José María Basanta

José María Basanta (born 3 April 1984) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a defender. Basanta holds Mexican citizenship.

He began his career with Estudiantes in Argentina, after a breakout performance at the 2008 Copa Libertadores he was transferred to Monterrey, where he was an important part in the team's Liga MX and CONCACAF Champions League successes under coach Victor Manuel Vucetich and after the departure of Luis Perez in 2012 he became club captain, he was transferred to Italian club ACF Fiorentina following the 2014 FIFA World Cup where he represented Argentina as the team finished runners-up to Germany.

After an underwhelming spell in Italy he returned to Monterrey in the summer of 2015 and was once again named club captain under coach Antonio Mohamed, and later Diego Alonso

Career
Basanta started his career with Estudiantes in 2003 before joining Olimpo de Bahía Blanca of the Argentine 2nd Division in 2006. Basanta helped Olimpo to win both the Apertura and Clausura to secure automatic promotion to the Primera Division.

He rejoined Estudiantes in 2007 and stayed a year with them.

In June 2008, he was sold to Monterrey, by a request of the team's manager, Ricardo La Volpe. Since then, Basanta has been a regular in the first team, winning the 2009 Apertura championship and the 2010 Apertura championship.

On 31 August 2015, it was announced that Basanta would be returning to Rayados de Monterrey in a season-long loan deal.

On 5 September 2020, Basanta announced on his official Instagram that he will be retiring from professional football.

Club

 * Olimpo
 * Primera B Nacional (2): Apertura 2006, Clausura 2007


 * Monterrey
 * Liga MX (3): Apertura 2009, Apertura 2010, Apertura 2019
 * Copa MX (1): Apertura 2017
 * InterLiga (1): 2010
 * CONCACAF Champions League (4): 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2019

International

 * Argentina
 * FIFA World Cup runner-up: 2014

Individual

 * Best Center back of the tournament: Apertura 2010
 * Best Center back of the tournament: Clausura 2012