)
2009–	Argentina	1	(0)
Honours Competitor for  Argentina Men's Football Gold 2008 Beijing Team Competition
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 06:49, 6 November 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16:39, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

Nicolás Martín Pareja (born January 19, 1984 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine football defender and an Olympic gold medalist who plays for FC Spartak Moscow. Previously he played for Argentinos Juniors, RSC Anderlecht and RCD Espanyol.

Pareja was bought for €2 million by Anderlecht in 2006 as a replacement for Vincent Kompany.^[1] Despite some injury problems, Pareja became a reliable force in the central defence of Anderlecht, alongside Roland Juhasz. He won the Belgian Jupiler League with Anderlecht in 2007. His performances resulted in a call up for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing where Argentina won the tournament with Pareja in the central defense.

His outstanding play at the tournament resulted in interest from the big European leagues, as Espanyol and Tottenham Hotspur were reported to have put an offer for Pareja at Anderlecht. Espanyol won the struggle for Pareja, as Anderlecht and Espanyol agreed a fee of €4.5 million for the player. He has been called up to the national team by Diego Maradona for a friendly against Russia as well as for World Cup Qualifiers against Brazil and Paraguay.^[2]

In August 2010, he joined Russian giants Spartak Moscow.^[3]

Titles

Season	Club	Title
2006-2007	RSC Anderlecht	Belgian League
2007-2008	RSC Anderlecht	Belgian Supercup
2008	Argentina Olympic	Olympic football tournament

References

1. ^ uefa.com
2. ^ Nicolas Pareja verlaat Anderlecht
3. ^ "Spartak sign Pareja from Espanyol". UEFA. 30 July 2010. http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=1509521.html. Retrieved 4 August 2010. 

External links

• Guardian statistics
• Nicolás Pareja at National-Football-Teams.com

Persondata
Name	Pareja, Nicolas
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1984-01-19
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date of death
Place of death