Celso Ayala

Celso Ayala

Personal information
Full name	Celso Rafael Ayala Gavilán
Date of birth	(1970-08-20) 20 August 1970
Place of birth	Asunción, Paraguay
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Central Defender
Team information
Current team	River Plate (Manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1990–1994	Olimpia Asunción	?	(?)
1994	Rosario Central	15	(0)
1995–1998	River Plate	140	(8)
1998–1999	Betis	17	(1)
1999–2000	Atlético Madrid	19	(1)
2000	São Paulo	8	(0)
2001–2005	River Plate	60	(3)
2006	Colo-Colo	6	(0)
International career
1992	Paraguay U-23
1993–2003	Paraguay	85	(6)
Managerial career
2012–2013	Carapeguá
2014	Independiente
2014–2015	Guabirá
2015	Sport Boys
2015	Petrolero
2016–2017	Independiente
2017–2018	Nacional
2019	Deportivo Capiatá
2019–2020	Sportivo Luqueño
2020–	River Plate Asunción
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Celso Rafael Ayala Gavilán (locally [ˈselso rafaˈel aˈʝala ɣaβiˈlan]; born 20 August 1970) is a retired Paraguayan footballer who played as a defender and current manager of River Plate Asunción.

Career

With 85 caps and 6 goals, he is one of the most capped players in the Paraguayan national team. Ayala became a key player in Paraguay's outstanding defensive line in the 1990s, along with fellow defenders Francisco Arce and Carlos Gamarra. His characteristics were leadership in the field, good positioning and superb tackling and heading skills. Ayala made his international debut for the Paraguay national football team on 3 March 1993 in the Copa Paz de Chico match against Bolivia (1–0 win) as a substitute.

Honours

Club

Olimpia Asunción

• Nehru Cup Winner: 1990
• Supercopa Sudamericana Winner: 1990
• Copa Libertadores de America Winner: 1990
• Copa Interamericana Runners-up: 1990
• Intercontinental Cup Runners-up: 1990
• Recopa Sudamericana Winner: 1991
• Torneo Republica: 1992 (undefeated)
• Copa CONMEBOL Runners-up: 1992
• Paraguayan league: 1993 (undefeated)
• Supercopa Masters Runners-up: 1994

River Plate

• Copa Libertadores Winner: 1996
• Primera División Argentina Winner: Apertura 1996, Clausura, 1997, Apertura 1997, Clausura 2002, Clausura 2003, Clausura 2004
• Intercontinental Cup Runners-up: 1996
• Supercopa Sudamericana Winner: 1997

Real Betis

• Ramon de Carranza Trophy Winner: 1999

Colo-Colo

• Torneo Apertura Winner: 2006

International

Paraguay U-23

• U-23 South American championship Winner: 1992

External links

• International statistics at rsssf
• Celso Ayala at National-Football-Teams.com
• Celso Ayala at FootballDatabase.eu