José Luis Chilavert

José Luis Chilavert

Chilavert in 1985, while playing for Argentinian side San Lorenzo.
Personal information
Full name	José Luis Félix Chilavert González
Date of birth	(1965-07-27) 27 July 1965
Place of birth	Luque, Paraguay
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Youth career
1980–1982	Sportivo Luqueño
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1982–1984	Sportivo Luqueño	67	(4)
1984	Guaraní	19	(1)
1984–1988	San Lorenzo	122	(0)
1988–1991	Zaragoza	79	(1)
1991–2001	Vélez Sársfield	266	(36)
2000–2002	Strasbourg	50	(0)
2002–2003	Peñarol	14	(4)
2004	Vélez Sársfield	0	(0)
Total		617	(46)
National team
1989–2003	Paraguay	74	(8)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Chilavert playing for Paraguay c. 2002

José Luis Félix Chilavert González (born 27 July 1965 in Luque, Departamento Central) is a Paraguayan former football player who played as a goalkeeper. He was a three-time IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper award winner.

Outside of his goalkeeping position, Chilavert was also known for his skills as a free kick specialist, and often took penalties.^[1] He scored 67 goals in his professional career, many of them crucial, including eight in international matches. Four of his international goals were scored during Paraguay's qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Chilavert is the 2nd highest goalscoring goalkeeper of all time, surpassed only by Brazilian keeper Rogerio Ceni.

Chilavert was also known for his eccentricity and at times fiery temper, which brought him his fair share of controversies; most notorious among them was his being sent off in 1997 for brawling with Colombian striker Faustino Asprilla.^[2] He was nicknamed "El Buldog" ("the Bulldog")^[3][4] and often wore a cartoon bulldog on his goalkeeper jersey.^[5]

Club career

Chilavert made his debut as a football player with the team Sportivo Luqueño. He was trained by Modesto Sandoval. In 1989, he played for the Paraguayan national team for the first time.

He later moved to Spain, where he played for Real Zaragoza. He then returned to Argentina, where he played with Vélez Sársfield, helping them win the Primera División four times, as well as the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup, both in 1994. In 1999, he became the first goalkeeper known to score a hat-trick in the history of football, while playing for Vélez against Ferro Carril Oeste, scoring all three goals through penalties.^[6] He also scored a free-kick from behind the half-way line against River Plate.^[7]

International career

Chilavert was voted World Goalkeeper of the Year by the IFFHS in 1995, 1997, and 1998. He scored in the 1998 World Cup qualification campaign. He participated in the 1998 World Cup, where he became the first goalkeeper ever to take a direct free kick in the World Cup finals (almost scoring), against Bulgaria.^[8] With two clean sheets in the first round, he helped take Paraguay to the round of sixteen, where the team lost to France on a golden goal scored by Laurent Blanc.^[9] Chilavert had made boasts about being the Cup's best goalkeeper before the tournament,^[10] and after the tournament, FIFA indeed named Chilavert on the tournament All Star Squad for his performances, alongside French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez.^[11][12]

Chilavert refused to take part in the 1999 Copa América, angering the Paraguayan government, as he claimed funding should be used for education.^[13]

After a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification game, he spat on Brazil's Roberto Carlos, an action which caused FIFA to give him a four-match suspension (later reduced to three) which forced him to watch the first game, against South Africa, of the 2002 World Cup from the stands.^[10] Chilavert accused Roberto Carlos of racism and obscene gestures during the match.^[7] Chilavert later claimed that Roberto Carlos came up to him after the match and said "Indian, we have won 2–0, you are a disaster".^[14] He also justified his action by saying he had been provoked by the Brazilians who had called him the weakest link of Paraguay before the match, and also claimed the match was like a war and that Brazil should return land to Paraguay lost in the War of the Triple Alliance in the 19th century.^[14]

Before the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Paraguay manager Cesare Maldini had faced criticism in Paraguay but Chilavert defended Maldini respecting him for his experience.^[15] He also expressed great confidence in the ability of the Paraguayan team and downplayed his role to the whole team.^[16] During the World Cup, Chilavert made an error against Spain on Morientes's 2–1 goal as Paraguay lost 3–1. Chilavert almost redeemed himself later on with a good free kick attempt, but the shot was saved by Casillas.^[17] Before the match, Chilavert had vowed to score against Spain if Paraguay got a free kick 'within range'.^[18] Before the last match in the group stage, Paraguay had to beat Slovenia and Spain beating South Africa with a combined margin of three goals, for Paraguay to go through to the last 16. The match started badly for Paraguay, with Carlos Paredes sent off in the 21st minute, and continued with Milenko Ačimovič taking the lead for the Slovenians right before half-time. But Paraguay – inspired by substitutes Nelson Cuevas and Jorge Campos – recovered to defeat Slovenia 3–1; scoring three times in the last 25 minutes, and when Spain also defeated South Africa 3–2, that victory meant that Paraguay was through to the next round where they would play Germany.^[19][20] In their second round match against Germany, despite several saves from Chilavert, Paraguay lost 1–0, courtesy of a late Oliver Neuville goal.^[7][21]

