Matías Suárez

Matías Ezequiel Suárez (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈti.as ˈswaɾes]; born 9 May 1988) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Belgrano.

Matías Suárez

Suárez playing for Anderlecht in 2016
Personal information
Full name	Matías Ezequiel Suárez
Date of birth	(1988-05-09) 9 May 1988 (age 36)[1]
Place of birth	La Falda, Córdoba, Argentina
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Belgrano
Number	7
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2008	Belgrano	55	(13)
2008–2016	Anderlecht	173	(50)
2016–2019	Belgrano	57	(10)
2019–2024	River Plate	79	(33)
2024–	Belgrano	6	(0)
International career‡
2019–	Argentina	6	(0)
Medal record Men's football Representing  Argentina Copa América 2019 Brazil
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15:36, 25 April 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 13:32, 19 April 2023 (UTC)

Club career

Club Atlético Belgrano

Suárez started his professional career at Club Atlético Belgrano in 2006. He was Club Atlético Belgrano's top scorer in the Primera B Nacional of Argentina in 2007–08.^[3] Due to his performances he attracted the attention of Arsenal.^[4]

Anderlecht

In 2008 Suárez moved from Belgrano and completed his transfer to Anderlecht. He went on to establish himself as a key member of the Anderlecht side contributing many goals and assists in the process, especially following the departure of the team's star player Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea in the summer of 2011.

The 2011–12 season was his best so far, on a personal level and with the team. While Anderlecht were crowned Belgian champions, Suárez was crowned Player of the Year 2011 and elected Player of the Season 2011–12 by his professional colleagues in Belgium.^[5] After a highly successful season, Suarez was officially signed by CSKA Moscow. The fee was undisclosed and later cancelled as Suárez failed the medical tests and returned to Anderlecht afterwards.

Return to Belgrano

After the 2016 terrorist attacks on Brussels, Suárez announced his intention to leave Anderlecht at the end of the season, despite Anderlecht and Belgrano not agreeing on a transfer fee. As a consequence, he terminated his contract unilaterally, allegedly fearing for his family's safety.^[6] In December 2017, FIFA delivered a decision in favor of Anderlecht, ruling out any alleged threat on Suárez family and ordered Suárez and his club to pay Anderlecht compensation.^[7] The club filed a complaint to FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, which ordered the player to pay €540,350 to the club. Both the player and the club filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The court ordered the player and Belgrano jointly liable to pay Anderlecht €1,212,225.23.^[8]

River Plate

On 26 January 2019, River Plate paid Belgrano $2.8 million for the player's rights. Suárez signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with his new team.^[9] He scored his first goal on his debut on 30 January 2019, against Godoy Cruz.

Belgrano

In January 2024, he returned to Belgrano for a third spell on a one-year contract.^[10]

International career

Suárez made his debut for Argentina national team on 22 March 2019 in a friendly against Venezuela, as a half-time substitute for Pity Martínez.^[11]

Personal life

He is the uncle of fellow footballers Federico Álvarez and Gastón Álvarez Suárez.^[12][13] He is married to singer Magalí Olave and has two children.^[14]

