Daniel Fonseca

Fonseca, nicknamed el castor ("the beaver"), started his football career at Nacional, his local team in Uruguay, in 1988. In his first two seasons (1988–1990) with Nacional, he made 14 appearances and scored three goals. In 1990, he moved to Cagliari, scoring 17 goals in 50 appearances, playing mostly on the left rather than in his more habitual central position. In 1992 Napoli signed him and Fonseca managed a more impressive strike rate, scoring 31 goals in two seasons in Naples, including 5 goals in a 5–1 win against Valencia in the first knock-out round of the UEFA Cup on 16 September 1992. His form and performances drew attention from Roma, who promptly signed him in 1994. According to interviews, Fonseca sometimes wore lighter-coloured Uruguay national team socks during Napoli matches, citing them as a personal good-luck charm. However, his three seasons (from 1994 to 1997) were far from successful. Fonseca usually played as a second striker, supporting the Argentine centre forward Abel Balbo, but, because of the many injuries he suffered, he played discontinuously.

Juventus signed Fonseca in 1997, but he was once again played out of position on the left wing, as he had been at Cagliari and Roma. His goalscoring record in Serie A was very good considering he was not always a first choice player with Roma and Juventus. Fonseca was always regarded as a "super sub", and scored several important goals coming off the bench. During his time with the Turin club, he won one…

Fonseca represented the Uruguay national team on 30 occasions between 1990 and 1997, scoring 11 goals. He was a member of the team that took part at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, scoring in injury time in the final group game against South Korea, and was also in the squad that won the 1995 Copa América.

Fonseca combined pace and work-rate with dribbling ability, vision, and a powerful shot. Playing as a striker he both scored and created goal opportunities for teammates. A versatile and well-rounded attacker, Fonseca was also effective in the air, and was capable of playing in several offensive positions. His pace, technique, defensive work-rate, and passing ability meant he could play on the left wing, as well as in a central role, or even in a more creative role as a second striker alongside or behind another striker. He was also an accurate penalty kick and set-piece taker. Despite his ability, however, he was also injury prone.

Daniel is the father of footballers Nicolás Fonseca and Matías Fonseca.

In April 2016, he was named in the Panama Papers.