In total, Chilavert earned 74 international caps for Paraguay and achieved a goalkeeper-record of eight international goals. He retired from international football in 2003.^[22]

International goals

Chilavert – goals for Paraguay
#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	27 August 1989	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay	Colombia	2–1	2–1	1990 World Cup qualifier
2.	15 August 1993	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay	Peru	2–0	2–1	1994 World Cup qualifier
3.	1 September 1996	Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Argentina	1–1	1–1	1998 World Cup qualifier
4.	17 June 1997	Estadio Félix Capriles, Cochabamba, Bolivia	Argentina	0–1	1–1	1997 Copa América
5.	7 October 2000	Estadio El Campín, Bogotá, Colombia	Colombia	0–2	0–2	2002 World Cup qualifier
6.	15 November 2000	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay	Peru	5–1	5–1	2002 World Cup qualifier
7.	5 September 2001	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay	Bolivia	3–1	5–1	2002 World Cup qualifier
8.	7 October 2001	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay	Argentina	1–0	2–2	2002 World Cup qualifier

Retirement and post-career

Chilavert announced his retirement from all football in December 2003, but decided to come out of retirement to return to Vélez. Chilavert had just won the Uruguayan league with Peñarol when he initially retired. He finally retired permanently in 2004, playing his last match, a farewell testimonial, on November 11 of that year – fittingly, he scored a goal.^[23]

In 2005, Chilavert received a suspended six-month prison sentence in France for the use of false documents about the compensation for the end of his contract with Strasbourg.^[24]

Chilavert was a commentator for American television network Univision during the 2006 FIFA World Cup and 2010 FIFA World Cup, alongside Jorge Pérez-Navarro.

Honours

Career statistics

^{[25][26][27][28][29][30]}

• Also played 1 (2001) Trophée des champions match.

^[31]

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to José Luis Chilavert.

• José Luis Chilavert – FIFA competition record
• IFFHS' World's Best Goalkeeper of the Year at RSSSF
• The World's most successful goalscoring Goalkeepers of all time at IFFHS

Paraguay squads v t e Paraguay squad – 1991 Copa América 1 Chilavert 2 Barrios 3 Cristaldo 4 Suárez 5 Rivarola 6 V. Sanabria 7 Neffa 8 Guirland 9 Cardozo 10 Monzón 11 González 12 Ruiz Díaz 13 Martínez 14 Jacquet 15 Struway 16 M. Sanabria 17 Genes 18 Romero 19 Alvarenga 20 Zabala 21 Yegros 22 Peralta Coach: Kiese v t e Paraguay squad – 1993 Copa América 1 Chilavert 2 Barrios 3 Ramírez 4 Ayala 5 Suárez 6 Gamarra 7 Struway 8 Sotelo 9 Monzón 10 Cabañas 11 Torres 12 Gómez 13 Duarte 14 Jara 15 Villamayor 16 Sanabria 17 Acuña 18 Nunes 19 González 20 Ferreira 21 Garay 22 Guerrero Coach: Solalinde v t e Paraguay squad – 1997 Copa América 1 Chilavert 2 Arce 3 Ayala 4 Espínola 5 Gamarra 6 Struway 7 Ovelar 8 Brizuela 9 Cardozo 10 Acuña 11 Jara 12 Sotelo 13 Alcaraz 14 R. Rojas 15 Sarabia 16 Villamayor 17 Bourdier 18 A. Rojas 19 Gómez 20 Soto 21 Esteche 22 Ruiz Díaz Coach: Carpegiani v t e Paraguay squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Chilavert (c) 2 Arce 3 Rivarola 4 Gamarra 5 Ayala 6 Aguilera 7 Yegros 8 A. Rojas 9 Cardozo 10 Acuña 11 Sarabia 12 Aceval 13 Paredes 14 R. Rojas 15 Benítez 16 Enciso 17 Brizuela 18 Ramírez 19 Morales Santos 20 Caniza 21 Campos 22 Ruiz Díaz Coach: Carpegiani v t e Paraguay squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Chilavert (c) 2 Arce 3 Sarabia 4 Gamarra 5 Ayala 6 Struway 7 Báez 8 Alvarenga 9 Santa Cruz 10 Acuña 11 Campos 12 Villar 13 Paredes 14 Gavilán 15 Bonet 16 Morínigo 17 Franco 18 Cáceres 19 Sanabria 20 Cardozo 21 Caniza 22 Tavarelli 23 Cuevas Coach: Maldini