César Araújo

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Araújo and the second or maternal family name is Vilches.

César Araújo
Araújo with Orlando City in 2025
Personal information
Full name César Nahuel Araújo Vilches
Date of birth (2001-04-02) 2 April 2001
Place of birth Cerrito, Montevideo, Uruguay
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)
Team information
Current team
 Tigres UANL
Number 5
Youth career
Marconi FC
Montevideo Wanderers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2019–2022 Montevideo Wanderers 58 (0)
2022–2025 Orlando City 120 (4)
2026– Tigres UANL 7 (0)
International career‡
2024 Uruguay U23 5 (1)
2024– Uruguay 1 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 01:36, 16 March 2026 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals as of 5 June 2024

César Nahuel Araújo Vilches (born 2 April 2001) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a defensive or central midfielder for Liga MX club Tigres UANL and the Uruguay national team.

Araújo began his senior football career with Montevideo Wanderers, with whom he was named to the Uruguayan Primera División Team of the Year in 2021. In 2022, Araújo joined Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise Orlando City, and he helped to win the team's first trophy since joining MLS through winning the 2022 U.S. Open Cup. In 2024, Araújo received his first call-up to the Uruguay national football team.

Club career

Montevideo Wanderers

Growing up in Cerrito, Montevideo, Araújo played for youth club Marconi FC before joining the academy at Montevideo Wanderers. On 1 August 2019, Araújo made his professional debut as a 68th-minute substitute in a 2–1 defeat to Brazilian side Corinthians in the 2019 Copa Sudamericana round of 16.[2] He didn't make another senior appearance for 12 months until substituting on for his Uruguayan Primera División debut on 9 August 2020 in a 2–0 win against Boston River.[3] At the end of the 2021 season, Araújo was named on the bench in the Primera División Team of the Year.[4] He was also named Wanderers' Player of the Year in 2021.[5]

Orlando City

On 7 January 2022, Araújo transferred to Major League Soccer team Orlando City for a reported $2,000,000 fee.[6] He signed a three-year contract with an additional option year and joined as part of the new MLS U22 initiative.[7] On 27 May, Araújo was fined by the MLS Disciplinary Committee for failing to leave the field in a timely manner after receiving a red card during a match against Austin FC five days earlier.[8] Having never previously scored a goal in his senior club career spanning 88 matches, Araújo scored his first goals on 27 July when he netted twice during a 5–1 victory over New York Red Bulls in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal.[9]

On 4 April 2023, Araújo was fined by the MLS Disciplinary Committee for violating the league's simulation/embellishment policy in a match against Nashville SC three days earlier.[10]

On 1 March 2025, Araújo made his 100th appearance for the club in a match against Toronto FC. Araújo scored the opening goal, a free kick which hit the post before going into the goal, before assisting in the third goal of the match scored by Martín Ojeda, helping the match end 4–2 in Orlando City's favor.[11] Araújo's performance saw him named to the Team of the Matchday.[12] On 30 May, Araújo was fined by the MLS Disciplinary Committee for failing to leave the field in a timely manner after receiving a red card in a 3–2 loss to Atlanta United two days earlier in which he had scored the opening goal.[13][14] At the conclusion of the season, Araújo elected to leave at the end of his contract.[15]

Tigres UANL

On 2 February 2026, Araújo joined Liga MX club Tigres UANL.[16] Araújo made his debut four days later as a 77th-minute substitute for Juan Brunetta in a 5–1 win over Santos Laguna.[17][18]

International career

Araújo was named to multiple Uruguay under-20 training camps in 2020 and 2021.[19][20]

On 7 January 2022, Araújo received his first senior Uruguay national team call-up as part of a 50-player preliminary roster for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.[21] On 21 October 2022, he was named in Uruguay's 55-man preliminary squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[22]

Araújo made his debut on 5 June 2024 in a friendly against Mexico at the Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. He substituted Rodrigo Bentancur in the 89th minute as Uruguay won 4–0.[23]

Personal life

Araújo is the younger brother of professional footballer Maximiliano Araújo.[3]

