Coordinates	38°01′47″N84°29′41″N
{{infobox football club| clubname	Catania | image 150px|logo | fullname Calcio Catania SpA | nickname ''Rossazzurri'' ("Red and light-blues"), ''Gli Elefanti'' ("The Elephants"),''Etnei'' ("Etneans")| founded 1908 (Educazione Fisica Pro Patria)1946 (Club Calcio Catania) | ground Stadio Angelo Massimino,Catania, Italy | capacity 23,420 | chrtitle President | owner Antonino Pulvirenti | chairman Antonino Pulvirenti | mgrtitle Head Coach | manager Vincenzo Montella | league Serie A | season 2010–11 | position Serie A, 13th |
Pattern la1	_redshoulders
Pattern b1	_catania1011h
Pattern ra1	_redshoulders
Leftarm1	00bfff
Body1	000000
Rightarm1	00bfff
Pattern sh1	_catania1011h
Pattern so1	_catania1011h
Shorts1	00bfff
Socks1	000000
Pattern la2	_catania1011a
Pattern b2	_catania1011a
Pattern ra2	_catania1011a
Leftarm2	FFFFFF
Body2	FFFFFF
Rightarm2	FFFFFF
Pattern sh2	_catania1011a
Shorts2	FFFFFF
Pattern so2	_catania1011a
Socks2	FFFFFF|
Pattern b3	_catania1011t
Body3	FF0000
Pattern la3	_catania1011t
Leftarm3	FF0000
Rightarm3	FF0000
Pattern sh3	_catania1011t
Pattern so3	_2_stripes_white
Shorts3	FF0000
Socks3	FF0000 }}

Calcio Catania is an Italian football club founded in 1908 and based in Catania, Sicily. The club has spent much of its history in Serie B, gaining promotion to Italy's top league Serie A five times. They currently compete in Serie A after climbing back up the football pyramid.

The club has achieved moderate success in the top league, the highest position ever reached by the club is 8th in Serie A twice, both during the early 1960s. The farthest Catania have progressed in cup competitions is the final of the Coppa delle Alpi.

History

The origins of football being played by representatives of the Province of Catania can be traced back to English cargo ships, thanks to the workers who brought the game to Sicily. Specifically the earliest Catania team can be traced to match which took place on 2 May 1901 at ''San Raineri di Messina'' against Messina, the team was named Royal Yacht Catania; an English ship with a local Catanian crew.

The ship workers team was just a pastime however, Catania's first professional and most stable football club was founded on 19 June 1908, by Italian film director Gaetano Ventimiglia and Francesco Sturzo d'Aldobrando, who founded the club under the name A.S. Educazione Fisica Pro Patria. Early on they would always play against sailors visiting the port of Catania, particularly foreign ships. Though their first ever match was against Regina Margherita an Italian battleship, the game ended in a 1–1 draw and the Catania line-up that day consisted of; Vassallo, Gismondo, Bianchi, Messina, Slaiter, Caccamo, Stellario, Binning, Cocuzza, Ventimiglia and Pappalardo. Just two years later they changed the name to Unione Sportiva Catanese.

In the North of Italy, football was more organised and those clubs competed in the early Italian Football Championships, while Catania and other Southern clubs competed in competitions such as the Lipton, Sant' Agata and Agordad cups. U.S. Catanese survived the First World War and just after it played in the local Coppa Federale Siciliana. Seven seasons later in 1927 they were entered into the Campionato Catanese, which was won in the 1928–29 season. As they gained promotion the club were entered into the Second Division, and changed their name first to Società Sportiva Catania. They first competed in Serie B in the 1934–35 season where they finished 4th; that season Genoa won the Serie B title.

Catania played in the league for three seasons during this period, before being relegated. Down in Serie C, Catania were crowned champions in the 1938–39 season, finishing above Sicilian rivals Siracusa and Messina (who came in 2nd and 3rd respectively). Their return to Serie B was not a pleasant one, the club finished bottom of the league and won only three games that season. The club's name was briefly changed to Associazione Calcio Fascista Catania during the 1942–43 season in Serie C, which ended prematurely because of the 2nd World War.

