Ariel Garcé

Ariel Hernán "Chino" Garcé (born 14 July 1979), is a former Argentine football defender. He played as a central defender or right back in River Plate, Colón de Santa Fe, Olimpo de Bahía Blanca, and Atlético de Rafaela.

Career

Club

Garcé started his career with River Plate in 1999. He was part of two championship winning squads before moving on loan to Monarcas Morelia in Mexico in 2003. Garcé returned to River Plate in 2004 and helped the club to win the Clausura 2004 tournament.

Garcé then had his first spell with Colón de Santa Fe, before playing for Olimpo de Bahía Blanca and Rosario Central. While at Olimpo, Garcé was banned for 6 months by the Argentine federation after he tested positive of cocaine.

In 2007, he returned for a second spell with Colón.

In 2014, he played for Atlético de Rafaela, finishing his career in that club.

International

Garcé played two friendly matches under Marcelo Bielsa's coaching for the Argentina national football team in 2003. He then played a friendly against Haiti under Diego Maradona. On 19 May 2010, Garcé was surprisingly selected as one of the 23 men to play for Argentina in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa though he did not feature in any match. Maradona reportedly had a dream of an Argentina squad winning the World Cup, and the only face he could remember was Garcé's.

Outside Football He started his auto racing career in 2019. Five years later, he won for the first time at Autódromo Municipal Juan Manuel Fangio, participating in Fiat Competizione, a supporting class of Super TC2000.

Career statistics International

Honours River Plate Argentine Primera División (3): Clausura 2000, Clausura 2002, Clausura 2004