Olympic medal record
Competitor for  Argentina
Men's Football
Gold	2004 Athens	Team Competition

Fabricio Coloccini (born 22 January 1982) is an Argentine football defender who currently plays for Newcastle United and the Argentine national team. At the age of 27, Coloccini has already represented numerous football clubs, however it was his successful spell at Deportivo La Coruña where he earned his reputation as a top-level defender. After beginning his career at Boca Juniors in his native Argentina, Coloccini attracted the attention of AC Milan. His career there never really got going however and he went on loan to four different clubs.

Coloccini currently plays in England for Championship side Newcastle United. He is known for his physical approach to the game.

Coloccini also holds an Italian passport due to his Italian ancestry.^[1]

[edit] Club career

[edit] Boca Juniors

Born in Córdoba, Córdoba Province, Coloccini started his career in the youth team of Argentinos Juniors, but made his professional debut in 1998 with Boca Juniors.

[edit] AC Milan

In 1999, at the end of the Apertura championship, he moved to AC Milan. Coloccini was the centre of a controversy between Boca and Milan, because the transfer from Argentina to Italy wasn't agreed between the clubs. Instead, Milan arranged terms with Coloccini's father (also a former football player), who exercised his parental rights to remove the minor from Argentina. After that, FIFA ordered Milan to pay Boca compensation.

[edit] Loan moves

In 2002, Coloccini was loaned to San Lorenzo de Almagro where he helped the team to win the 2001 Clausura tournament. From 2001-04, Coloccini served three consecutive loans in La Liga: Deportivo Alavés (netting an impressive 6 league goals), Atlético Madrid, and Villarreal, where he was always first-choice.

[edit] Deportivo La Coruña

After having only appeared once for Milan officially, Coloccini joined Deportivo La Coruña in January 2005, on a six-year deal.^[2] During his three-and-a-half seasons stint, he was an undisputed starter, and appeared in all the matches during 2007-08 netting four goals, good enough for a UEFA Intertoto Cup berth for the club.

[edit] Newcastle United

Coloccini joined Newcastle United on a five-year contract in August 2008 for a fee of up to £10.3 million.^[3] Two days later, he made his debut against the reigning league champions, Manchester United, playing 90 minutes in a 1-1 away draw.

Since debuting, Coloccini has been one of the most consistent inclusions in Newcastle's squad, and formed a partnership with fellow newcomer Sébastien Bassong in his first season. Despite this, he hasn't been immune to the pressures of representing Newcastle's infamous defence, coming under his most intense criticism for his performance in Newcastle's 28 December defeat to league leaders Liverpool, which the North East club lost 5-1. Despite his mistakes in the game, manager Joe Kinnear voiced his support for Coloccini, stating that he believed his "Mr. Reliable" would bounce back.^[4] On 1 February, Coloccini was substituted against Sunderland in the 93rd minute. Up until this point, Coloccini had appeared in every minute of every game for Newcastle in the 2008-09 season. He was dropped for the 1-1 draw with Stoke City but played in United's 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa which saw United relegated. Despite Newcastle's relegation Coloccini stayed on and put in many impressive performances in the Championship and scored his first goal for Newcastle, a header against Cardiff City.^[5]

[edit] International career

Coloccini was part of the Argentina Under-20 that won the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship, as well as the gold medal winning Argentine team at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

With the main squad, he made his debut in 2003 and first participated in the 2005 Confederations Cup, scoring one goal in the game against Cameroon. In the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Coloccini played in two games, as a substitute against the Netherlands, and starting against Germany in the quarter-finals penalty shootout loss. Coloccini was an unused substitute in Argentina's World Cup qualifier against Brazil on 6 September 2009.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Titles

Argentina

• FIFA World Youth Championship: 2001
• Summer Olympics: 2004 - Gold medal

Boca Juniors

• Argentine League: Apertura 1998
• Argentine League: Clausura 1999

San Lorenzo

• Argentine League: Clausura 2001

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Fabricio Coloccini career stats at Soccerbase
• Stats at Liga de Fútbol Profesional (Spanish)
• NationalFootballTeams data
• Newcastle United profile

Argentina squads v • d • e Argentina squad – Copa América 2004 Runners-up 1 Abbondanzieri • 2 Ayala • 3 Sorín • 4 Quiroga • 5 Mascherano • 6 Heinze • 7 Saviola • 8 Zanetti • 9 Figueroa • 10 D'Alessandro • 11 Tévez • 12 Cavallero • 13 Placente • 14 Rodriguez • 15 Fernández • 16 L.González • 17 M.González • 18 K.González • 19 Delgado • 20 Medina • 21 Rosales • 22 Coloccini • Coach: Bielsa v • d • e Argentina squad – 2004 Olympic Gold Medalists 1 Caballero • 2 Ayala • 3 Heinze • 4 Fernández • 5 K. Gonzalez • 6 Coloccini • 7 Saviola • 8 Mascherano • 9 Figueroa • 10 Tévez • 11 Delgado • 12 Rosales • 13 Rodríguez • 14 Medina • 15 D'Alessandro • 16 L. González • 17 M. González • 18 Lux • Coach: Bielsa v • d • e Argentina squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup Runners-up 1 Franco • 2 Samuel • 3 Sorín • 4 Zanetti • 5 Cambiasso • 6 Heinze • 7 Tévez • 8 Riquelme • 9 Saviola • 10 Aimar • 11 Delgado • 12 Lux • 13 G.J. Rodríguez • 14 Milito • 15 Placente • 16 Coloccini • 17 Bernardi • 18 Santana • 19 Maxi Rodríguez • 20 Demichelis • 21 Figueroa • 22 Galletti • 23 Caballero • Coach: Pekerman v • d • e Argentina squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Abbondanzieri • 2 Ayala • 3 Sorín • 4 Coloccini • 5 Cambiasso • 6 Heinze • 7 Saviola • 8 Mascherano • 9 Crespo • 10 Riquelme • 11 Tévez • 12 Franco • 13 Scaloni • 14 Palacio • 15 Milito • 16 Aimar • 17 Cufré • 18 Rodríguez • 19 Messi • 20 Cruz • 21 Burdisso • 22 González • 23 Ustari • Coach: Pekerman