Rebirth

After World War II ended, a local competition was organised, the Campionato Siciliano. US Catanese were back; at the end of that season a local team named Elefante Catania were merged into the club. The merged club kept the Catanese name and competed in Serie C during the 1945–46 season, but finished last. In the same league that season a team called Virtus Catania were also present and finished 8th.

At the end of the season, Catanese and Virtus merged together to form Club Calcio Catania, with the first president as Santi Manganaro-Passanisi (who had been president of Catanese). They were entered into Serie C where they spent three seasons, after an epic duel with Reggina for first place Catania prevailed with stars such as Goffi, Messora, Ardesi and Prevosti, gaining promotion to Serie B during 1948–49.

Golden years

The late 1950s through 1960s are considered the ''golden years'' for the Catanian club, as they managed to achieve promotion to Serie A on two separate occasions during this time. Their first promotion from Serie B came, when in the 1953–54 season Catania beat out Cagliari and Lombardy side Pro Patria to be crowned champions of the division. Their first season in Serie A, saw Catania achieve a respectable 12th place finish, but the club were forcibly relegated due to financial scandal (as were Udinese).

Under the management of Carmelo Di Bella (who had played for the club in the late '30s) Catania gained promotion from Serie B in the 1959–60 season. The race for promotion in third spot went down to the last day of the season and was very tense. Catania had lost their final game 4–2 to Brescia and needed Parma to get a good result against Triestina for the Sicilian club to secure promotion. That is exactly what happened and Catania had thus gained promotion once more.

Catania returned into Serie A for the 1960–61 season, to begin what would be a six-year stay in the league. Their return season was emphatic as the newly promoted club finished in 8th above top Italian clubs such as Lazio and Napoli. This season produced several notable wins; they beat Napoli and Bologna twice, Sampdoria 3–0 at home and most notably they beat AC Milan 4–3 in Sicily and then on the final day of the season they beat Internazionale 2–0, with goals from Castellazzi and Calvanese. This rubbed the salt into the wounds of Inter who lost the closely contested title that year to Juventus.

Four years later in 1965 they would also finish 8th in the league, this time above Roma and Sicilian rivals Messina. Many of the club's most notable stars played around this time, such as; midfielders Alvaro Biagini and the Brazilian Cinesinho, along with wingers Carlo Facchin and Giancarlo Danova in the side. Catania more than held their own amongst the giants of Italian football, with wins against Juventus (2–0), Fiorentina (2–0) and Lazio (1–0).

Mixed fortunes in the 70s and 80s

After their relegation in 1966 Carmelo Di Bella left and Catania stayed in Serie B; clashing with Palermo in the Sicilian derby before the Palermitan club were promoted. Catania followed in 1969–70 with a third place finish; though their stay in Serie A this time was very brief and they were relegated back down after one season. Their most impressive results that season was 3–1 win against Lazio and a draw at home against AC Milan, Catania lacked goalscorers at the time as they only scored 18 goals altogether in 30 games. Worse was to come for the club, who in 1973–74 were relegated down to Serie C, but fortunately for the club they were able to bounce straight back with a promotion into Serie B as champions. A similar situation happened in 1976–77, where they were relegated down to Serie C. This time however, they were not able to bounce right back; they finished 2nd and then 3rd before finally being crowned champions of what was now known as Serie C1 in 1979–80.

After three short seasons, Catania were promoted in 3rd place behind AC Milan and Lazio, into Serie A. They played the 1983–84 season in Italy's top league, but it proved to be an especially dismal season, with only one win (which came against Pisa) and 12 points despite the presence of Claudio Ranieri and Brazilian imports Luvanor and Pedrinho.

Decline and revival

The decline of Catania started most evidently after its last relegation to Serie B. The team was no longer able to reach the top division of Italian football, and instead continued to decline, being relegated for a while into Serie C1 for the latter part of the 1980s. The lowest point of the club's history, however, was reached in 1993, when the team was cancelled by the FIGC because of financial irregularities.

