 Cavenaghi withGirondins de Bordeaux in 2009 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Fernando Ezequiel Cavenaghi | ||
| Date of birth | (1983-09-21)21 September 1983 (age 41) | ||
| Place of birth | O'Brien, Argentina | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2001–2004 | River Plate | 88 | (55) |
| 2004–2007 | Spartak Moscow | 51 | (12) |
| 2007–2011 | Bordeaux | 83 | (33) |
| 2010 | →Mallorca (loan) | 11 | (2) |
| 2011 | →Internacional (loan) | 2 | (1) |
| 2011–2012 | River Plate | 37 | (19) |
| 2012–2013 | Villarreal | 18 | (4) |
| 2013–2014 | Pachuca | 21 | (4) |
| 2014–2015 | River Plate | 41 | (21) |
| 2015–2016 | APOEL | 18 | (19) |
| Total | 382 | (181) | |
| International career | |||
| 2003 | Argentina U20 | 12 | (11) |
| 2008 | Argentina | 4 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Fernando Ezequiel Cavenaghi (Spanish pronunciation:[kaβeˈnaɣi]; born 21 September 1983) is a retired Argentine professionalfootballer. He played as astriker who was efficient in front of goal with either foot and from any range.[2] More recently, in 2021, Cavenaghi was the co-owner, along withAlejandro Domínguez, of Uruguayan football clubRacing Club de Montevideo, until 2023 when the club was sold toBayern Munich.[3]
He spent most of his career withRiver Plate in three separate spells, playing 210 games and scoring 112 goals, while winning honours including the2014 Copa Sudamericana and the2015 Copa Libertadores. Abroad, he had his best successes withBordeaux, whom he helped win aLigue 1 title and two each of theCoupe de la Ligue andTrophée des Champions. He also had short spells in Spain, Brazil, Mexico and Cyprus, finishing as theCypriot First Division's top scorer asAPOEL won it in his final year as a professional.
Cavenaghi was part of theArgentina under-20 team that won the2003 South American Youth Championship, finishing as its top scorer with eight goals. In the same year, he was part of the team that reached the semi-finals at theFIFA U-20 World Cup, and was joint top scorer with four goals. He earned four caps for the senior team in 2008.
Born inO'Brien,Buenos Aires Province, Cavenaghi played for Rivadavia de Chacabuco and Bravado in the regional leagues between the ages of nine and twelve.[4]
Cavenaghi made his professional debut forRiver Plate in the 2000–01 season in which he scored one goal in five appearances. In his first full season he scored 17 goals in 23 appearances, including a hat-trick againstEstudiantes.
In July 2004, Cavenaghi moved abroad for the first time, joiningSpartak Moscow for a fee of US$12 million, then a record for a Russian team. He failed to adapt to Russian football, and was frozen out of the team following the arrival of managerVladimir Fedotov in April 2006, whom he publicly criticised for his tactics. He was put up for sale that December.[5]
On 22 January 2007, Cavenaghi was sold to French clubBordeaux. He signed a four-and-a-half-year deal for a €7 million fee.[6] Through anItalian passport earned by his ancestry, he could work freely in the European Union.[7] On 3 February he played his firstLigue 1 match againstNice.[8][9] In his first season, Bordeaux won theCoupe de la Ligue with a 1–0 win overLyon in thefinal, with Cavenaghi an unused substitute. During the 2007–08 season he scored 22 goals in 35 appearances for Bordeaux.
