Francisco Andrés Silva Gajardo[lower-alpha 1] (born 11 February 1986), known as Francisco Silva, is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He is considered one of the greatest Chilean defensive midfielders of all time. His winning penalty in Copa America Centenario gave Chile their second consecutive Copa America title.
![]() Silva playing for Chile in 2017 | ||||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Francisco Andrés Silva Gajardo[1] | |||||||||||||||
Date of birth | (1986-02-11) 11 February 1986 (age 36) | |||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Quillota, Chile | |||||||||||||||
Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1] | |||||||||||||||
Position(s) | Defensive midfielder | |||||||||||||||
Youth career | ||||||||||||||||
1998–1999 | Colo-Colo | |||||||||||||||
2000–2005 | Universidad Católica | |||||||||||||||
Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||
2005–2013 | Universidad Católica | 136 | (5) | |||||||||||||
2005 | → Deportes Ovalle (loan) | |||||||||||||||
2007 | → Provincial Osorno (loan) | 33 | (1) | |||||||||||||
2013–2015 | Osasuna | 47 | (1) | |||||||||||||
2014–2015 | → Club Brugge (loan) | 11 | (0) | |||||||||||||
2015–2016 | Chiapas | 28 | (0) | |||||||||||||
2016–2018 | Cruz Azul | 54 | (7) | |||||||||||||
2018–2019 | Independiente | 10 | (0) | |||||||||||||
2019–2021 | Universidad Católica | 17 | (0) | |||||||||||||
Total | 336 | (14) | ||||||||||||||
National team‡ | ||||||||||||||||
2007–2018 | Chile | 37 | (0) | |||||||||||||
Honours
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 1 August 2019 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 June 2017 |
Born in Quillota, Silva joined Universidad Católica's youth setup in 2000, aged 14. In 2005, he made his senior debuts, while on loan at lowly Deportes Ovalle, and appeared twice for the first-team in the following year. In 2007, he joined Osorno, also on loan, where he was ever-present in the promotion campaign.[citation needed]
After his return, Silva established himself as a regular for the UC, and scored his first goal on 7 November 2009, in a 4–1 home routing over Universidad Concepción.
In the 2010 summer Silva was linked to Lecce, but due to reductions in the non-EU registration quota (two for one during the summer)[2] the deal collapsed, as the club already signed Rubén Olivera.[3]
On 22 January 2013 Silva was loaned to La Liga strugglers CA Osasuna until June.[4] He made his debut abroad on 2 February, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 home win over Celta de Vigo.[5] On 8 March Silva netted his first goal for Osasuna, but in a 1–2 loss at Real Betis;[6] on 4 June the Navarrese side exercised the buyout clause, paying €1.2 million for his services.[7] He featured regularly for the club during the 2013–14 campaign, which ended in relegation.
On 29 August 2014 Silva was loaned to Club Brugge KV, in a season-long deal with a buyout clause.[8] On 13 July of the following year he was transferred to Chiapas.[9]
Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
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Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Universidad Católica | 2008 | Primera División of Chile | ? | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | ? | 1 | |||
2009 | 36 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 36 | 1 | |||||
2010 | 29 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 7 | 2 | 36 | 4 | |||
2011 | 35 | 2 | 4 | 1 | — | 13 | 0 | 52 | 3 | |||
2012 | 26 | 0 | 4 | 1 | — | 13 | 1 | 43 | 2 | |||
Total | 126 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 3 | 167 | 11 | ||
Osasuna (loan) | 2012–13 | La Liga | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 16 | 1 | |||
Osasuna | 2013–14 | La Liga | 31 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 34 | 0 | |||
2014–15 | Segunda División | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | ||||
Total | 32 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 0 | ||
Club Brugge (loan) | 2014–15 | Belgian Pro League | 11 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 7 | 0 | 21 | 0 | |
Chiapas | 2015–16 | Liga MX | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 28 | 0 | |||
Cruz Azul | 2016–17 | Liga MX | 25 | 6 | 7 | 1 | — | 32 | 7 | |||
2017–18 | 29 | 1 | 5 | 1 | — | 34 | 2 | |||||
Total | 54 | 7 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 9 | ||
Career totals | 267 | 14 | 26 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 3 | 333 | 21 |
Silva made his main squad debut on 22 January 2011, starting in a 1–1 draw against United States at Home Depot Center.[11]
Silva was not initially named in Chile's 2015 Copa America squad but was added to the team due to an injury to Edson Puch.[12]
Silva scored the winning goal in the 4-2 penalty shoot-out win against Argentina in the Copa América Centenario Final on 26 June 2016.[13]
Chile squads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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