However, after a long judicial battle, the magistrature declared the Italian Federation decision as invalid, and forced it to include the team back into the footballing fold. Catania was thus included in the Sicilian Eccellenza (the sixth level of Italian football), but in the meantime another Sicilian football team, Atletico Leonzio from Lentini (in the Province of Syracuse), had been relocated in the city and renamed Atletico Catania. Despite all of this, the "real" Catania was able to rise back to Serie C in a relatively small number of years, and even back to Serie B in 2002.

During 2003, Catania was at the centre of a controversy that led to the enlargement of Serie B from 20 to 24 teams, known as ''Caso Catania''. The club claimed that Siena fielded an ineligible player in a 1–1 tie, a result which saw Catania relegated, whereas the two extra points from a victory would have kept them safe. They were awarded a 2–0 victory, before the result being reverted, and then re-awarded again. In August, the FIGC decided to let Catania, along with Genoa and Salernitana stay in Serie B, the newly-reborn Fiorentina were also added for the 2003–04 season. The ruling led to protests and boycotts by the other Serie B clubs that delayed the start of the season.

The league went down to 22 teams for 2004–05, while at the same time Serie A expanded from 18 to 20 teams. During the start of that season, Antonino Pulvirenti, chairman of the flight company Windjet and owner of Acireale, a Sicilian Serie C1 team, bought the club. Catania's new ownership let the team enjoy a revival, and in 2005–06 Catania ended in second position, earning promotion to Serie A.

Return to Serie A

The 2006–07 season saw Catania in Serie A for its first appearance in 22 years. In their first season back Catania began well, though they recorded a couple of heavy defeats, their home form saw them peak as high as 4th after 20 games.

Their return season changed drastically on 2 February 2007, due to the 2007 Catania football violence incident. It happened during the Sicilian derby with Palermo, policeman Filippo Raciti was killed during football-related violence caused by Catania ultras outside the Massimino stadium. The event led FIGC commissioner Luca Pancalli to cancel all football-related events in the country for a period of time; including league and national team matches. Catania chairman and owner Antonino Pulvirenti announced his willingness to leave the football world, stating it was not possible to go on producing football in Catania.

After the Italian football league restarted, Catania continued on but dropped in form largely. In truth their slump in form had started just before the derby incident and all together they failed to win for twelve games in a row, before beating Udinese 1–0 in late April 2007, they eventually finished 13th.

The following season, with Marino leaving for Udinese and Silvio Baldini taking charge of the team, proved to be much harder. Poor results in the league table were however coupled with impressive performance in the Coppa Italia, where Catania reached a historical place in the semi-finals, then lost to Roma. Meanwhile, Baldini resigned from his post on 31 March 2008, being replaced by Walter Zenga in a somewhat surprise appointment (at least due to Zenga's lack of expertise at the Serie A level). Despite this, Zenga managed to lead the ''rossazzurri'' off the relegation zone, saving his side from falling down to Serie B in a heated final week game, a 1–1 home tie to Roma, with an equaliser goal scored by Jorge Andrés Martínez at the 85th minute. Zenga was successively confirmed in charge of the team for the upcoming 2008–09 season.

On 5 June 2009 Walter Zenga left Catania to be the manager at arch-rival Palermo. He was replaced by Gianluca Atzori, a relative coaching neophyte with just one year's experience at Lega Pro Prima Divisione team Ravenna. Atzori was noted for using an attacking 4-3-3 formation at Ravenna and was expected to continue a similar approach with the Elefanti.