In the2008 Trophée des Champions, Cavenaghi came on as a 70th-minute substitute forAlou Diarra in a goalless draw against Lyon at theStade Chaban-Delmas. Though both he andDavid Bellion had their attempts saved byGrégory Coupet in thepenalty shootout, Bordeaux were victorious.[10] In the2008–09 Ligue 1 season Cavenaghi helped Bordeaux to its first league title in ten years, scoring 13 goals in 29 league matches. The team also won the Coupe de la Ligue in the same season, with Cavenaghi scoring in a 4–2 home win overGuingamp in the last 16.[11] TheGirondins won their third honour of the calendar year on 25 July 2009 as theyretained the Trophée des Champions with a 2–0 win over Guingamp inMontreal, Cavaneghi scoring the opening goal forLaurent Blanc's team.[12]
Cavenaghi signed for Spanish clubMallorca on 26 August 2010 a season-long loan with the option to purchase for €3.5 million.[13] He scored six goals in 13 total games for theBalearic club, all in the form of braces againstReal Sociedad inLa Liga, andSporting Gijón andAlmería in theCopa del Rey.[14][15][16]
In January 2011 Cavenaghi joined Brazil'sInternacional on a year-long loan, with option to make it permanent for €2.5 million.[17]
In July 2011, after leaving his contract at Bordeaux a year early, Cavenaghi returned to River Plate.[18] He was appointed captain of the club, who had been relegated. He scored 19 goals in 37 league matches that season, including a notable performance againstGimnasia de Jujuy where he scored four goals. In his one-season back he helped the club capture the2011-12 Primera B Nacional and gain promotion back to the first division.
Cavenaghi returned to Spain in August 2012 by signing forVillarreal, who themselves had fallen into theSegunda División.[19] On his debut on 17 August, he scored in each half of a 2–1 win overReal Madrid Castilla at theEstadio El Madrigal.[20] He totalled 19 appearances and four goals for the "Yellow Submarine", but cut his stay short in January 2013 Cavenaghi when he signed forPachuca of the MexicanLiga MX.[21]
In early 2014, Cavenaghi joined River Plate for the third time. He would wear his number 9 throughout his 3rd stay. River Plate became Champion inArgentina's Primera División 2014, making them eligible to several continental/international tournaments in 2014–15.
As captain, Cavenaghi led River Plate to achieve a sweep of all three international championships:2014 Copa Sudamericana,2015 Recopa Sudamericana and the2015 Copa Libertadores. Included in these campaigns were two eliminations of arch-rivalBoca Juniors, first in the Sudamericana and later in Libertadores. Winning theCopa Libertadores would make River Plate eligible to play in the2015 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan representingCONMEBOL. He was the second-highest scorer inArgentina's Primera División 2015 with 11 goals.
On 25 August 2015, Cavenaghi moved back to Europe signing a two-year contract withCypriot First Division clubAPOEL FC.[22] Five days later, he scored twice on his debut in a 6–2 home victory againstPafos FC for theCypriot First Division.[23] He scored in each of his first sevenleague appearances, totalling twelve goals in that sequence. He helped APOEL to win theCypriot First Division title,[24] and despite playing his last match on 10 February 2016, missing the last three months of the season due to his injury, he also won the top goalscorer award with 19 goals in only 18 league appearances.[25]
Cavenaghi appeared in 26 matches and scored 23 goals in all competitions with APOEL, before a serious knee injury forced him to mutually terminate his contract with the club on 2 April 2016,[26] as his recovery from the knee surgery was estimated to take more than eight months to complete.[27] His serious knee injury eventually forced Cavenaghi to retire from the professional scene, making the official announcement through a YouTube video on 27 December 2016 at River Plate'sEl Monumental in Buenos Aires.[28]
In December 2002, managerHugo Tocalli named Cavenaghi in theArgentina under-20 team for the2003 South American U-20 Championship in Uruguay.[29] He was top scorer with eight goals – four in each stage – as the Argentines won the title, and scored the only one againstColombia on 28 January to seal the Championship.[30]
In October, Cavenaghi was again called up by Tocalli for the squad at the2003 FIFA U-20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.[31] In the last 16 againstEgypt inDubai, he scored both goals, including thegolden goal, in a 2–1 victory.[32] He scored a golden goal again in the quarter-finals against theUnited States inAbu Dhabi.[33] Argentina finished fourth and Cavenaghi was one of four top scorers with four goals apiece, though the Golden Shoe award went toEddie Johnson of the United States.