Career statistics

As of 19 April 2023^{[15][16][17][18]}

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup[lower-alpha 1]		League cup[lower-alpha 2]		Continental		Other[lower-alpha 3]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Anderlecht	2008–09	Belgian First Division	11	1	0	0	–		2	0	1	1	15	2
	2009–10	Belgian Pro League	35	11	3	0	–		13[lower-alpha 4]	4	0	0	51	15
	2010–11	Belgian Pro League	34	8	1	0	–		12[lower-alpha 4]	2	1	0	47	10
	2011–12	Belgian Pro League	35	12	0	0	–		10[lower-alpha 5]	7	0	0	45	20
	2012–13	Belgian Pro League	11	3	0	0	–		0	0	0	0	11	3
	2013–14	Belgian Pro League	11	6	1	1	–		3[lower-alpha 6]	0	1	0	15	7
	2014–15	Belgian Pro League	13	4	1	0	–		3[lower-alpha 6]	0	1	0	16	4
	2015–16	Belgian Pro League	23	5	2	1	–		7[lower-alpha 5]	0	0	0	32	6
	Total		173	50	7	2	–		50	13	4	1	232	67
Belgrano	2016–17	Argentine Primera División	20	3	4	0	0	0	4[lower-alpha 7]	0	0	0	28	3
	2017–18	Argentine Primera División	24	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	25	5
	2018–19	Argentine Primera División	13	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	14	2
	Total		57	10	6	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	67	10
River Plate	2018–19	Argentine Primera División	9	3	1	2	2	1	2[lower-alpha 8]	1	0	0	14	7
	2019–20	Argentine Primera División	21	7	1	0	0	0	12[lower-alpha 9]	1	1	1	35	9
	2020–21	Argentine Primera División	8	2	1	0	0	0	11[lower-alpha 9]	2	0	0	20	4
	2021	Argentine Primera División	17	7	0	0	0	0	6[lower-alpha 9]	1	0	0	23	8
	2022	Argentine Primera División	20	7	2	0	0	0	4[lower-alpha 9]	2	0	0	26	9
	2023	Argentine Primera División	4	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	7
	Total		79	33	5	2	2	1	35	7	1	1	122	44
Career total			309	97	18	4	2	1	89	20	5	2	421	121

1. Includes Belgian Cup, Copa Argentina
2. Includes Copa de la Superliga
3. Includes Belgian Super Cup, Supercopa Argentina
4. Appearances in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League
5. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
6. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
7. Appearances in Copa Sudamericana
8. Appearances in Recopa Sudamericana
9. Appearances in Copa Libertadores

Honours

Anderlecht

• Belgian Pro League: 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14
• Belgian Super Cup: 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014

River Plate

• Recopa Sudamericana: 2019
• Argentine Primera División: 2021, 2023
• Copa Argentina: 2019
• Supercopa Argentina: 2019

Individual

• Footballer of the Year in Jupiler League: 2011–12
• Belgian Golden Shoe: 2011

References

1. "Matías Ezequiel Suárez". Soccerway. Global Sports Media. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
2. "Matías Ezequiel Suárez's Height". Archived from the original on 2 May 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2012. Anderlecht Official Site
3. "Table of Top Goalscorers", Diario Olé Archived 25 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
4. "Suarez on his way to Anderlecht". Anderlecht-Online.be. 15 December 2007.
5. Scholten, Berend (13 May 2012). "Suárez scoops top honour in Belgium". UEFA.com. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
6. Ed Malyon (23 March 2016). "Anderlecht striker Matias Suarez "will leave Belgium in June" after Brussels attacks made him fear for his life". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
7. Taildeman, Yves (7 December 2017). "Suarez doit plus de 500.000€ au RSCA". DHnet.
8. "CAS 2018/A/5607 SA Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht (RSCA) v. Matías Ezequiel Suárez & Club Atlético Belgrano de Córdoba (CA Belgrano) & CAS 2018/A/5608 Matías Ezequiel Suárez & CA Belgrano v. RSCA" (PDF). Bulletin. 2019 (2). Lausanne: Court of Arbitration for Sport. 2019.
9. Plate, Club Atletico River. "Matías Suárez, nuevo jugador de River Plate". caRiverPlate.com.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 April 2023.
10. "Matías Suárez es jugador de Belgrano" [Matías Suárez is a Belgrano player]. www.belgranocordoba.com (in Spanish). 12 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
11. "Argentina v Venezuela game report". ESPN. 22 March 2019.
12. "Los Suárez, una historia familiar en la intimidad de Belgrano". Copa Argentina. 3 September 2016. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
13. "Matías Suárez, un tío orgulloso". Mundod Lavoz. 5 September 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
14. "Matías Suárez llega acompañado a River: quién es Magui Olave, su esposa cantante y prima de "El Potro" Rodrigo". infobae.com (in Spanish). 21 January 2019.
15. "Argentina - M. Suárez - Profile with news, career statistics and history". Soccerway. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
16. "Matías Suárez Football Statistics - WhoScored.com". WhoScored.com. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
17. "Matías Suárez Player Profile - ESPN FC". ESPN FC. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
18. "Matías Suárez - Football Stats - Anderlecht - Age 26". Soccerbase. Retrieved 16 September 2014.

External links

• (in Spanish) BDFA profile
• Matías Suárez at National-Football-Teams.com