On 8 December 2009 Siniša Mihajlović was appointed new head coach of Catania, taking over from Gianluca Atzori. He signed a contract until June 2011 with the Elefanti. Arriving at the club that was dead last in the Serie A standings, Mihajlović debuted with a loss against Livorno. However, the following week, his team pulled off a stunning upset by beating heavily favoured Juventus away in Turin with a 2–1 scoreline. After Mihajlović's departure to Fiorentina, Catania appointed Marco Giampaolo as new head coach for the 2010–11 season; on January 2011, Catania decided to remove Giampaolo from his position due to poor results and replace him with former Argentine star Diego Simeone, who had no previous experience at Serie A level but managed to guide the Sicilians to safety before to part company by the end of the season, after only four months in charge of the team. As a replacement, Catania appointed 37-year old Vincenzo Montella, at his second managerial experience after having served as caretaker at Roma during the final part of the 2010–11 season.

Current squad

Out on loan and co-ownership 2011–12

Notable former players

Enzo Bearzot Amedeo Biavati Riccardo Carapellese Claudio Ranieri Ennio Mastalli Giovanni Vavassori Giuseppe Mascara Albano Bizzarri Mariano Andujar Luis Oliveira Johan Walem Pedrinho Chinesinho Juan Manuel Vargas Jorge Andres Martinez

Presidential history

Catania have had several presidents over the course of their history, some of which have been the owners of the club, others have been honorary presidents, here is a list of them from 1946 onwards.

Managerial history

Catania have had many managers and trainers throughout the history of a club, in some seasons more than one manager was in charge. Here is a chronological list of them from 1946 onwards.

Stadium information

Name: Stadio Angelo Massimino

Location: Catania

Capacity: 23,420

Inauguration: 27 November 1937

Pitch Size: 110 x 70 metres

Catania first made their debut at the Stadio Angelo Massimino, then called the Stadio Cibali in 1937. The stadium was renamed in honour of former president Angelo Massimino in 2002. Massimino had been president of the club from 1969 until his death in 1996.

It has been proposed that the club would move to a 33,765 seater stadium named Stadio Dèi Palici, which is to be located in the southern outskirts of the city of Catania in an industrial zone called Pantano d'Arci.

Honours

Serie B

Champions: 1953–54

Promoted: 1959–60, 1969–70, 1982–83, 2005–06

Coppa delle Alpi

Runners-up: 1964

Serie C / Serie C1

Champions: 1938–39, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1974–75, 1979–80

Promoted: 2001–02

Serie C2

Champions: 1998–99

Serie D

Champions: 1994–95

Eccellenza Sicily

Promoted: 1993–94

Club records

Highest League Position: 8th, in the 1960–61 and 1964–65 seasons.

Most League Appearances: 281, Damiano Morra between 1975 and 1984.

Most League Goals: 47, Guido Klein and Adelmo Prenna.

Most Serie A Appearances: 150, Giuseppe Vavassori between 1961 and 1966.

References

External links

Catania's official website

Category:Italian football clubs Category:Football clubs in Sicily Category:Association football clubs established in 1908 Category:Serie A clubs Category:Serie B clubs Category:Lega Pro Prima Divisione clubs Category:Lega Pro Seconda Divisione clubs Category:1908 establishments in Italy

ar:نادي كاتانيا be-x-old:Катанія (футбольны клюб) bg:Катания Калчо ca:Calcio Catania cs:Calcio Catania da:Calcio Catania de:Catania Calcio et:Calcio Catania es:Calcio Catania fa:باشگاه فوتبال کاتانیا fr:Calcio Catane ko:칼초 카타니아 hr:Calcio Catania id:Calcio Catania it:Calcio Catania he:קטאניה (כדורגל) ka:კატანია (საფეხბურთო კლუბი) lt:Calcio Catania hu:Calcio Catania mr:कॅल्सीवो कटानिया nl:Calcio Catania ja:カルチョ・カターニア no:Calcio Catania oc:Calcio Catania pl:Calcio Catania pt:Calcio Catania ro:Calcio Catania ru:Катания (футбольный клуб) sq:Calcio Catania scn:Calcio Catania simple:Calcio Catania sr:ФК Катанија fi:Calcio Catania sv:Calcio Catania tr:Calcio Catania uk:Катанія (футбольний клуб) vi:Calcio Catania zh:卡塔尼亞足球俱樂部

