Francisco Silva (footballer, born 1986)

Francisco Andrés 'Gato' Silva Gajardo (born 11 February 1986), known as Francisco Silva, is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Deportes Limache in the Primera B de Chile. He is considered one of the greatest Chilean defensive midfielders of all time. His winning penalty in Copa America Centenario gave Chile their second consecutive Copa America title.

Club career
Born in Quillota, Silva joined Universidad Católica's youth setup in 2000, aged 14. In 2005, he made his senior debuts, while on loan at lowly Deportes Ovalle, and appeared twice for the first-team in the following year. In 2007, he joined Osorno, also on loan, where he was ever-present in the promotion campaign.

After his return, Silva established himself as a regular for the UC, and scored his first goal on 7 November 2009, in a 4–1 home routing over Universidad Concepción.

Lecce
In the 2010 summer Silva was linked to Lecce, but due to reductions in the non-EU registration quota (two for one during the summer) the deal collapsed, as the club already signed Rubén Olivera.

CA Osasuna
On 22 January 2013 Silva was loaned to La Liga strugglers CA Osasuna until June. He made his debut abroad on 2 February, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 home win over Celta de Vigo. On 8 March Silva netted his first goal for Osasuna, but in a 1–2 loss at Real Betis; on 4 June the Navarrese side exercised the buyout clause, paying €1.2 million for his services. He featured regularly for the club during the 2013–14 campaign, which ended in relegation.

Club Brugge
On 29 August 2014 Silva was loaned to Club Brugge KV, in a season-long deal with a buyout clause. On 13 July of the following year he was transferred to Chiapas.

Retirement and return to play
In September 2021, Silva announced his retirement while he was a player of Universidad Católica after suffering a tibia-fibula fracture. In 2024, he returned to play by signing with Deportes Limache for the 2024 season in the Primera B de Chile.

International career
Silva made his main squad debut on 22 January 2011, starting in a 1–1 draw against United States at Home Depot Center.

Silva was not initially named in Chile's 2015 Copa America squad but was added to the team due to an injury to Edson Puch.

Silva scored the winning goal in the 4-2 penalty shoot-out win against Argentina in the Copa América Centenario Final on 26 June 2016.

Honours

 * Provincial Osorno
 * Primera B de Chile: 2007


 * Universidad Católica
 * Primera División de Chile (3): 2010, 2019, 2020
 * Copa Chile: 2011
 * Supercopa de Chile (1): 2020


 * Club Brugge
 * Belgian Cup: 2014–15


 * Independiente
 * Suruga Bank Championship: 2018


 * Chile
 * Copa América (2): 2015, 2016
 * FIFA Confederations Cup: Runner-up 2017