Career statistics

Club

As of 19 March 2026[24]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup Continental[a] Playoffs Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Montevideo Wanderers 2019 Uruguayan
Primera División 		0 0 — 1[b] 0 — — 1 0
2020 Uruguayan
Primera División 		29 0 — — 1[c] 0 — 30 0
2021 Uruguayan
Primera División 		29 0 — 2[d] 0 — 1[e] 0 32 0
Total 58 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 1 0 63 0
Orlando City 2022 Major League Soccer 32 0 6 2 — 1 0 — 39 2
2023 Major League Soccer 36 1 1 0 2 0 3 0 3[f] 1 44 2
2024 Major League Soccer 30 1 — 3 0 5 0 3[f] 0 41 1
2025 Major League Soccer 22 2 2 0 — 1 0 6[f] 0 31 2
Total 120 4 9 2 5 0 10 0 12 1 155 7
Tigres UANL 2025–26 Liga MX 7 0 — 3 0 — — 10 0
Career total 170 4 9 2 10 0 11 0 13 0 226 7
  1. ^ Includes Copa Sudamericana, Copa Libertadores, and CONCACAF Champions Cup
  2. ^ Appearance in Copa Sudamericana
  3. ^ Appearance in the Torneo Intermedio Final
  4. ^ Appearances in Copa Libertadores
  5. ^ Appearance in the Supercopa Uruguaya
  6. ^ a b c Appearances in Leagues Cup

International

As of match played 5 June 2024[24]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Uruguay 2024 1 0
Total 1 0

Honours

Orlando City

Individual

References

  1. ^ "César Araújo". WorldFootball.net.
  2. ^ "César Araújo: 20 años de puro profesionalismo y afán de superación". El Observador (in Spanish).
  3. ^ a b "Debutantes de la 4a fecha del Torneo Apertura 2020". 13 August 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  4. ^ "¡El 11 ideal del Campeonato Uruguayo en los Premios AUF!". ESPNdeportes.com (in Spanish). 28 December 2021.
  5. ^ "'Garra charrúa' para 'los Leones': César Araújo llega a Orlando". Univision (in Spanish).
  6. ^ "Wanderers: César Araújo dejó el "bohemio" y es nuevo jugador del Orlando City". futbol.com.uy - Montevideo Portal (in Spanish).
  7. ^ "Orlando City SC Acquires Uruguayan Midfielder César Araújo". www.orlandocitysc.com.
  8. ^ "Orlando City SC players fined after Week 13 match at Austin FC". Major League Soccer. 27 May 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  9. ^ "Orlando City to host 2022 US Open Cup final after dominating New York Red Bulls". MLSSoccer.com.
  10. ^ "MLS Disciplinary Committee fines two players after Matchday 6". Major League Soccer. 4 April 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  11. ^ "Match report: Orlando City SC secures first win of season, takes down Toronto FC 4-2". Orlando City. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  12. ^ Ruderman, Justin (3 March 2025). "Team of the Matchday: Luis Suárez, Emil Forsberg answer the call". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  13. ^ "Orlando City's César Araújo fined by MLS Disciplinary Committee". Major League Soccer. 30 May 2025. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  14. ^ "Match report: 10-man Orlando City SC falls to Atlanta United FC 3-2". Orlando City. 28 May 2025. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  15. ^ Gramajo, Mike (17 November 2025). "Orlando City announces year-end roster". WESH. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  16. ^ "¡Oficial! César Araújo es presentado como el nuevo fichaje de Tigres". RÉCORD (in Spanish). 3 February 2026. Retrieved 3 February 2026.
  17. ^ Rosales, Jorge (6 February 2026). "Tigres humilla al Santos y logra su primer triunfo en el Volcán en el Clausura 2026". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 February 2026.
  18. ^ "Tigres UANL vs Santos Laguna". Sofascore. Retrieved 7 February 2026.
  19. ^ "La sub-20 enfrentó a Danubio en el Complejo Celeste". www.auf.org.uy.
  20. ^ "29 futbolistas convocados para el primer entrenamiento del año". 25 February 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  21. ^ "Selección: Diego Alonso presentó su primera lista de reserva con muchas sorpresas". futbol.com.uy (in Spanish).
  22. ^ "Selección: Diego Alonso entregó la lista de 55 reservados para el Mundial de Catar" (in Spanish). 21 October 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  23. ^ "Mexico v Uruguay game report". ESPN. 5 June 2024.
  24. ^ a b "C. Araújo - Soccerway profile". Soccerway.
  25. ^ "Se definieron los Premios AUF anuales 2021" (in Spanish). 28 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
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