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Mario Yepes
	Mario Yepes
Personal information
Full name	Mario Alberto Yepes Díaz
Date of birth	January 13, 1976 (age 33)
Place of birth	Cali, Colombia
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Chievo Verona
Number	33
Senior career1
National team2
	1 Senior club appearances and goals; counted for the domestic league only and; correct as of 26 July 2009.; 2 National team caps and goals correct; as of 26 July 2009.; * Appearances (Goals)

Mario Alberto Yepes Díaz (born January 13, 1976 in Cali) is a Colombian football player, currently playing for Serie A team Chievo Verona as a central defender.

[edit] Club career

When Mario Yepes started his playing career in 1995 with Cortuluá, he was playing as a forward before Cortulua's coach converted him to a libero (sweeper). His career really took off after he signed for his home town club Deportivo Cali in 1998. He won two Colombian championships with Deportivo Cali. Then Yepes started to become well-known in his country and also abroad.

In 1999, he joined River Plate in Argentina, where he became a star and won two Argentine Primera championships. In spite of the fact that several Italian and English clubs wanted to recruit him, he signed for FC Nantes Atlantique in January 2002 where his nickname was “El Rey”. He became one the best central defenders of the French first division and joined Paris Saint-Germain in 2004, where his nickname is "Super Mario" as a reference to his great defensive abilities.

He signed a new contract in summer 2009.^[1]

[edit] International career

Mario Yepes has played over 60 games for the Colombian national team since his debut in 1999.^[2]

He was part of the Colombia squad that won the Copa America in 2001.^[3] He was also in the squads for two other editions of the tournament in 1999^[4] and 2007^[5]