Pablo César Aimar (born 3 November 1979) is an Argentine former professional footballer and current assistant coach of the Argentina national team. He has been considered as one of the most talented and creative attacking midfielders of his generation.
After starting his senior career at River Plate in 1996, Aimar amassed La Liga totals of 215 games and 32 goals over eight seasons with Valencia and Zaragoza from 2001 to 2008, before spending five years in Portugal with Benfica, winning a combined nine major titles with the three teams.
Aimar earned 52 caps for the Argentina senior team over ten years, representing the nation in two FIFA World Cups and two Copa América tournaments, as well as a FIFA Confederations Cup. He reached the final of the 2005 Confederations Cup and the 2007 Copa América with the Argentine national side.
In 2018, Aimar joined the Argentina national team as an assistant coach. During his tenure, the team won the 2021 Copa América, the 2022 Finalissima, the 2022 World Cup, and the 2024 Copa América.
Club career
River Plate
Aimar's football career begun in earnest when he was offered the chance to play for Estudiantes de Río Cuarto by youth coach Alfie Mercado. He trained with the club's academy three times a week and it was there that he was spotted by River Plate who offered the chance to join their own academy. His first goal for the club came on 20 February 1998 against Rosario Central. He made his debut for the club the following month against Manchester United and drew praise from three-time Ballon d'Or winner Johan Cruyff for his performance after the match. Aimar immediately became a key figure in Valencia's midfield under Héctor Cúper and helped the club reach the 2001 UEFA Champions League final, where they lost to Bayern Munich on penalties.
The club's failures were soon forgotten, however, as Valencia completed a league and UEFA Cup double the following season.
Following a breakdown between Benítez and Valencia's sporting director Jesús García Pitarch, the former left his position at the club and was replaced by Italian manager Claudio Ranieri for the 2004–05 season. A combination of injury concerns and tactical changes from the manager saw Aimar struggle under Ranieri and found himself being employed as a substitute more frequently than before. At Zaragoza, he was reunited with compatriot and former Valencia teammate Roberto Ayala, who himself had joined the club earlier in the month. Aimar made his league debut on 27 August in a 2–3 away loss against Deportivo de La Coruña and went on to make 32 appearances across all competitions, scoring five goals and helping the club to a sixth-place finish in the league. Zaragoza's relegation saw Aimar bring an end to his time in Aragon, having made 57 appearances during his two-season stay with the club. During his stint with Zaragoza, he obtained dual-Spanish nationality, having lived in the country since 2001.
Benfica
thumb|Aimar playing for [[S.L. Benfica|Benfica in 2012]]
On 17 July 2008, Aimar signed a four-year contract with Portuguese side Benfica for a fee of €6.5 million. After struggling with injuries initially, he finished the campaign with a string of strong performances and was able to add a Taça da Liga title to his name.
In the 2009–10 season, Aimar was reunited with former River Plate teammate Javier Saviola, who was let go by Real Madrid following his own injury struggles. The quartet formed the Primeira Liga's most dangerous attack, with Benfica scoring 78 goals on their way to a league and cup double.
Aimar had become a fan favourite at the Estádio da Luz but injuries continued to plague him, and his game time reduced in the coming seasons. In spite of this, he helped the club to its third and fourth consecutive Taça da Liga titles.
Johor Darul Ta'zim
On 7 August 2013, Tunku Ismail Ibrahim, the president of Malaysian club Johor Darul Ta'zim and also known as the Crown Prince of Johor, confirmed that Aimar had signed a two-year contract with the team. Upon arrival, he became the highest paid player ever to feature in the Malaysia Super League. He made his debut in the league six months after signing, in a 2–0 win against Perak FA. Prior to making his debut, Aimar had previously played at the Larkin Stadium, home of Johor, before with Argentina in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. Aimar did earn a champions medal for his time with JDT, though, as the club went on to lift the 2014 league title at the end of the season.
Return to River Plate
On 5 January 2015, Aimar returned to River Plate for the club's pre-season training, stating that he would sign with the club only if he could deal with the physical demand after having undergone surgeries to his heel and not having played since leaving Johor Darul Ta’zim in April 2014. On 31 May, he played as substitute in a home win against Rosario Central in the Primera División. Aimar announced his retirement on 14 July 2015 after River Plate coach Marcelo Gallardo informed him that he was not included in the club's squad for the semi-final stage of the Copa Libertadores. Gallardo said Aimar was "suffering" and had struggled with injuries through the pre-season.
