Víctor Aristizábal
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Víctor Hugo Aristizábal Posada | ||
| Date of birth | December 9, 1971 | ||
| Place of birth | Medellín, Colombia | ||
| Height | 1.74 m (5ft 7½in) | ||
| Playing position | Forward (retired) | ||
| National team | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1993–2003 | Colombia | 66 | (15) |
| † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Víctor Hugo Aristizábal Posada (born December 9, 1971 in Medellín, Antioquia) is a Colombian retired football striker who scored 15 goals in 66 games for the Colombia national team between 1993 and 2003.
He started his career in Atlético Nacional, and played there from 1990 to 1996 only interrupted by a short spell with Valencia CFand Blackburn Rovers in 1994., Winning the Colombian league twice with Nacional, he eventually moved to play in Brazil. He played for São Paulo and Santos before spending two seasons at Nacional and Deportivo Cali. In 2002 he once again moved to Brazil, and played for EC Vitória, Cruzeiro and Coritiba. Aristizábal is the all-time top foreign goalscorer in the Brazilian league. He is also the all-time Colombian goalscorer with 348 goals, in which over 200 goals he has scored with Atlético Nacional and this makes him the top goalscorer in this club. Afterwards he rejoined Atlético Nacional for a third time, winning the Apertura 2005. He also won the Apertura 2007 and Clausura 2007. He is the only player that has won 6 championship (5 domestic leagues) with Atlético Nacional.
He announced his retirement from football on November 2007 after suffering an awkward knee injury[1]
He was dubbed by Francisco Maturana "the best football player in the world without ball".
Contents |
[edit] Teams
[edit] Colombian National Team
Víctor Hugo Aristizábal was a king football striker for Colombia. Between 1993 and 2003 he played 66 international matches and scored 32 goals for the Colombia national team. He was an unused substitute for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, but played all three matches at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He performed exceptionally well at Copa America 2001, the 2002 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, the disillusioned Aristizábal, dropped for the World Cup qualifier against Brazil, announced he was retiring from international soccer. Colombia were beaten 2-1 by the world champions in their opening South American qualifier for the 2006 finals in Germany with Aston Villa's Juan Pablo Angel, Aristizabal's rival as central striker, scoring an equalizer.
Aristizábal has been the most successful player in the Colombian soccer tournament. He has scored 348 goles and the majority of them in Atlético Nacional. He has been know to Atlético Nacional as a leader and a player with heart. He loves the team he has played most of his career for. He was born to score and his passion is Atlético Nacional. He has been given the nickname of "La Leyenda" or the legend due to his high performance in the soccer achievements.
[edit] Retirement
July 12, 2008, more than 45,000 fans were in Víctor Hugo Aristizábal testimonial match, were he scored two goals.[2] The match was played at Estadio Atanasio Girardot (Medellín). Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama, Enzo Francescoli, Alex Aguinaga, Iván Hurtado, René Higuita, Juan Pablo Ángel, Faryd Mondragón, Jorge Bermudez, Leonel Álvarez, Freddy Grisales "Totono Grisales", Sergio Galván Rey, Mario Yepes, John Jairo Tréllez, Mauricio Serna "El Chicho Serna", Gerardo Bedoya and others famous players were on Víctor Hugo Aristizábal's last match. Diego Armando Maradona called Aristizábal to excuse himself for his absence. At the minute 6, Iván René Valenciano scored the first goal after a perfect pass by "El Pibe" Valderrama. At the minute 27, René Higuita saved Atlético Nacional with his famous "scorpion kick". 2 minutes later Aristizábal scored his second goal with a beautiful bicycle kick. Again Iván René Valenciano scored the second goal for Amigos del Mundo, the final score was 2-2. Both Aristizábal (minute 20) and Valenciano (minute 51) missed a Penalty kick each.
[edit] Honors and awards
[edit] Club
Atlético Nacional
- Fútbol Profesional Colombiano: 1991, 1994, 1999, 2005-I, 2007-I, 2007-II
- Copa Interamericana: 1990, 1995
- Copa Merconorte: 2000
Cruzeiro
- Coritiba
[edit] Country
- Colombia
- Copa América: 2001
[edit] Individual
- Copa América 2001: top scorer
- Colombian League Top Scorer: 2005-I
[edit] References
- ^ Víctor Aristizábal se retira por lesión Retrieved 21 December 2007
- ^ Aristizábal scores twice in testimonial match
[edit] External links
- Career details at National Football Teams
- Midfield Dynamo's 10 Heroes of the Copa América Víctor Aristizábal listed in the top 10
| Preceded by Ronaldo and Rivaldo |
Copa America Top Goalscorers Copa América 2001 |
Succeeded by Adriano |
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- 1971 births
- Living people
- Colombian footballers
- Olympic footballers of Colombia
- Colombia international footballers
- Colombian people of Basque descent
- Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- 1994 FIFA World Cup players
- 1998 FIFA World Cup players
- 1993 Copa América players
- 1995 Copa América players
- 1999 Copa América players
- 2001 Copa América players
- 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players
- Atlético Nacional footballers
- Deportivo Cali footballers
- Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players
- Santos Futebol Clube players
- São Paulo FC players
- Esporte Clube Vitória players
- Coritiba Foot Ball Club players
- La Liga footballers
- Valencia CF footballers
- Expatriate footballers in Brazil
- People from Medellín
