Mario Rondón


Mario Junior Rondón Fernández is a Venezuelan footballer who plays for Romanian club CFR Cluj as a striker.

Club career

Born in Caracas, Rondón arrived in Portugal at age 18, finishing his junior career with A.D. Pontassolense. He then proceeded to play a further four seasons with the third division side.
After scoring 11 goals in his last year, Rondón moved straight into the Primeira Liga after signing with F.C. Paços de Ferreira in the summer of 2009. Rarely used in his debut season, he finished it on loan to second level's S.C. Beira-Mar, featuring relatively as the Aveiro team returned to the top flight after a three-year absence.
Rondón returned to Paços for 2010–11. In the first game of the campaign, against Sporting CP on 14 August, he scored the only goal for a home win, eventually finishing as the side's top scorer with nine league goals and adding four in their runner-up run in the Portuguese League Cup.
On 14 July 2011, Rondón joined C.D. Nacional on a five-year contract, for an undisclosed fee. He scored a career-best 12 goals in 30 games in his third year, helping the Madeirans to the playoff round of the UEFA Europa League.
On 28 February 2015, Rondón transferred to Chinese Super League newcomer Shijiazhuang Ever Bright FC. He scored the club's first-ever goal in the competition on 9 March, but in a 1–2 loss at Guangzhou Evergrande FC.
In January 2018, after more than one year of inactivity, Rondón moved to Romanian Liga I's CS Gaz Metan Mediaș for the remainder of the season. He made 21 appearances and netted ten times in all competitions, with fellow league team CS Universitatea Craiova reportedly showing interest in signing the forward.
Aged 32, Rondón transferred back to Shijiazhuang on 29 June 2018. In May 2019, he signed a contract with Romanian champions CFR Cluj. He scored his first in Liga I for the latter on 23 February 2020 in a 2–0 away victory over Universitatea Craiova, adding another in the Europa League group stage against Stade Rennais F.C. to help his team progress to the knockout stages.

International career

Rondón earned his first cap for Venezuela on 25 March 2011, coming on as a 78th-minute substitute for Alejandro Moreno in a 2–0 friendly away win over Jamaica. He scored his first goal in another exhibition match, a 1–3 loss in South Korea on 5 September 2014.

Career statistics

International goals

GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
15 September 2014Bucheon Stadium, Bucheon, South Korea1–01–3Friendly
29 September 2014International Stadium, Yokohama, Japan1–12–2Friendly
312 November 2015Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia1–22–42018 World Cup qualification