Julio Arca

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Born
1981 (44 years old)
Shiny National flag

Quilmes, Argentina

Position
Central Midfield

Status

Ethnicity
Hispanic

Team Number

Height
175 cm

Outfitter

Kit
Wage Year

Player Cutout
No Cutout thumb

Archive

Full Body Render

Sport

Soccer

Team
_Retired Soccer

2nd Team

League
_No League Soccer

Creative Commons Artwork
No

Description

Julio Andrés Arca (born 31 January 1981) is an Argentine former professional footballer, who played as a left-back or central midfielder. Arca spent the majority of his career in the North East of England, firstly for Sunderland from 2000 to 2006, and then for Middlesbrough from 2006 to 2013. He retired from professional football following his release from Middlesbrough, and subsequently played Sunday League football for Willow Pond for the 2014–15 season. He later signed for South Shields, in addition to his return to Sunderland as part of the club's youth coaching staff.

During his professional career, he was seen as an attack minded player, with his key attributes including good long and short passing, as well as being a hard worker. Throughout his career at Sunderland and Middlesbrough, Arca has gained cult following among supporters at Sunderland, Middlesbrough and South Shields.

Arca was the captain of the Argentina Youth Team which featured players like Javier Saviola, Nicolás Burdisso and Maxi Rodríguez in the same squad. He won his only U21 cap in a 1–0 friendly defeat to England on 22 February 2000. During his playing time at Argentina Youth Team, Arca said he learned under José Pékerman, who at the time was in charge of Argentina's youth sides.

After his successful first season in the Premier League with Sunderland, Arca captained the Argentina Under-20 team which won the FIFA U-20 World Cup tournament in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They beat the Ghana U-20 team 3–0 in the final to win their fourth title. Earlier in the season he had been a part of the U20 team which had finished as runners-up in the 2001 South American U20 Championship. During which, Arca scored twice for the international side.

Three years later in 2004, Arca was expected to be called up for the Summer Olympic qualification. But Sunderland refused to allow him to play in the qualification, citing his commitment to the club. He was expected to be included in the Argentina U23 squad at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Despite hopes of getting called, it was later announced that he was not included in the Argentina's squad for the Olympic Games. Although Arca expressed his disappointment of not being included, he accepted the decision being made and would focus on his commitment at Sunderland. Three years later, Arca said that he hope he would receive a call-up from the senior team; using then Premier League players Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano as example.

His father is Raúl Arca, who was also a footballer at Racing Club's Reserve Team but did not make an appearance and retired soon after, and has a younger brother. Growing up, he supported River Plate but only did so because his family were supporters of the club. However, he rarely saw the team play, as he preferred to kick a ball himself. He has Italian origins through his grandfather, which allowed him to have an Italian passport in August 2000. However, it was under scrutiny when Arca used a fake passport; which Italian Embassy in Buenos Aires responded with: "Finally, at the request of the club Julio Arca's passport was presented to immigration authorities at Heathrow Airport, who assessed and verified this in advance of his arrival."

When Arca started out at Sunderland, he struggled to speak English and had to rely on Emerson Thome to act as an interpreter. Since settling in England, he quickly to learn and speak English. Because he was a fan favourite at Sunderland, the supporters recorded a musical tribute to Arca, calling the song: Hooolio. In August 2004, Arca suffered a severe allergic reaction after being stung by a jellyfish when he was swimming in the North Sea. Having spent five years in England so far, he revealed that he has now settled in the country.

Arca is married to his native wife, Valeria, and together, they have two children. Since moving to England, he resided in Wearside, along with his family. Following his retirement from professional football, Arca earned his UEFA B Licence, having announced his intention to become a manager in 2015. He then became a Manager of the Sunderland Under 14 side. In 2019, Arca and his family moved back to Argentina, where he started a new business, Premier Sport Division, which helps sportspeople to relocate, transporting their lives across the world when they join new clubs.

Trophies

Milestones

Former Youth Teams