| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Joaquín Botero Vaca | ||
| Date of birth | (1977-12-10)10 December 1977 (age 47) | ||
| Place of birth | La Paz, Bolivia | ||
| Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||
| Position | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1997 | Mariscal Braun | 22 | (18) |
| 1998 | Deportivo Municipal | 24 | (18) |
| 1999–2003 | Bolívar | 132 | (111) |
| 2003–2006 | UNAM | 81 | (21) |
| 2006 | San Lorenzo de Almagro | 2 | (0) |
| 2007 | Deportivo Táchira | 5 | (0) |
| 2008 | Bolívar | 25 | (11) |
| 2009–2010 | Correcaminos UAT | 28 | (10) |
| 2010 | →Al Arabi (loan) | 4 | (3) |
| 2011 | San José | 16 | (8) |
| 2013–2014 | Sport Boys | 20 | (5) |
| Total | 350 | (198) | |
| International career | |||
| 1999–2009 | Bolivia | 48 | (20) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Joaquín Botero Vaca (born 10 December 1977) is a Bolivian former professionalfootballer who played as astriker.[1]
He is the second all-time top goalscorer for theBolivia national team with 20 goals and was awarded theWorld's Best Top Division Goal Scorer by theIFFHS for scoring 49 goals in a seasonClub Bolívar in 2002.[2]
Botero not only played in Bolivia's football league, he also played abroad, in the football leagues of Mexico, Argentina and Venezuela.[3]
After scoring 133 goals for Club Bolívar and becoming the club's second highest goalscorer of all time behindLuis Fernando Salinas,[4] he left the club to play abroad.
Botero's first foreign club was the Mexican teamPumas. In his first season with Pumas, the 2003 Apertura, he scored three goals in 17 games. After scoring another three in nine games in the 2004 Clausura, Botero broke out in the 2004 Apertura, registering 11 goals in 19 games.
In 2006, he joinedSan Lorenzo de Almagro of thePrimera División de Argentina and in 2007 he played forDeportivo Táchira of Venezuela. After an unsuccessful stint in both clubs, Botero returned to Bolívar as a free agent in 2008.
He joined the Mexican teamCorrecaminos UAT for the Clausura 2009 season, marking his return to Mexico.[5]
In January 2010, he was loaned out toAl Arabi Kuwait for $170,000. He made four appearances and scored three goals.[3]
In 2011, Botero returned to his country to play forSan José andSport Boys Warnes; in the latter, he was the author of two goals that allowed promotion of the team to theFirst Division of Bolivia for the first time. In this team, he played until his retirement in 2014.
For six years and after his retirement, Botero decided to dedicate himself to personal activities and projects. However, in 2020 he announced his return to the fields, playing for Club Universidad San Francisco de Asís of the Primera A de Potosí inTupiza, Bolivia.[3]
Since 1999, Botero was a regular player for theBolivia national team, including participation in the1999 FIFA Confederations Cup, in which he played in all three of Bolivia's group stage matches, the2001 Copa América and the2004 Copa América.
On 1 April 2009, Botero scored a hat-trick for Bolivia in a historic 6–1 victory overArgentina in a2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier,[6][1][7] Argentina's first loss under the recently appointed manager,Diego Maradona. On 15 May 2009, Botero surprisingly announced the end of his era with the national team, putting as an excuse that his motivation "was not there anymore."[8][1]
In his ten years playing for Bolivia, Botero earned a total of 48 caps and scored 20 goals, becoming the highest scorer in the national team's history, before being surpassed byMarcelo Moreno in 2020.[9]
Botero represented his country in 30FIFA World Cup qualification matches, scoring 16 goals.[10]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bolivia | 1999 | 3 | 0 |
| 2000 | 6 | 3 | |
| 2001 | 7 | 3 | |
| 2002 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 4 | 4 | |
| 2004 | 10 | 2 | |
| 2005 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2008 | 9 | 5 | |
| 2009 | 2 | 3 | |
| Total | 48 | 20 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 5 March 2000 | Estadio Hernando Siles,La Paz,Bolivia |  Haiti | 5-1 | 9–2 | Friendly |
| 2. | 8-2 | |||||
| 3. | 9-2 | |||||
| 4. | 25 April 2001 |  Argentina | 3–1 | 3–3 | 2002 World Cup qualification | |
| 5. | 3 June 2001 |  Venezuela | 2-0 | 5–0 | ||
| 6. | 4-0 | |||||
| 7. | 10 September 2003 |  Colombia | 2-0 | 4–0 | 2006 World Cup qualification | |
| 8. | 3-0 | |||||
| 9. | 4-0 | |||||
| 10. | 18 November 2003 | Estadio José Romero,Maracaibo,Venezuela | Venezuela | 0-1 | 2–1 | |
| 11. | 6 July 2004 | Estadio Nacional,Lima,Peru |  Peru | 0-1 | 2–2 | 2004 Copa América |
| 12. | 9 October 2004 | Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia | Peru | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2006 World Cup qualification |
| 13. | 18 June 2008 |  Paraguay | 1-0 | 4–2 | 2010 World Cup qualification | |
| 14. | 3-1 | |||||
| 15. | 6 September 2008 | Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa,Quito,Ecuador |  Ecuador | 1-1 | 3–1 | |
| 16. | 11 October 2008 | Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia | Peru | 1-0 | 3–0 | |
| 17. | 2-0 | |||||
| 18. | 1 April 2009 | Argentina | 2-1 | 6–1 | ||
| 19. | 4-1 | |||||
| 20. | 5-1 |
Bolívar
UNAM
Individual
Joaquín Botero Vaca international tournaments | |||||||||||||
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Men's winners
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