Marcelo Nicolás Lodeiro Benítez was born on 21 March 1989 in Paysandú, on Uruguay’s western border with Argentina. He started out in youth football in his home city with Barrio Obrero. At around 14 he moved to Montevideo to join Nacional’s academy. A left-footed attacking midfielder known as “Nico” or “Pichi”, he played for close to two decades in Uruguay, the Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina and the United States. With Uruguay he won the 2011 Copa América.
Academy years and debut at Nacional
Lodeiro came through every level of Nacional’s youth system and made his first-team debut on 19 August 2007, in a 1-1 draw with Fénix. He soon won a regular place. With Nacional he won the 2008 Torneo Apertura, the 2008 Liguilla and the 2008-09 Uruguayan championship, and he added another Apertura in 2009. That year the newspaper El País named him the best player in Uruguayan football, and he was picked for the 2009 South American Team of the Year. He was also playing for the under-20 side, scoring three goals at the 2009 South American U-20 Championship in Venezuela and two at that year’s U-20 World Cup in Egypt.
Ajax, Botafogo and Corinthians
In January 2010 he joined Ajax for a fee of around €4 million. He made his debut as a substitute against Twente on 7 February 2010. In Amsterdam he won the 2009-10 KNVB Cup and the Eredivisie titles in 2010-11 and 2011-12, although he was seldom a starter. In July 2012, after leaving Ajax at the end of his contract, he moved to Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro. There he played regularly, and in 2013 he won the Taça Guanabara, the Taça Rio and the Campeonato Carioca. Corinthians signed him on 29 May 2014, but he played very little for them and moved on again in February 2015.
Boca Juniors
He joined Boca Juniors, where he wore the number 10 shirt. He was an important part of the side that won the 2015 Argentine league and Copa Argentina double. At La Bombonera he became the team’s playmaker, getting into the box and taking set pieces well. He stayed in Buenos Aires until mid-2016, when he moved to Major League Soccer.
Seattle Sounders
Seattle Sounders signed him on 27 July 2016, and he made his debut four days later against LA Galaxy. He was named MLS Newcomer of the Year that season, and the club won the 2016 MLS Cup, its first league title. Seattle also won the Western Conference in 2017. He won a second MLS Cup in 2019, the same year he played in the MLS All-Star Game. In 2020 he was named to the MLS Best XI. In 2022 Seattle won the CONCACAF Champions League, the first MLS club to do so in the competition’s modern format, and he made the tournament’s Best XI, as he had in 2018. He stayed in Seattle until the end of 2023 and is among the club’s leaders in appearances and goals.
Uruguay national team
He made his senior debut in November 2009, in the play-off against Costa Rica that sent Uruguay to the World Cup in South Africa. At the 2010 World Cup he received the tournament’s first red card, in the opening match against France. Uruguay went on to finish fourth. In 2011 he was part of the squad that won the Copa América in Argentina, and on 23 June that year he scored his first international goal, against Estonia. He played at the 2012 London Olympics, where he scored the winner in a 2-1 victory over the United Arab Emirates. At the 2013 Confederations Cup he scored in the 8-0 win over Tahiti. He also played at the 2014 World Cup (two starts), the 2016 Copa América Centenario and the 2019 Copa América, where he scored against Ecuador. Between 2009 and 2019 he won 60 caps for Uruguay.
Playing style
He was mainly a number 10 but also played in central midfield and on the wing. His strengths were ball-carrying, close control, vision and his work rate off the ball. A left-footer, he had a good long-range shot and was dangerous from free kicks. Early in his career he was nicknamed “the Uruguayan Messi” and was compared with Enzo Francescoli.
Final years and retirement
On 4 January 2024 he signed for Orlando City as a free agent. His contract was ended by mutual agreement on 18 February 2025, and he signed for Houston Dynamo the next day. He played his farewell match for Houston in June 2025. On 11 July 2025 he returned to Nacional and won the Uruguayan championship that year. He announced his retirement from football on 4 August 2026.