However, due to not being released by River Plate for the2004 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament, Cavenaghi would not get any chances withMarcelo Bielsa.[34] He had then the fifth better goal average in River Plate history, very close toAlfredo Di Stéfano, but he missed the2004 Summer Olympics, won by Bielsa's team. Bielsa resigned soon after the gold medal and Cavenaghi got a first chance inArgentina senior team on 29 December, in a non-official match againstCatalonia.José Pekerman, the new Argentina coach, used him as a substitute forDiego Milito.[35] The game was a 3–0 win at theCamp Nou.[36]
In March 2008, Cavenaghi's form for Bordeaux earned him a first official call up to the senior national side byAlfio Basile, ahead of a friendly againstEgypt on 26 March.[37] He made his debut in the 2–0 win at theCairo International Stadium as a 69th-minute substitute forJulio Cruz and played three more friendlies that year.[38] He would get just four more caps, saying that "at my best moment in France, I was called up to a few games, butMessi,Agüero andHiguaín were already there and it was very difficult to find a place among these players".[34]
Cavenaghi is the oldest of four brothers (Marcos, Belén, and Nicolás) to Edgardo Cavenaghi and Mónica Ferrero and has been a River Plate fan since his infancy. Cavenaghi married his wife, Soledad Gaynor, in 2007 and had his first child, Benjamín, on 2 October 2008. Benjamín currently plays in the youth system of Uruguayan clubDeportivo Maldonado and was called up in 2024 to represent Uruguay in theunder-17 national team.[39] In 2010, Cavenaghi's daughter, Sofie, was born.[40]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| River Plate | 2000–01 | 5 | 1 | — | 3 | 2 | 8 | 3 | |
| 2001–02 | 23 | 17 | — | 6 | 2 | 29 | 19 | ||
| 2002–03 | 33 | 20 | — | 11 | 7 | 44 | 27 | ||
| 2003–04 | 27 | 17 | — | 11 | 6 | 38 | 23 | ||
| Total | 88 | 55 | — | 31 | 17 | 119 | 72 | ||
| Spartak Moscow | 2004 | 9 | 1 | — | 9 | 1 | |||
| 2005 | 25 | 6 | 1 | 1 | — | 26 | 7 | ||
| 2006 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 21 | 5 | |||
| Total | 51 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 56 | 13 | |
| Bordeaux | 2006–07 | 9 | 2 | — | 9 | 2 | |||
| 2007–08 | 23 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 35 | 22 | |
| 2008–09 | 29 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 36 | 15 | |
| 2009–10 | 20 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 7 | |
| 2010–11 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | |||
| Total | 83 | 33 | 10 | 7 | 15 | 6 | 108 | 46 | |
| Mallorca (loan) | 2010 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 4 | — | 13 | 6 | |
| Internacional (loan) | 2011 | 8[a] | 2 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 6 |
| River Plate | 2011–12 | 37 | 19 | 1 | 0 | — | 38 | 19 | |
| Villarreal | 2012–13 | 18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | — | 19 | 4 | |
| Pachuca | 2012–13 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 3 | — | 13 | 5 | |
| 2013–14 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | 14 | 3 | ||
| Total | 21 | 4 | 6 | 4 | — | 27 | 8 | ||
| River Plate | 2014 | 19 | 8 | 0 | 0 | — | 19 | 8 | |
| 2014 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 2 | |
| 2015 | 18 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 27 | 11 | |
| Total | 40 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 52 | 21 | |
| APOEL | 2015–16 | 18 | 19 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 26 | 23 |
| Career total | 376 | 171 | 33 | 22 | 69 | 25 | 477 | 219 | |
River Plate
Internacional
Bordeaux
APOEL
Argentina U20
Individual