Estudiantes de Río Cuarto
On 16 January 2018, Aimar played in a friendly match for his youth club Estudiantes de Río Cuarto. After the match, he announced that he would be joining the squad ahead of the Copa Argentina fixture against Sportivo Belgrano on 23 January, in order to fulfill his wish of making an official appearance for the club where he began and spent eight years.
The Copa Argentina match took place at Estudiantes' home stadium Estadio Ciudad de Río Cuarto. Aimar was picked in the starting line up and wore the captain's armband, coming close to opening the score with a shot that was parried by the goalkeeper, before getting subbed off in the 50th minute. The match ended in a goalless draw, which was not enough to see Estudiantes through the next round after a 2–1 loss in the first leg. His brother Andrés was also in the line-up of Estudiantes. Afterwards, Aimar confirmed that he had no intention of making a definitive comeback and that this was indeed his farewell match from football.
International career
Aimar first represented Argentina at youth levels. Along with future senior team players Esteban Cambiasso and Juan Román Riquelme he won the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship and went on to earn 52 senior caps following his debut in 1999, scoring eight international goals in total. He represented Argentina at the 1999 and 2007 editions of the Copa América, at the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups, and at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup.
In the 2002 World Cup, for which he was picked ahead of Riquelme, Aimar appeared against England, subbing in for Juan Sebastián Verón in the 1–0 loss, which led coach Marcelo Bielsa to start him against Sweden at the latter's expense.
Aimar scored the last goal of the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup during Argentina's 4–1 loss in the final to champions Brazil. He also appeared with the national side in the 2007 Copa América, scoring a goal in a 4–1 win against the United States in his team's opening group match of the competition; Argentina went on to reach the final of the tournament, losing out to Brazil once again, this time 0–3, with Aimar coming on as a second-half substitute for Cambiasso.
After several months in the sidelines, Aimar received another international callup in October 2009, for decisive 2010 World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Uruguay. In the match against the former he repaid the faith placed in him by coach Diego Maradona, assisting Gonzalo Higuaín for Argentina's opener with a through ball, in an eventual 2–1 win.
Style of play
An technical and creative attacking midfielder with a small frame, Aimar was a right-footed player with a vast array of skills and scoring abilities. He excelled in a free role as an advanced playmaker where he was able to utilize his dribbling skills, vision and passing ability to create chances for teammates and orchestrate attacks. His skills and playing style earned him comparisons with Diego Maradona in his youth. He was given the nicknames El Payaso (the clown) and El Mago (the wizard) throughout his career. Compatriot Lionel Messi stated in 2002 that Aimar was one of his biggest influences as a player. In addition to his playing ability, Aimar also drew praise for his leadership qualities. His under-17 team won the South American U-17 Championship in 2019.
He was part of the Argentina managerial team who won the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Personal life
Aimar's younger brother, Andrés, was also a professional footballer and a midfielder. He represented several teams in his country – starting his career at River Plate – also playing for a few months in Israel. In October 2022 Aimar's mother died.
