Diego Godin

Diego Roberto Godín Real (aka Pharaoh) plays for Atlético Madrid and the Uruguay national team as a defender.

He started playing professionally at the age of 17 in 2003. At that time he made his first appearance for the club Cerro. There he spent 3 rather successful seasons with 63 games and 6 goals. Before the start of the season 2006 Godín signed a professional contract with the club Nacional, where he used to play for a year before moving to Spain. Diego signed for Villarreal in August 2007. He spent 3 fruitful years for the ‘yellow submarine’ earning captainship and making 91 appearances with 4 goals. However Godín decided to change the things around him joining Atlético Madrid in 2010.

As for his international career Godin played in the U-20 national squad. He participated in the South American Cup. Diego was allowed to perform in each of the nine games in the tournament. That competition ended in a great success for his squad and Godín was called up to the senior international squad. His debut took place in a friendly match against Mexico in Guadalajara on October 26, 2005. All in all Diego Godin spent 53 games for Uruguay and scored 3 goals.

Among the achievements of Diego Godín there is reaching the semifinals in the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

Godín earned the title of the winner in the tournament of Copa América though he participated only in one match – the final one – substituting the future awarded best young player of the tournament Sebastián Coates.