Paulo Wanchope
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User Rating
(1 users) Complete
50%Born
1976 (48 years old)
Birth Place
Heredia, Costa RicaPosition
Centre-Forward
Status
Retired
Ethnicity
Black
Team Number
Height
193 cm
Outfitter
Kit
Side
Agent
Wage Year
Player Cutout
Full Body Render
Sport
SoccerTeam
_Retired Soccer
2nd Team
League
_No League Soccer
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No
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Paulo César Wanchope Watson (Spanish pronunciation: ; born 31 July 1976), more commonly known as Paulo Wanchope, is a Costa Rican football coach and former professional footballer
As a player he was a striker who notably played in the Premier League for Derby County, West Ham United and Manchester City. He also had spells in La Liga and Major League Soccer for Málaga and Chicago Fire as well as Herediano, Al-Gharafa, Rosario Central and FC Tokyo. He was capped 73 times by Costa Rica, scoring 45 goals. Wanchope is the second most prolific goalscorer in the history of the Costa Rica national football team, behind Rolando Fonseca, with 45 goals in 73 international matches. Having scored against Brazil in 2002 and a brace against Germany in 2006, Wanchope is the top goalscorer for Costa Rica in the FIFA World Cup, a record he shares with Rónald Gómez.
As he is the former head coach of the Costa Rica national football team with a spell in charge between 2014 and 2015. He has also managed Herediano, Uruguay Coronado, CS Cartaginés and Pérez Zeledón.
He was a member of Costa Rica's youth national teams, playing in the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship finals in Qatar.
Wanchope would become hugely important to the senior Costa Rica national team, after making his debut in an October 1996 friendly match against Venezuela and playing for the team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and several Gold Cups. On 8 October 2005, Wanchope became the all-time leading goal scorer for Los Ticos when he scored the first goal in a home win over the USA in the qualifying match that sent Los Ticos to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Wanchope has twenty plus World Cup qualifier goals to his name.
On 9 June 2006, he scored twice in the opening game of the 2006 World Cup, a 4–2 loss to Germany. These two goals made Wanchope the inaugural Costa Rican to score twice in one World Cup match, and put him alongside Rónald Gómez as the sole Costa Ricans ever to score more than one World Cup goal. After the defeat to Germany, Costa Rica were defeated by both Ecuador and Poland. Thus Costa Rica finished last in their group and failed to qualify for the second round. Wanchope played his last game for his country in January 2008 when Sweden had come to visit Costa Rica. He played 25 minutes and then he was substituted.
He managed Club Sport Herediano from 2008 to 2009. He resigned citing that the team's performance was low, and that he wanted to further his studies in England. Having left Herediano, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the administration of the club.
Wanchope became an assistant to the Costa Rica national team coach, Jorge Luis Pinto. Upon Pinto's departure after the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Wanchope took over as interim national team coach.
In September 2014, he won the Copa Centroamericana with the Costa Rica national football team. On 31 January 2015, he was officially named as national team coach.
On 12 August 2015, Wanchope resigned as manager of Costa Rica's national team following a post-match brawl with a steward.
Wanchope is a son of Costa Rican former international striker Vicente Wanchope and Patricia Watson and both his brothers, Javier and Carlos, also played for the national team. He is married to Brenda Carballo and they have a son and daughter. He is of Jamaican descent.
Career Honours
 English Championship 2001-2002 Manchester City |  UEFA Intertoto Cup 1999 West Ham |
Career Milestones
 English Premier League Hat-Trick 2000-08-23 |
Former Youth Teams
Former Senior Teams
1994-1997 |
1996-2008 |
1997-1999 |
1999-2000 |
2000-2005 |
2005 |
2005-2006 |
2006 |
2006-2007 |
2007 |
2007-2008 |
2008 |
Former Club Staff
|
2008-2009 Manager |
2011-2014 Assistant Manager |
2014-2015 Caretaker Manager |
2015-2015 Manager |
2018-2018 Manager |
2018-2018 Manager |
2021-2021 Manager |
2022-2023 Manager |
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