Clarence Acuña

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Clarence Acuña

| image =

| fullname = Clarence Williams Acuña Donoso{{Cite book |editor-first=Barry J. |editor-last=Hugman |title=The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002–03 |year=2002 |publisher=Harpenden: Queen Anne Press |isbn=978-1-85291-648-0 |page=13}}

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1975|2|8|df=y}}

| birth_place = Rancagua, Chile

| height = {{height|m=1.75}}

| clubnumber =

| position = Central midfielder

| youthyears1 =

| youthclubs1 =

| years1 = 1994–1996

| clubs1 = O'Higgins

| caps1 = 81

| goals1 = 8

| years2 = 1997–2000

| clubs2 = Universidad de Chile

| caps2 = 97

| goals2 = 12

| years3 = 2000–2003

| clubs3 = Newcastle United

| caps3 = 46

| goals3 = 6

| years4 = 2003–2005

| clubs4 = Rosario Central

| caps4 = 12

| goals4 = 0

| years5 = 2005

| clubs5 = Palestino

| caps5 = 11

| goals5 = 2

| years6 = 2006–2009

| clubs6 = Unión Española

| caps6 = 67

| goals6 = 5

| years7 = 2007

| clubs7 = → Deportes Concepción (loan)

| caps7 = 8

| goals7 = 0

| years8 = 2010

| clubs8 = Deportes La Serena

| caps8 = 13

| goals8 = 1

| totalcaps = 335

| totalgoals = 34

| nationalyears1 = 1995–2004

| nationalteam1 = Chile

| nationalcaps1 = 60

| nationalgoals1 = 3

| manageryears1 = 2016–2018 | managerclubs1 = Al-Ittihad (assistant)

| manageryears2 = 2018 | managerclubs2 = Shabab Al-Ahli (assistant)

}}

Clárence Williams Acuña Donoso (born 8 February 1975 in Rancagua) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Club career

=Chilean league=

He started his career at Chilean club O'Higgins, whom he began playing for in 1994 at the age of nineteen. He played at O'Higgins until 1996, scoring eight goals in eighty-one games.

He then caught the eye of professional club Universidad de Chile. They signed him, and he played ninety games for them between 1997 and 1999, again scoring eight goals.

=Newcastle United=

After impressive domestic and international performances, Acuña was attracting attention from many big clubs. He eventually signed for Newcastle United, after manager Bobby Robson beat off competition from Manchester United and Parma to clinch Acuña's signature, earning him a £900,000 move to Newcastle United in October 2000, after receiving a work permit.

He made his debut for Newcastle on Saturday 28 October 2000 in a 1-0 away defeat to West Ham United. Two months later he scored his first goal for the club and the winner in the 2-1 victory against Leeds United. The goal was later voted "Goal of the Week" by the BBC. He was at Newcastle for four seasons, playing forty-six league games (including eleven as substitute), scoring six times. His contract was terminated by mutual consent in October 2003 so he could return home to care for his mother.{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/3191756.stm |title=Acuna leaves Newcastle — Chilean international Clarence Acuna has left Newcastle United by mutual consent and returned home |date=14 October 2003 |website=BBC Sport |access-date=22 October 2019}}

International career

His performances in the Copa Banco Estado attracted the attention of the national team and he was given his first international cap in 1995.{{cite web |url=https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/cwacuna-intl.html |title=Clarence Williams Acuña - International Appearances |last=Mamrud |first=Roberto |date=January 8, 2015 |website=Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation |access-date=October 22, 2019}}

Acuña managed to keep up his good form and was included in the Chile World Cup squad for the 1998 event held in France. Here, he impressed players and pundits alike and helped his country to the last 16 stage of the tournament, where they bowed out in a 4-1 defeat to favourites Brazil. Acuña was seen as one of the breakthrough players of the tournament and he also had his first experience of playing in Europe, which would prove not to be his last.

A year later he was involved in another international tournament. This time his services were required in the Copa América. He started four games as Chile reached the semi-finals but were knocked out 5-3 on penalties against Uruguay after a 1-1 draw. They also lost the third place playoff 2-1 against Mexico four days later.

Managerial career

Following his retirement as footballer, Acuña joined O'Higgins as sports advisory and, later, technical manager.{{cite web |title=Clarence Acuña asumió como Gerente Técnico |url=https://www.ohigginsfc.cl/noticias/noticia_detalle.php?id=1641 |website=O'Higgins FC |access-date=14 March 2023 |language=es |date=16 March 2012}}

From 2015 to 2016, he worked as technical manager of Coquimbo Unido.{{cite web |title=Clarence Acuña: "No vine a robar a Coquimbo Unido" |url=https://www.diarioeldia.cl/deportes/2016/3/11/clarence-acuna-no-vine-robar-coquimbo-unido-2045.html |website=www.diarioeldia.cl |publisher=Diario El Día |access-date=14 March 2023 |language=es |date=11 March 2015}}

From 2016 to 2018, he and his fellow Pedro Reyes worked as assistant coaches of José Luis Sierra in Al-Ittihad{{cite web |last1=Galarce |first1=Arturo |title=EyN: La travesía en el desierto de José Luis Sierra |url=http://www.economiaynegocios.cl/noticias/noticias.asp?id=376733 |website=www.economiaynegocios.cl |publisher=El Mercurio |access-date=14 March 2023 |language=es |date=8 July 2017}} and Shabab Al-Ahli.{{cite web |title=José Luis Sierra es prematuramente despedido del Shabab Al Ahli |url=https://www.encancha.cl/chilenos-por-el-mundo/2018/10/11/jose-luis-sierra-es-prematuramente-despedido-del-shabab-al-ahli-16387/ |website=En Cancha |access-date=14 March 2023 |language=es |date=11 October 2018}}

In 2019, he joined CONMEBOL as head of technical development of the program Evolución Conmebol.{{cite web |title=El rol clave que tendrá Clarence Acuña en Conmebol |url=https://chile.as.com/chile/2019/11/08/futbol/1573215913_004975.html |website=Diario AS |publisher=AS Chile |access-date=14 March 2023 |language=es |date=8 November 2019}}