Career statistics
Club
:Sources:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|Cup
!colspan="2"|Continental
!colspan="2"|Other
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="7"|River Plate
|1995–96
|rowspan="6"|Argentine Primera División
|1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||1||0
|-
|1996–97
|colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||0||0
|-
|1997–98
|16||4||colspan="2"|—||7||2||colspan="2"|—||23||6
|-
|1998–99
|18||2||colspan="2"|—||9||1||colspan="2"|—||27||3
|-
|1999–00
|33||13||colspan="2"|—||8||3||colspan="2"|—||41||16
|-
|2000–01
|15||4||colspan="2"|—||5||1||colspan="2"|—||20||5
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!83!!23!!0!!0!!29!!7!!0!!0!!112!!30
|-
|rowspan="7"|Valencia
|2000–01
|rowspan="6"|La Liga
|10||2||colspan="2"|—||8||0||colspan="2"|—||18||2
|-
|2001–02
|33||4||1||0||6||2||colspan="2"|—||40||6
|-
|2002–03
|31||8||4||0||11||3||colspan="2"|—||46||11
|-
|2003–04
|25||4||5||0||8||0||colspan="2"|—||38||4
|-
|2004–05
|31||4||2||0||6||2||colspan="2"|—||39||6
|-
|2005–06
|32||5||2||0||1||0||colspan="2"|—||35||5
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!162!!27!!13!!0!!40!!7!!colspan="2"|—!!216!!34
|-
|rowspan="3"|Zaragoza
|2006–07
|rowspan="2"|La Liga
|31||5||1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||32||5
|-
|2007–08
|22||0||2||0||1||0||colspan="2"|—||25||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!53!!5!!3!!0!!1!!0!!colspan="2"|—!!57!!5
|-
|rowspan="6"|Benfica
|2008–09
|rowspan="5"|Primeira Liga
|22||1||2||0||1||0||4||1||29||2
|-
|2009–10
|25||4||1||0||11||1||4||0||41||5
|-
|2010–11
|23||5||6||1||12||1||5||0||46||7
|-
|2011–12
|24||2||2||0||12||1||4||0||42||3
|-
|2012–13
|13||0||3||0||3||0||2||0||21||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!107!!12!!14!!1!!39!!3!!18!!1!!179!!17
|-
|rowspan="2"|Johor Darul Ta'zim
|2014
|Malaysia Super League
|8||2||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||8||2
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!8||2||0||0||0||0||0||0||8||2
|-
|River Plate
|2015
|Argentine Primera División
|1||0||1||0||0||0|0||0||0|||2||0
|-
|Estudiantes Río Cuarto
|2017–18
|Torneo Federal A
|colspan="2"|—||1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—|||1||0
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!413!!67!!32!!1!!101!!17!!18!!1!!566!!86
|}
International
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|colspan="3"|Argentina
|-
!Year!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|-
|1999||2||0
|-
|2000||5||1
|-
|2001||8||0
|-
|2002||6||1
|-
|2003||9||4
|-
|2004||2||0
|-
|2005||6||1
|-
|2006||6||0
|-
|2007||7||1
|-
|2009||1||0
|-
!Total||52||8
|}
International goals
:Argentina score listed first, score column indicates score after each Aimar goal.
<!--Sign ‡ indicates goals scored from a penalty kick.-->
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! # !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
|-
| 1. || 16 August 2000 || Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || style="text-align:center;"| 1–1 || style="text-align:center;"| 1–1 || 2002 World Cup qualification
|-
| 2. || 27 March 2002 || Geneva, Switzerland || || style="text-align:center;"| 2–1 || style="text-align:center;"| 2–2 || rowspan="2"|Friendly
|-
| 3. || 30 April 2003 || June 11 Stadium, Tripoli, Libya || || style="text-align:center;"| 3–1 || style="text-align:center;"| 3–1
|-
| 4. || 6 September 2003 || Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || style="text-align:center;"| 2–0 || style="text-align:center;"| 2–2 || rowspan="3"|2006 World Cup qualification
|-
| 5. || 9 September 2003 || Estadio Olímpico, Caracas, Venezuela || || style="text-align:center;"| 1–0 || style="text-align:center;"| 3–0
|-
| 6. || 15 November 2003 || Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina || || style="text-align:center;"| 3–0 || style="text-align:center;"| 3–0
|-
| 7. || 29 June 2005 || Waldstadion, Frankfurt, Germany || || style="text-align:center;"| 1–4 || style="text-align:center;"| 1–4 || 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup
|-
| 8. || 28 June 2007 || José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo, Venezuela || || style="text-align:center;"| 3–1 || style="text-align:center;"| 4–1 || 2007 Copa América
|}
Managerial
{| class="wikitable" tyle="text-align: center"
|+ Managerial record by team and tenure
!rowspan="2"|Team
!rowspan="2"|From
!rowspan="2"|To
!colspan="8"|Record
|-
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
|-
|align="left"|Argentina U-17
|align="left"|13 July 2017
|align="left"| Present
|-
!colspan="3"|Total
|}
Honours
Player
River Plate
- UEFA Champions League top assist provider: 2002–03
- Trofeo EFE: 2005–06
- Cosme Damião Awards – Footballer of the Year: 2011
Managerial
Argentina (as assistant manager)
- FIFA World Cup: 2022
- Copa América: 2021, 2024; third place: 2019
- CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions: 2022
Argentina U17
- South American U-17 Championship: 2019