Juan Sebastián Verón - TheSportsDB.com

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Name
Juan Sebastián Verón

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Born
1975 (49 years old)

Birth Place

La Plata, Argentina

Position
Central Midfield

Status

Ethnicity

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Height
182 cm

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Agent

Wage Year

Player Cutout

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Sport

Soccer

Team
_Retired Soccer

2nd Team

League
_No League Soccer

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Juan Sebastián Verón (Spanish pronunciation: ; born 9 March 1975) is an Argentine former professional footballer and current chairman of Estudiantes de La Plata, where he had served as Director of Sports. A former midfielder, Verón's career started in Estudiantes, continued in Argentina's Boca Juniors, and included stints in several clubs in the Italian Serie A (where he won the Scudetto with Lazio and with Internazionale, and a UEFA Cup with Parma), and England's Manchester United and Chelsea. In 2006, Verón returned to Estudiantes, where he remained until his retirement in 2014, aside from a brief spell with Brandsen. He announced his short return to first team football would occur in the 2017 Copa Libertadores.

At international level, Verón obtained 72 caps for Argentina between 1996 and 2010, scoring nine goals. He represented his nation at three FIFA World Cups, and at the 2007 Copa América, where he won a runners-up medal.

In 2004, he was included in the FIFA 100 list of the 125 greatest living footballers, selected by Pelé as part of FIFA's centenary celebrations. Verón has both Argentine and Italian citizenship. His nickname is "La Brujita" (The Little Witch), a nod to his father Juan Ramón who was known as "La Bruja" (The Witch) and was also a championship winning player with Estudiantes.

Verón was called up for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, where Argentina was eliminated by the Netherlands in the quarter-finals following a 2–1 defeat; during the match, Veron set-up Claudio López's goal. A rumour (never confirmed) that Verón had failed an internal doping test, and allegations of laziness hampered his relationship with the media and fans. He was called up again for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea/Japan, where Verón was regarded as a key player and captained the side in place of the injured Roberto Ayala. Some fans held him personally responsible for Argentina's dismal performance, which included a loss to England and elimination in the group phase.

After then-national coach José Pekerman omitted him from the 2006 World Cup squad, his replacement, Alfio Basile recalled Verón to the national squad in February 2007, based on his performance in Estudiantes's 2006 championship team. Verón was a starter in the Argentine team that reached the final of 2007 Copa América. Due to injuries and Estudiantes's busy schedule, Verón did not feature in the immediate plans of national coach Diego Maradona, but was recalled to the Argentine squad as a second-half substitute in the 4–0 win over Venezuela on 28 March 2009, Maradona's first competitive game in charge of the national team. He also played in the starting XI in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Colombia on 6 June 2009 and was selected by manager Diego Maradona in the final 23-man squad for the finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Verón started Argentina's first group match against Nigeria, and provided the assist for Gabriel Heinze's goal. After missing the match against South Korea due to injury, Verón returned to the starting line-up against Greece and played the full 90 minutes as Argentina won 2–0. He came on as a substitute for Carlos Tévez in the 69th minute in Argentina's 3–1 victory over Mexico in the Round of 16, but did not feature during the quarterfinal loss to Germany.

On 26 August 2010, Verón retired from international football. Nevertheless, Verón appeared again for Argentina in the 2011 Superclásico de las Américas, a two legged, non-FIFA sanctioned exhibition, between Argentina and Brazil's domestically-based players.

In December 2012, Verón returned to Estudiantes to work as Director of Sports of the institution. In a press conference, club president Enrique Lombardi stated that Verón would not receive any remuneration for his work at the club.

Verón is the eldest son of former Argentina striker Juan Ramón Verón, who scored against Manchester United for Estudiantes at Old Trafford in the 1968 Intercontinental Cup. He was born the day his father played a derby for Estudiantes against cross-town rivals Gimnasia y Esgrima. As a boy, Verón dreamed of playing for English club Sheffield United, as his uncle, Pedro Verde, played for the club at the time. When his son started to play professionally, his father tried to persuade one of his former clubs Panathinaikos to sign him. However, after a short trial with them, they finally decided that he was not good enough for their team. After his transfer to Manchester United, Verón said, "So there I was hoping to play for Sheffield United and here I am at Manchester United!"

His son, Deian, is a professional footballer. His brother, Iani, also played football.