Jonatan Maidana · Biography

On 16 November 2010, at the Monumental, Jonatan Maidana rose to head home eight minutes into the second half and gave River Plate a 1-0 win over Boca Juniors on matchday 14 of the Apertura. It was his first goal in River colours, and it came against the club where he had made his name. Jonatan Ramón Maidana was born on 29 July 1985 in Adrogué, in Buenos Aires Province. A centre-back who also played at left-back, he represented Los Andes, Boca Juniors, Metalist Kharkiv, Banfield, River Plate and Toluca.

Youth career and debut at Los Andes

Maidana came through the ranks at Club Atlético Los Andes, in Lomas de Zamora, and made his first-team debut on 6 March 2004 in the Primera B Nacional, Argentina’s second tier, at the end of the 2003-04 season. Over two seasons with the club from Buenos Aires’ southern suburbs he played 37 matches and scored three goals. In 2005 he played for Argentina’s under-20 side at the South American Championship in Colombia, where Argentina finished third. That same year he moved to Boca Juniors.

Boca Juniors and the 2007 Libertadores

His competitive debut for Boca came in the 2006 Recopa Sudamericana against São Paulo, a nine-minute appearance off the bench in a 2-2 draw, and Alfio Basile’s side went on to lift that trophy. At La Bombonera he mostly played at left-back, making 66 appearances and scoring once between 2005 and 2008. He won the 2006 Clausura and the 2008 Apertura, and was part of the squad that won the 2007 Copa Libertadores. In December that year he started the Club World Cup final in Japan, which Boca lost 4-2 to AC Milan.

Ukraine and a spell at Banfield

On 31 August 2008 he joined Ukrainian club Metalist Kharkiv, where he played 52 matches in all competitions until 2010. In January of that year he returned to Argentina on loan at Banfield, the reigning league champions, and played 21 games. In mid-2010 he joined River Plate.

River Plate: from the second tier to South American champions

After that goal against Boca, Maidana stayed at River following their 2011 relegation and won the 2011-12 Primera B Nacional. Under Marcelo Gallardo he became a fixture in central defence: in 2014 he won the Torneo Final, the Copa Campeonato and the 2014 Copa Sudamericana, whose final was played against Atlético Nacional.

In May 2015 he scored at the Mineirão in Belo Horizonte in a 3-0 win over Cruzeiro in the second leg of the Libertadores quarter-finals, after River had lost the first leg 1-0 at the Monumental. River then beat Tigres in the final, 0-0 in Monterrey and 3-0 in Buenos Aires, giving Maidana his second Libertadores; he was named in the team of the tournament and in the 2015 South American Team of the Year. Under Gallardo he also won the 2015 and 2016 Recopas, the 2015 Suruga Bank Championship, the 2015-16 and 2016-17 Copa Argentina and the 2017 Supercopa Argentina. On 9 December 2018 he started at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid in the second leg of the 2018 Copa Libertadores final, which River won 3-1 against Boca after extra time. He was again named in the South American Team of the Year that season.

Toluca and a second spell at River

In January 2019 he joined Mexican club Deportivo Toluca on a free transfer, playing 49 matches and scoring three goals before leaving in December 2020. In February 2021 he agreed to return to River. During that second spell he won the 2021 league title, the 2021 Trofeo de Campeones, the 2023 league title and the 2023 Trofeo de Campeones. His last match was that trophy’s final, played in December 2023 in Santiago del Estero, where River beat Rosario Central 2-0.

Argentina national team

He made his senior debut for Argentina on 16 March 2011 in a 4-1 win over Venezuela in San Juan, and on 20 April that year he played in a 2-2 draw with Ecuador in Mar del Plata. He was called up for the 2016 Copa América Centenario in the United States, where he featured in a 3-0 win over Bolivia in Seattle on 14 June; Argentina finished runners-up. He ended his international career with five caps and no goals.

Profile and retirement

A 1.85-metre centre-back nicknamed “Jony”, “Kratos” and “Gladiador”, he is one of two players, along with Nicolás Bertolo, to have won the Copa Libertadores with both Boca and River. After leaving River he tried to carry on at Los Andes, his first club, but no agreement was reached, and in February 2024 he announced his retirement from professional football.