Rafael Marquez Alvarez is a Mexican professional footballer who plays for the Mexico national team.
He can play as a central defender, sweeper, or defensive midfielder. Nicknamed El Kaiser, Marquez is widely regarded as the best defender in Mexico's history and one of the best Mexican players of all time.
Marquez began his career with Atlas in 1996, playing in over 70 games with the club before moving to France in 1999 with Monaco, where he won the Ligue 1 title. In 2003, Marquez transferred to Barcelona, becoming the first ever Mexican to represent the club. He would go on to play in over 200 games during seven seasons with Barcelona, and win numerous championships. In 2006, he became the first Mexican player to win the UEFA Champions League when Barcelona defeated Arsenal in the final. In 2010 Marquez joined the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer. After being released from the club in 2012, he moved back to Mexico, this time to play for Club Leon. After captaining the team to two back-to-back league titles in 2013 and 2014, Marquez transferred to Hellas Verona of the Italian Serie A. He returned to boyhood club Atlas in 2015.
A Mexican international since 1997, Marquez has been capped 143 times for the national team, having won the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup, and the 2003 and 2011 editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. In 2014, he became the first player to captain his national team in four consecutive editions of the FIFA World Cup, captaining the Mexico national team in the 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 editions of the tournament. Marquez is the Mexican player with the most World Cup matches played with 16. |
