What ever happened to? Darío Silva

Darío Silva in Portsmouth colours.

In the summer of 2005 Portsmouth F.C. signed 32 year old Uruguay international striker Darío Silva on a 2 year contract on a free transfer from Spanish side Sevilla.

Silva had spent his early career in Uruguay playing for Defensor Sporting Club and Peñarol before joining Italian side Cagliari in 1995.

He spent the majority of his career in Spain, where he played for Málaga, Espanyol and Sevilla. he also played for the Uruguay national team, scoring 14 goals in 49 appearances between 1994 and 2005.

In his 13 league appearances for Portsmouth, Silva scored two goals. His goals came on consecutive weekends in games against Charlton and Sunderland. He also scored the only goal of the game in a 0-1 away win against Ipswich Town in the FA Cup in January 2006. Following an ankle injury Portsmouth released him from his contract on 14 February 2006.

Without a club Silva returned to Montevideo in Uruguay where he was involved in a serious car accident on 23 September 2006 in which he was thrown from his pickup truck fracturing his skull and seriously injuring his right leg.

It was decided that there would be no way to save his leg, so he was put into a medically induced coma and the leg was amputated below the knee. Within two weeks he was released from hospital to continue his rehabilitation at home.

After receiving a prosthetic leg in Italy Silva worked hard to regain his fitness and by 2008 he was fit enough to begin playing football again in a local amateur league. He said in an interview that after two years of physiotherapy he felt fitter, stronger and mentally tougher than he did when he was a professional footballer.

In 2009 Silva was invited to play for an Uruguay XI in a charity match against an Argentina XI. He scored one penalty in the game and then the decisive goal in the penalty shootout.

Since his return to fitness there have been many rumours about Silva returning to professional football in the MLS or Australia, but  nothing has ever come of them and Silva has never admitted negotiating a return to the professional game.

One of the most bizarre unconfirmed rumours about Silva was a Daily Mail article in 2006 that claimed that he was going to retrain as a rower to represent Uruguay at the 2012 Olympics.

Shortly after his accident Silva stated his desire to return to football as a manager, but in recent years he has become involved in a number of other projects. He is a director of a multinational trading company and has established his own business called EcoFunsa, which recycles tyres by turning them into rubber pellets.



Silva is still involved in football, he is a director at 2nd division side Club Atlético Platense, and is confident that they will soon be playing in the Uruguayan Primera División. He also still plays football as part of the Uruguay Paralympic football team hoping to qualify for the 2012 Paralympic games in London.

Darío Silva has returned to football using a prosthetic leg.

See also

Uruguay XI vs Argentina XI - Darío Silva's return to football

Darío Silva golazo against Atlético Madrid

Video documentary (in Spanish)

Part of the What ever happened to? series.