Coordinates	38°01′47″N84°29′41″N
playername	Almen Abdi
dateofbirth	October 21, 1986
cityofbirth	Prizren
countryofbirth	SFR Yugoslavia(Present day Kosovo)
height
currentclub	Udinese
clubnumber	23
position	Midfielder
youthyears1	?–2003 | youthclubs1 Zürich
years1	2003–2009 | clubs1 Zürich | caps1 132 | goals1 31
years2	2009 | clubs2 Le Mans | caps2 15 | goals2 0
years3	2010– | clubs3 Udinese | caps3 16 | goals3 0
nationalyears1	2007–2008 | nationalteam1 Switzerland U-21 | nationalcaps1 3 | nationalgoals1 0
nationalyears2	2008– | nationalteam2 Switzerland | nationalcaps2 6 | nationalgoals2 0
pcupdate
ntupdate	}}

Almen Abdi (born 21 October 1986 in Prizren) is a Swiss footballer of Albanian descent who plays for Udinese.

Career

He was part of the 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2008–09 Swiss Championship winning team with FC Zurich. Abdi was awarded an improved contract until summer 2010 in June 2006. Abdi was in November 2009 promoted to the reserve squad. He signed on 8 December 2009 for Le Mans Union Club 72.

International career

He made his senior Switzerland international debut against Cyprus on 20 August 2008.

References

External links

National Football Teams

Category:1986 births Category:FC Zürich players Category:Le Mans FC players Category:Serie A footballers Category:Ligue 1 players Category:Living people Category:Swiss footballers Category:Switzerland international footballers Category:People from Prizren Category:Swiss people of Kosovar descent Category:Swiss Super League players Category:Serie A footballers Category:Swiss expatriate footballers Category:Expatriate footballers in France Category:Expatriate footballers in Italy Category:Kosovar expatriates in Switzerland

ar:ألمين عبدي de:Almen Abdi es:Almen Abdi fr:Almen Abdi it:Almen Abdi nl:Almen Abdi ja:アルメン・アブディ pl:Almen Abdi

Coordinates	38°01′47″N84°29′41″N
name	Alexis Sánchez
fullname	Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez
birth date	December 19, 1988
position	Forward / Winger
currentclub	Barcelona
clubnumber	9
youthyears1	2003–2004 |youthclubs1 Cobreloa
years1	2005–2006 |clubs1 Cobreloa |caps1 47 |goals1 12
years2	2006–2011 |clubs2 Udinese |caps2 95 |goals2 20
years3	2006–2007 |clubs3 → Colo-Colo (loan) |caps3 32 |goals3 5
years4	2007–2008 |clubs4 → River Plate (loan) |caps4 23 |goals4 4
years5	2011– |clubs5 Barcelona |caps5 1 |goals5 1
nationalyears1	2007 |nationalteam1 Chile U20 |nationalcaps1 12 |nationalgoals1 3
nationalyears2	2006– |nationalteam2 Chile |nationalcaps2 41 |nationalgoals2 14
pcupdate	13:55, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
ntupdate	20:54, 15 August 2011 (UTC) }}

Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez (Spanish pronunciation: ; born 19 December 1988), is a Chilean footballer who plays as a forward for FC Barcelona and for the Chilean national team.

Sánchez began his career as a youth player for Cobreloa in 2003, aged 15, for then be promoted to the first adult team, two years later. His precocious talent caught the attention of Udinese, team of the Italian Serie A, and signed the 17-year-old for $3 million in May 2006, but was immediately loaned out to Colo-Colo, and then River Plate where he was able to mature in less physically demanding confines than the Italian first division.

He joined Udinese after becoming champion of the Argentina and Chilean leagues in June 2008. Sánchez made a steady progress in his first two seasons at Udinese, and in the 2010-11 season he established himself as one of the key player's that allowed Udinese to finish fourth in Serie A. On 27 February 2011, Sánchez scored four of seven goals as his team defeated Palermo 7-0, playing only the first 52 minutes of the game. This event meant he broke the record of goals scored by a Chilean player (in a single match) in the Italian Serie A, thus beating the records set by his historic countrymen Marcelo Salas and Ivan Zamorano.

