Joaquín Botero

Joaquín Botero
Personal information
Full name	Joaquín Botero Vaca
Date of birth	10 December 1977 (age 46)
Place of birth	La Paz, Bolivia
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team
1997	Mariscal Braun
1998	Deportivo Municipal
1999–2003	Bolívar
2003–2006	UNAM
2006	San Lorenzo de Almagro
2007	Deportivo Táchira
2008	Bolívar
2009–2010	Correcaminos UAT
2010	→ Al Arabi (loan)
2011	San José
2013–2014	Sport Boys
Total
International career
1999–2009	Bolivia
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Joaquín Botero Vaca (born 10 December 1977) is a Bolivian former professional footballer who played as a striker.^[1]

He is the second all-time top goalscorer for the Bolivia national team with 20 goals and was the top goalscorer in world football in the 2002 season, with 49 goals scored for Club Bolívar.^[2]

Club career edit

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 behind Luis Fernando Salinas,^[4] he left the club to play abroad.

Botero's first foreign club was the Mexican team Pumas. 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 joined San Lorenzo de Almagro of the Primera División de Argentina and in 2007 he played for Deportivo Táchira of Venezuela. After an unsuccessful stint in both clubs, Botero returned to Bolívar as a free agent in 2008.

He joined the Mexican team Correcaminos UAT for the Clausura 2009 season, marking his return to Mexico.^[5]

In January 2010, he was loaned out to Al Arabi Kuwait for $170,000. He made four appearances and scored three goals.^[3]

In 2011, Botero returned to his country to play for San José and Sport Boys Warnes; in the latter, he was the author of two goals that allowed promotion of the team to the First 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 in Tupiza, Bolivia.^[3]

International career edit

Since 1999, Botero was a regular player for the Bolivia national team, including participation in the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup, in which he played in all three of Bolivia's group stage matches, the 2001 Copa América and the 2004 Copa América.

On 1 April 2009, Botero scored a hat-trick for Bolivia in a historic 6–1 victory over Argentina in a 2010 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 by Marcelo Moreno in 2020.^[9]

Botero represented his country in 30 FIFA World Cup qualification matches, scoring 16 goals.^[10]

Career statistics edit

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[11]
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

Scores and results list Bolivia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Botero goal.

List of international goals scored by Joaquín Botero^[11]
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.	3 June 2001		Venezuela	4-0	5–0
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.	18 June 2008		Paraguay	3-1	4–2
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.	11 October 2008		Peru	2-0	3–0
18.	1 April 2009		Argentina	2-1	6–1
19.				4-1
20.				5-1