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PROYECTO Christian Benítez 230123
PROYECTO Christian Benítez 230123
CARRERA NACIONAL
• El Nacional
Debido a una serie de buenas actuaciones de El Nacional, Benítez fue descubierto por
clubes como el Villarreal CF de España, pero El Nacional negó tener conocimiento de
su interés.
• Santos Laguna
En julio de 2007 se mudó al Santos Laguna de la Primera División de México. Benítez
recibió un premio como el mejor futbolista ecuatoriano jugando fuera de Ecuador,
sucediendo a Édison Méndez del PSV Eindhoven.
CARRERA INTERNACIONAL
SU MUERTE
National career
El Nacional
Due to a series of strong performances for El Nacional, Benítez was scouted by clubs
such as Villarreal CF of Spain, but El Nacional denied any knowledge of its interest.
Santos Laguna
In July 2007, he moved to Santos Laguna of the Mexican Primera División. Benítez
received an award as the best Ecuadorian footballer playing outside
Ecuador, succeeding PSV Eindhoven's Édison Méndez.
International career
Benítez was a member of the Ecuador national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in
Germany. Although considered by many as a surprise selection by coach Luis Fernando
Suárez, he had impressed with his speed, elusiveness and skill in pre-World Cup
showings against the Netherlands and Japan, in addition to his 2006 Copa
Libertadores experience.
He was a candidate for the Gillette Best Young Player Award, a new award made at the
end of the FIFA World Cup to the best young player born on or after 1 January 1985.
His death
On 29 July 2013, while Benítez was playing in this country, he entered in a hospital
in Doha, Qatar, because of a strong pain in his abdomen. According teammates in an
interview he did not receive immediate medical attention and a few hours later, Benítez
went into respiratory failure. He died from complications leading to cardiac arrest at the
age of 27.
Tens of thousands of people filed past the body, which lay in a glass-topped casket in
the Coliseo General Rumiñahui in Quito, before the public funeral ceremony, which
was attended by sporting and political figures including the president of Ecuador, Rafael
Correa. The cortege received a police motorcycle escort through crowded streets to a
private interment.
Following his death, the Ecuadorian Football Federation announced that it would retire
his number 11 jersey from the national team.