Alexis made his international debut for his national team against Sweden in 2006 and scored his first goal against Switzerland in a 2–1 loss, being also the first goal of the Marcelo Bielsa era. During the period of Bielsa, he was the top-scorer of Chile with 14 goals surpassing to Humberto Suazo with 11 goals.

Early life

Born in Tocopilla, to a family of fishermen, Alexis quickly learned that his life would not be easy. His biological father abandoned Alexis and his family to go work in a mine, leaving Alexis to help his family out financially from an early age.

Acording to his relatives and his closest friends, Alexis was an extroverted boy at school. Alexis washed cars in a graveyard to earn some money, but clearly the dream of Alexis was to be a footballer. His fanaticism for football was shared with all his family, especially with José Delaigue, his uncle-in law and adoptive father. Being a former amateur footballer, Delaigue saw great potential in the young Alexis.

At the age of 15 while playing football with his friends in the neighborhood, he impressed the mayor of Tocopilla, who awarded him his first football boots. The mayor's decision was a worthwhile one, while playing for Tocopilla in a regional tournament, Sánchez dominated, in one particular match he scored 8 goals.

Club career

Early career

Alexis joined Cobreloa in 2004 and eventually made his first-team debut one year later at the age of 16 on 12 February 2005 in a 5–4 win against Deportes Temuco. In his second professional game, he set a Copa Libertadores record by becoming the youngest player to debut in the South American Club Championship. In the next season, Sánchez concentrated on his goal scoring for the Torneo Apertura 2006, netting six goals in 12 appearances. On 21 July, Cobreloa sold Sánchez to the Italian side Udinese for $3 million.

In July 2006, he was loaned to one of Chile's biggest teams, Colo-Colo on a season-long deal. His loan was due to a maturation project that Udinese implemented with youth players. After a notable season in the Cacique, and winning two league titles, it was assumed that Sánchez would return to Italy. He was loaned out again, however, this time to Argentina's River Plate.

Early seasons at Italy

After a successful season in Argentina, in July 2008, Sánchez left South America to officially join Udinese, where he would suit up with Chilean compatriot Mauricio Isla. Sánchez made his non-competitive debut in a 3–0 win over Bassano and was named the man of match. On 14 September, he played his first game in Serie A in a 1–0 loss with Juventus and four days later, he made his Europe debut against Borussia Dortmund. On 19 October 2008, Sánchez scored his first league goal against Lecce. After this first goal, Sánchez got into a minor slump, in which he took much criticism. The criticism ended after scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute against Bologna in a 1–0 win, being named the man of match.

In the following season, Sánchez played an important role for Udinese at Coppa Italia 2009–10, being a key player in the team that eliminated AC Milan, assisting Gökhan Inler for the winning goal. In the semi-final second leg, Sánchez was the man of match after playing a successful game against Roma, including scoring his first Coppa Italia goal in the 81st minute. It was not enough, however, as the aggregate score was 2–1 in favor of Roma. By the end of this year, Sánchez scored a total of five goals (four at the end of tournament) in 32 appearances.

Udinese

After participating for Chile in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Sánchez began to live an intense process of adaptation that consecrated him in Udinese with very good performances for the club, because of this, Sánchez has also attracted the interest from clubs such as Manchester United, Zenit St. Petersburg, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Juventus, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Chelsea,

On 27 February 2011, Sánchez scored four of seven goals as his team defeated Palermo 7-0, playing only the first 52 minutes of the game. This event meant he broke the record of goals scored by a Chilean player (in a single match) in the Italian Serie A, thus beating the records set by his historic countrymen Marcelo Salas and Ivan Zamorano.

During his successful season at Udinese Calcio, Sánchez and Italian striker Antonio Di Natale became one of the best scoring duos in Serie A tallying 39 goals between then, two goals short of the Del Piero–Trezeguet duo that completed 41 goals in the 2007–08 season. In recognition of his achievements he has been named the world's most promising youngster of the 2011 season, by the viewer of ''FIFA.com'', which the viewer had to choose between Sánchez, Gareth Bale, Javier Pastore and Ganso in that poll. Sánchez ranked 56th in May 2011 edition of Castrol Performance Index and 24th among the forwards.

