Marco Antonio Etcheverry Vargas (born 26 September 1970) is a Bolivian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a forward or

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. A creative

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...

, he is considered one of the greatest Bolivian players of all time. Etcheverry played for D.C. United of

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from 1996 to 2003. He helped D.C United win eight trophies during that time, and was nominated to the

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in four consecutive seasons from 1996 to 1999.

Club career

Etcheverry, is nicknamed ''El Diablo'' (The Devil). Etcheverry was trained at Bolivia's Tahuichi Academy, after which he played professionally with Bolivian sides (

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, Bolívar, Oriente Petrolero), Spain (

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), Chile (

Colo-Colo Colo-Colo (), officially Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo, is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano, it competes in the Chilean Primera División, from which the club has never been ...

), Colombia (

América de Cali América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...

) and Ecuador (

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, Emelec). Etchverry joined D.C. United of

in its 28th season of 1996, and led the team to three

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s and was named MLS MVP in 1998. In eight years with the team, Etcheverry played 191 league games, scoring 34 goals and registering 101 assists (the games and assists were DC records). He retired at the end of the 2003 season.

DC United honors

In 2005, he was named to the MLS All-Time Best XI. On 23 September 2006, Etcheverry was honored at a home game against the

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. During halftime he was put up on the " D.C. United Tradition of Excellence" sign in the stadium. After all of this Etcheverry walked over to the La Barra Brava part of the stadium and did his trademark clap in front of them, he did after every game, win or lose. On 20 October 2007, Etcheverry was honored with a tribute match at RFK Stadium, prior to United's regular-season finale versus Columbus. Etcheverry is the first United player to be so honored. Etcheverry, playing with teammates from the club's 1997 MLS Cup winning side, defeated Hollywood United (a collection of former players and actors), 2–1, with Etcheverry drawing and scoring the winning penalty in the final minute.

International career

Etcheverry compiled 71 caps and scored 13 goals for the Bolivia national team between 1989 and 2003. He scored four times during

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for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

, including an 88th minute opening goal in a 2–0 defeat of

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La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

- the first ever loss by the ''Seleção'' in World Cup qualifying, to help Bolivia participate in its first

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since

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. At the tournament finals, Etcheverry was sent off for kicking

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four minutes after appearing as a substitute in the tournament's opening game against

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. The subsequent suspension meant that Etcheverry played no further part in Bolivia's tournament, as ''La Verde'' finished bottom of

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with two losses and a draw to

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. Etcheverry scored twice in the

1997 Copa América The 1997 Copa America was the 38th edition of the Copa America. It was held in Bolivia from 11 to 29 June. It was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. In this edition, Costa Rica and Mexico were the invited teams to br ...

as Bolivia reached the final to achieve its best performance in the competition since winning in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

. He went on to represent the team in the subsequent

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in 1999. On 12 April 2006, the

Bolivian Congress The Plurinational Legislative Assembly () is the national legislature of Bolivia, placed in La Paz, the country's seat of government. The assembly is bicameral, consisting of a lower house (the Chamber of Deputies or ) and an upper house (the ...

awarded him with the "Order of Merit" and a title of "Distinguished Citizen", for his sport achievements, shortly after his retirement.

International goals

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

Coaching career

Etcheverry made his debut as football coach in early 2008 after he accepted an offer from second division club Sociedad Deportiva Aucas, but he was sacked after only four months in charge. On 6 October 2009, Etcheverry was announced as the new Oriente Petrolero coach, replacing Pablo Sánchez. But in the middle of the negotiations he decided not to go through. He returned to the United States in 2023 to coach the under-15 boys' team for the

D.C. United Academy The D.C. United Academy is the youth system#Youth academies, youth and development program for the Major League Soccer club D.C. United. The program consists of teams at four age levels: the D.C. United U-23, under-23 and under-20 teams, as well ...

Honours

Bolivar * Bolivian League Championship: 1991 Colo-Colo *

Chilean Primera División The Chilean Primera División () is a professional association football league in Chile and the highest level of the Chilean football league system. Founded in 1933, it is organized by the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (ANFP). The l ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

Copa Chile The Copa Chile (''Chile Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Chilean football teams. Due to time constraints and club pressure, the trophy was cancelled in 2000, but returned in 2008. Its precursor was the Campeonato de Apertura (''Opening Ch ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

D.C. United *

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

MLS Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 199 ...

: 1997, 1999 *

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

: 1998 *

Copa Interamericana The Copa Interamericana () was an international association football, football competition endorsed by CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACAF ...

: 1998 * U.S. Open Cup: 1996 Barcelona S.C. * Ecuadorian League Championship: 1997 Oriente Petrolero * Bolivian League Championship: 2001 Bolivia Youth *

South American U-17 Championship The South American U-17 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 17, is a association football, football competition held every two years for South American under-17 teams. The tournament was born in 1985 out of a need for a classification tourna ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

Bolivia *

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

runner-up:

Individual * South Ametica team of the Year: 1993 *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially ado ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, 1997, 1998, 1999 * MLS Goal of the Year: 1997, 1999 * MLS Most Valuable Player: 1998 * MLS All-Star Game MVP: 2002 * MLS All-Time Best XI * D.C. United Hall of Tradition: 2007 * Washington DC Sports Hall of Fame: 2016 *

National Soccer Hall of Fame The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a public-private partnership among FC Dallas, the City of Frisco, Frisco Independent School District, and the U.S. Soccer Federation, and currently located in Toyota Stadium (Texas), Toyota Stadium in Frisco, T ...

: 2022 * Copa América Historical Dream Team: 2011

References

External links

International statistics
at the

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Etcheverry, Marco 1970 births Living people Bolivian people of Spanish descent Bolivian people of Basque descent Footballers from Santa Cruz de la Sierra Men's association football midfielders Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Bolivian men's footballers 20th-century Bolivian sportsmen Bolivia men's international footballers Bolivia men's youth international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1989 Copa América players 1991 Copa América players 1993 Copa América players 1995 Copa América players 1997 Copa América players 1999 Copa América players Club Destroyers players Club Bolívar players Albacete Balompié players Colo-Colo footballers América de Cali footballers D.C. United players Barcelona S.C. footballers C.S. Emelec footballers Oriente Petrolero players La Liga players Chilean Primera División players Bolivian expatriate men's footballers Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Chile Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Chile Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars Bolivian football managers Bolivian expatriate football managers S.D. Aucas managers Oriente Petrolero managers National Soccer Hall of Fame members Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning players