Jefferson Agustín Farfán Guadalupe (; born 26 October 1984) is a Peruvian former professional footballer who mainly played as a winger. Commonly known as Farfán or the nickname Foquita (Spanish for Little Seal), he is known for his speed and technical ability and was one of the best providers of assists during his time in the Bundesliga.
Farfán began his career with Deportivo Municipal and Alianza Lima; the latter club saw him make his professional debut in 2001. In 2002, Farfán was highlighted as one of the next best players of Peruvian football and a year later, won his second Primera División title. After winning his third league title with Alianza in 2004, he was recognized as the best Peruvian player of that year.
Having joined PSV Eindhoven in mid-2004, Farfán helped the Dutch giants win four Eredivisie titles. He signed for Bundesliga side Schalke 04 in 2008 and during his time with the club, he won the 2011 DFB-Pokal Final. In 2012, he was named the most expensive Latin American player in the league. Farfán briefly played for Al-Jazira in the United Arab Emirates before leaving due to a breach of contract. He last played in Russia for Lokomotiv, when, in his second season, helped the club win their first league title in 14 years and finished as the team's top scorer.
With the national team, Farfán is the country's second top goalscorer, behind only Paolo Guerrero. He is very popular in Peru, with coach Ricardo Gareca naming him "one of the most important players in the history of Peruvian football." He helped his side finish third at the 2015 Copa América and second in Brazil 2019.
Club career
Alianza Lima
Farfán began his professional career with Alianza Lima of Peru. He made some appearances in 2001 on the first-team, and began to break through in 2002, and impacting Alianza with its 2003 Peru championship. In his final season with the club in 2004, Farfán scored 14 goals, helping the club to another Peru championship.
PSV Eindhoven
Following that season he was purchased by Dutch club PSV Eindhoven after being scouted by Guus Hiddink, for a reported 2 million Euro transfer fee. Farfán made his debut in the Eredivisie on 14 August in a 5–2 win against RBC Roosendal. Almost two weeks later, Farfán's European debut would come in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, a 5–0 win against Red Star Belgrade. PSV qualified for the final tournament and he played in all twelve games. In the group match against the Norwegian Rosenborg BK, he scored his inaugural European goal in 2–1 win. A month earlier, he had scored his first league goal, in a 4–0 win against SC Heerenveen. With PSV, Farfán won both the league and the cup tournament in his first season in the Netherlands. The Eredivisie would be won by PSV in the following three consecutive seasons. In the 2005/06 season, Farfán finished with 21 goals as club top scorer and fourth top scorer in the league. In his last season with PSV, Farfán was less dominant, partly due to an ankle injury he sustained during the 2007 Copa América. In March 2008, rumors began to circulate about a departure from Eindhoven.
FC Schalke 04
On 5 June 2008, it was reported that PSV had reached an agreement with German side Schalke 04 over the transfer of Farfán for around €10 million. On 10 June 2008, the club officially confirmed the transfer of Farfán on a four-year contract. On 28 April 2012, Schalke announced that Farfán had signed a contract extension, which would keep him at S04 until 30 June 2016.
Al Jazira Club
On 20 July 2015, after seven years at the club, Schalke confirmed that Farfán had joined Al Jazira Club for a reported fee of €6 million on a three-year deal, where he could earn up to €10 million a year.
Farfán left the club on 19 October 2016, because the club did not respect all the clauses in his contract.
Lokomotiv Moscow
On 28 January 2017, he signed with the Russian Premier League side FC Lokomotiv Moscow. The Russian team announced his signing after an irregular 2016, where he even was inactive for a hundred days after finishing in October 2016 a millionaire contract with Al Jazira. After 6 months of recovery, Farfán had a good season making goals that allowed his team to get the national title after 14 years.
He didn't appear for Lokomotiv for 14 months from May 2019 due to knee injury and a following positive test for COVID-19. He made his first appearance upon recovery on 12 July 2020 in a game against FC Ufa and scored a late equalizer for his club in a 1–1 draw.
On 5 August 2020, Lokomotiv announced that Farfán left the club as his contract expired.