Barcelona

On 20 July 2011, FC Barcelona confirmed they had agreed a €26m fee (plus certain bonuses) with Udinese for the transfer of Sánchez,thus becoming the first Chilean to ever play for the club. "Sánchez is very young," said manager Josep Guardiola. "He can play in all three attacking positions, he shows intense defensive skills, he's direct and from what I've been told, he's a very nice kid." The transfer was finalised five days later when he passed a medical and signed a five-year contract. "I want to learn from players like Messi and Xavi - and I want to help the club win more titles," said Sánchez.He made his debut against arch rivals Real Madrid. After the game he got positive comments from his team mates. He made his first goal in his first match in La Liga versus Villarreal C.F., the final result was 5-0.

International career

Alexis made his international debut for his national team against New Zealand on 27 April 2006. He was called up by the coach José Sulantay for play with his country in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup celebrated in Canada, achieving an historic performance, finishing in third place of the tournament.

After his participation in the youth championship, he scored his first goal in the Marcelo Bielsa era in a 2–1 loss against Switzerland on 7 September 2007. Due to the three-months injury that he suffered playing for River Plate, Sánchez missed the first four games of the FIFA World Cup qualification. Fully recovered now, he led to Chile to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, becoming the team's star player. His best game during the qualifiers was in a 4–0 win over Bolivia, scoring two goals of the victory. However, in the maximum global competition, he had a regular performance, but Alexis continued to be the favorite of the fans.

Prior to the 2011 Copa América, Sánchez has scored 2 goals in 4 games, those goals were scored against Uruguay and Estonia. On 29 June 2011, he was selected in the 23-man squad that will represent to Chile in the Copa América celebrated in Argentina.

International goals

Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Austria 4 June 2008 4 June 2008 11 February 2009 28 March 2009 10 June 2009 10 June 2009 12 August 2009 26 May 2010 26 May 2010 30 May 2010 17 November 2010 19 June 2011 8 July 2011

Sánchez – goals for Chile
# !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
align="center"	1.	7 September 2007	|		1–1	2–1	Exhibition_game#Association_football>Friendly match
align="center"	2.	|	Estadio El Teniente, Rancagua, Chile		1–0	2–0	Friendly match
align="center"	3.	|	Estadio El Teniente, Rancagua, Chile	Guatemala	2–0	2–0	Friendly match
align="center"	4.	|	Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane, South Africa		0–2	0–2	Friendly match
align="center"	5.	|	Estadio Monumental "U", Lima, Peru		0–1	1–3	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)>2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification
align="center"	6.	|	Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago de Chile>Santiago, Chile		3–0	4–0	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification
align="center"	7.	|	Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago, Chile	Bolivia	4–0	4–0	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification
align="center"	8.	|	Brøndby Stadium, Brøndby, Denmark		1–2	1–2	Friendly match
align="center"	9.	|	Estadio Municipal de Calama, Calama, Chile>Calama, Chile		1–0	3–0	Friendly match
align="center"	10.	|	Estadio Municipal de Calama, Calama, Chile	Zambia	2–0	3–0	Friendly match
align="center"	11.	|	Estadio Municipal de Concepción, Concepción, Chile>Concepción, Chile		2–0	3–0	Friendly match
align="center"	12.	|	Estadio Monumental David Arellano, Santiago, Chile		1–0	2–0	Friendly match
align="center"	13.	| Estadio Monumental, Santiago, Chile ||		4–0	4–0	Exhibition game>Friendly match
align="center"	14.	|	Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza, Argentina>Mendoza, Argentina		1–1	1–1	2011 Copa América

