Roberto Ayala

**Roberto Fabián Ayala** (; born 14 April 1973), nicknamed _El Ratón_ ("The Mouse"), is an Argentine former footballer who played as a centre back for the Argentina national football team, as well as Valencia and Real Zaragoza in Spain, Milan and Napoli in Italy, and Ferro Carril, River Plate and Racing Club in his native Argentina.

### Club

|rowspan="2"|Club|rowspan="2"|Season|colspan="3"|League|colspan="2"|Cup|colspan="2"|Continental|colspan="2"|Other|colspan="2"|Total|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="4"|Ferro Carril Oeste|1991–92|rowspan="3"|Primera División|19|0|—|—|—|19|0|||
|1992–93|36|1|—|—|—|36|0|||||||
|1993|18|1|—|—|3|0|21|1||||||
|rowspan="3"|River Plate|1994|rowspan="2"|Primera División|16|0|—|—|—|16|0|||
|1994–95|25|0|—|12|1|—|37|1||||||
|rowspan="4"|Napoli|1995–96|rowspan="3"|Serie A|29|0|1|0|—|—|30|1||
|1996–97|30|1|6|0|—|—|36|1||||||
|1997–98|28|0|2|0|—|—|30|0||||||
|rowspan="3"|Milan|1998–99|rowspan="2"|Serie A|11|0|2|0|—|—|13|0||
|1999-00|13|0|3|0|6|0|—|22|0|||||
|rowspan="8"|Valencia|2000–01|rowspan="7"|La Liga|28|1|2|0|9|2|—|39|3|
|2001–02|29|2|1|0|7|0|—|37|2|||||
|2002–03|31|1|—|12|0|2|0|45|1|||||
|2003–04|30|1|5|0|10|0|—|45|1|||||
|2004–05|17|0|—|—|—|17|0|||||||
|2005–06|23|2|—|6|0|—|29|2||||||
|2006–07|29|2|4|0|8|1|—|41|3|||||
|Villarreal|2006–07|La Liga|0|0|0|0|–|–|0|||||
|rowspan="4"|Zaragoza|2007–08|La Liga|33|1|4|0|2|0|—|39|1||
|2008–09|Segunda División|28|3|—|—|—|28|3||||||
|2009–10|La Liga|13|0|1|0|—|—|14|0|||||
|Racing|2009–10|Primera División|15|0|—|—|—|15|0|||||

### International

|National team|Year|Apps|Goals||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="15"|Argentina|1994|3|0|
|1995|14|0|||
|1996|6|0|||
|1997|7|0|||
|1998|13|1|||
|1999|12|1|||
|2000|11|1|||
|2001|8|0|||
|2002|1|0|||
|2003|6|0|||
|2004|10|1|||
|2005|8|2|||
|2006|7|1|||
|2007|9|0|||

- _Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ayala goal_.

|scope="col"|No.|scope="col"|Date|scope="col"|Venue|scope="col"|Opponent|scope="col"|Score|scope="col"|Result|scope="col"|Competition|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="center"|1|19 February 1998|Mendoza, Argentina|n League||align="center"|2–1|Unofficial Friendly||||||
|align="center"|2|7 September 1999|Porto Alegre, Brazil|||align="center"|2–4|Friendly||||||
|align="center"|3|26 April 2000|Maracaibo, Venezuela||align="center"|1–0|align="center"|4–0|World Cup 2002 Qualifying|||||
|align="center"|4|13 July 2004|Piura, Peru||align="center"|3–2|align="center"|4–2|2004 Copa América|||||
|align="center"|5|12 November 2005|Geneva, Switzerland|||align="center"|2–3|Friendly||||||
|align="center"|6|16 November 2005|Doha, Qatar|||align="center"|3–0|Friendly||||||
|align="center"|7|30 June 2006|Berlin, Germany||align="center"|1–0|align="center"|1–1 (2–4 PS)|2006 FIFA World Cup|||||

### Player

**River Plate**
- Argentine Primera División: 1994 Apertura

**Napoli**
- Copa Italia runner-up: 1996-97

**Milan**
- Serie A: 1998–99

**Valencia**
- La Liga: 2001–02, 2003–04
- UEFA Cup: 2003–04
- UEFA Super Cup: 2004
- UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2000–2001
- Supercopa de España runner-up: 2002
- UEFA Intertoto Cup runner-up: 2005

**Argentina**
- Copa América runner-up: 2004, 2007
- FIFA Confederations Cup runner-up: 1995

**Argentina U23**
- Pan American Games: 1995
- Olympic Gold Medal: 2004

**Individual**
- South American Team of the Year: 1994
- UEFA Club Best Defender of the Year: 2000–01
- European Sports Media Team of the Year: 2003–04
- 2006 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team
- IFFHS Argentina All Times Dream Team (Team B): 2021

### Assistant manager

**Argentina**
- FIFA World Cup: 2022
- Copa America: 2021; third place: 2019
- CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions: 2022

## Other websites

- Argentine Primera statistics at Fútbol XXI

## Infobox (football biography)

- **name**: Roberto Ayala
- **image**: 018 Summer Youth Olympics (30382602628) (cropped).jpg
- **caption**: Ayala in 2018
- **fullname**: Roberto Fabián Ayala
- **height**: 1.77 m
- **birth place**: Paraná, Argentina, Paraná, Argentina
- **currentclub**: Argentina national football team, Argentina (field assistant)
- **position**: Defender (association football)#Centre-back, Centre-back
- **youthclubs1**: Ferro Carril Oeste
- **years1**: 1991–1993
- **clubs1**: Ferro Carril Oeste
- **caps1**: 73
- **goals1**: 1
- **years2**: 1993–1995
- **clubs2**: Club Atlético River Plate, River Plate
- **caps2**: 41
- **goals2**: 0
- **years3**: 1995–1998
- **clubs3**: S.S.C. Napoli, Napoli
- **caps3**: 87
- **goals3**: 1
- **years4**: 1998–2000
- **clubs4**: A.C. Milan, Milan
- **caps4**: 24
- **goals4**: 0
- **years5**: 2000–2007
- **clubs5**: Valencia CF, Valencia
- **caps5**: 187
- **goals5**: 9
- **years6**: 2007–2010
- **clubs6**: Real Zaragoza
- **caps6**: 74
- **goals6**: 4
- **years7**: 2010–2011
- **clubs7**: Racing Club de Avellaneda, Racing Club
- **caps7**: 15
- **goals7**: 0
- **totalcaps**: 501
- **totalgoals**: 15
- **nationalyears1**: 1996
- **nationalteam1**: Argentina national under-23 football team, Argentina U23
- **nationalcaps1**: 6
- **nationalgoals1**: 0
- **nationalyears2**: 2004
- **nationalteam2**: Argentina national under-23 football team, Argentina Olympic (List of overage players in Olympic football, O.P.)
- **nationalcaps2**: 6
- **nationalgoals2**: 0
- **nationalyears3**: 1994–2007
- **nationalteam3**: Argentina national football team, Argentina
- **nationalcaps3**: 116
- **nationalgoals3**: 7