| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jorge Samuel Caballero Álvarez | ||
| Date of birth | (1974-12-24)24 December 1974 (age 51) | ||
| Place of birth | Puerto Lempira,Honduras | ||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1991–1994 | Deportivo Melgar | ||
| 1994–2001 | Olimpia | 66 | (11) |
| 2001–2004 | Udinese | 25 | (2) |
| 2004 | Salernitana | 0 | (0) |
| 2004 | Defensor | 0 | (0) |
| 2005 | Chicago Fire | 17 | (1) |
| 2006–2010 | Changchun Yatai | 110 | (11) |
| 2011 | Necaxa | 0 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2008 | Honduras U-23 | 3 | (0) |
| 1998–2009 | Honduras | 71 | (11) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of end of 2010 season ‡ National team caps and goals as of 2009-03-28 | |||
Jorge Samuel Caballero Álvarez (Latin American Spanish:[saˈmwelkaβaˈʝeɾo]; born 24 December 1974) is a retired Honduranfootballdefender.
He currently is the president of Honduran national league clubDeportes Savio.
Caballero began his career with hometown club Deportivo Melgar. He then joinedOlimpia, playing with the team from 1996 until transferring overseas in 2001. The central defender moved toSerie A to play forUdinese,[1] where his second season was hampered by a long knee injury lay-off. He would remain in Udine until moving toSalernitana in 2004. He only played in 2 cup games for them and then signed forNacional inUruguay,[2] but the move did not materialise since Nacional had too many foreigners in their squad, so he joinedDefensor Sporting instead.[3] In Uruguay he was unlucky with injuries again.[4]
At the start of 2005, he moved toMajor League Soccer and theChicago Fire.[5] Caballero had a disappointing 2005 with the club, and was released. He spent the 2006 preseason with theColorado Rapids.
Caballero had a lengthy spell with Chinese sideChangchun Yatai and played in the2008 AFC Champions League with them.[6]In the 2008-2009 Winter Market it was reported that two teams from Honduras,Marathon andOlimpia, were interested in the signing of Samuel Caballero after he publicly stated his desire to return toHonduras in order to be close to family and return to theNational Team. However, the player still had a contract with the Chinese ClubChangchun Yatai and stated that if he did not receive any offers he would return to the club and complete his contract.
In summer 2011 he finally returned to Honduras to sign withNecaxa[7] and declared the team would be his final before retiring.[8] However, he would never play for the club since he was still contracted to Changchun Yatai[9] and they did not give him permission to play for Necaxa.[10]
Caballero has played an important part at the national team setup for over 10 years, mostly playing alongside other Honduran greats likeAmado Guevara,Julio César de León andCarlos Pavón.He made his debut forHonduras in a January 1998friendly match againstCosta Rica and has earned a total of 71 caps, scoring 11 goals. He has represented his country in 22FIFA World Cup qualification matches[11] and played at the1999 UNCAF Nations Cup[12] as well as at the1998,[13]2000,[14]2005[15] and2007 CONCACAF Gold Cups.[16] Also, he played at the2001 Copa América.[17] and was one of three of Honduras' over-age players at the2008 Summer Olympics.
His final international was a March 2009FIFA World Cup qualification match againstTrinidad & Tobago.
In October 2011, Caballero was named president ofDeportes Savio.[18]
C.D. Olimpia
Nacional
Changchun Yatai
Individual
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