Career statistics

Club

3 9 4 1 4 3 5 12 1

Club	Season	League	Cup	!colspan="2"	!colspan="2"	Total
!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
rowspan="3"	Cobreloa		35	|	–		3	0	–		38	3
Chilean Primera División	2006	12	|	–		–		–		12	9
!Total	!47!!12!!colspan="2"
rowspan="3"	Colo-Colo		18	|	–		9	1	–		27	5
2007 Chilean Primera División season	2007	14	|	–		7	3	–		21	4
!Total	!32!!5!!colspan="2"
rowspan="2"	River Plate		23	|	–		8	0	–		31	4
!Total	!23!!4!!colspan="2"
rowspan="4"	Udinese		32	|	2	0	9	0	–		43	3
2009–10 Serie A	2009–10	32	|	4	1	–		–		36	6
2010–11 Serie A	2010–11	31	|	2	0	–		–		33	12
!Total	–!!112!!21
rowspan="2"	Barcelona		1	|	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	1
!Total	!1!!1!!0!!0!!0!!0!!2!!0!!3!!1
Career total	!198!!42!!8!!1!!36!!4!!2!!0!!244!!47

¹Includes continental competitive competitions, including the Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana and UEFA Champions League. ²Includes other competitive competitions, including the FIFA Club World Cup, Supercopa de España and UEFA Super Cup.

''Statistics accurate as of match played 14 August 2011''

National team

|- |2006||5||0 |- |2007||4||1 |- |2008||9||2 |- |2009||9||5 |- |2010||7||4 |- |2011||8||2 |- !Total||42||14 |}

Honours

Club

; Colo-Colo

Chilean Primera División (2): 2006 Clausura, 2007 Apertura

Copa Sudamericana (1): Runner-up 2006

; River Plate

Primera División de Argentina (1): 2008 Clausura

; Barcelona

Supercopa de España (1): 2011

UEFA Super Cup (1): 2011

International

FIFA U-20 World Cup (1): Third place 2007

Individual

Serie A Player of the Month (1): February 2011

Serie A Footballer of the Year (1): 2010–11

Personal life

The adoptive father of Alexis, José Delaigue, died of a heart attack in June 2011 at age 75 when Sánchez was 22. On 19 June of that year, in Chile's 4-0 win over Estonia, on his team's last goal that Alexis scored he removed his jersey during his celebration to reveal a photo on his undershirt of his adoptive father, in tribute of the late man.

References

External links

FC Barcelona profile

Transfermarkt profile

2010 FIFA World Cup profile

Category:1989 births Category:Living people Category:People from Tocopilla Category:Chilean footballers Category:Association football forwards Category:Chilean Primera División players Category:Cobreloa footballers Category:CSD Colo-Colo players Category:Serie A footballers Category:Udinese Calcio players Category:Primera División Argentina players Category:River Plate footballers Category:La Liga footballers Category:FC Barcelona footballers Category:Chile international footballers Category:2010 FIFA World Cup players Category:2011 Copa América players Category:Chilean expatriate footballers Category:Expatriate footballers in Italy Category:Expatriate footballers in Argentina Category:Expatriate footballers in Spain

ar:أليكسيس سانشيز ca:Alexis Alejandro Sánchez Sánchez da:Alexis Sánchez de:Alexis Sánchez es:Alexis Sánchez fa:الکسیس سانچز fr:Alexis Sánchez ko:알렉시스 산체스 id:Alexis Sánchez it:Alexis Sánchez he:אלכסיס סאנצ'ס la:Alexis Sánchez lv:Aleksiss Sančess lt:Alexis Sánchez hu:Alexis Sánchez mr:एलेक्सिस सांचेझ nl:Alexis Sánchez ja:アレクシス・サンチェス no:Alexis Sánchez (fotballspiller) nn:Alexis Sánchez pl:Alexis Sánchez pt:Alexis Sánchez ro:Alexis Sánchez ru:Санчес, Алексис fi:Alexis Sánchez sv:Alexis Sánchez th:อาเลกซิส ซานเชซ tr:Alexis Sánchez uk:Алексіс Санчес vi:Alexis Sánchez zh:阿莱克西斯·桑切斯