Claudio Suárez Sánchez (; born 17 December 1968) is a Mexican 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Born in

Texcoco, State of Mexico Texcoco de Mora (, Otomi: ) is a city located in the State of Mexico, 25 km northeast of Mexico City. Texcoco de Mora is the municipal seat of the municipality of Texcoco. In the pre-Hispanic era, this was a major Aztec city on the sho ...

and nicknamed ''El Emperador'' ("The Emperor"), Suárez began his club career with UNAM, where he played from 1988 to 1996 where he became champion in 1991. He moved to

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

as an important piece for the 1996 Apertura, and remained there for 3 years, through the 1999 Clausura where he became champion in the Verano 1997 tournament, and was called to the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

. After being in the All Mexican Team, as an important and solid defender he was transferred to Tigres. Suárez then moved on to

Tigres UANL Club Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, abbreviated as Tigres UANL and simply known as Tigres or internationally as Tigres de México, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in the Monterrey metropo ...

, where he played from 1999 to the end of 2005. He led the team's defense during that time, and was league runner-up twice, in 2001 and 2003. His last game with Tigres, and in the Mexico league, was a semi-final Clásico Regiomontano in which he was sent off in a controversial referee decision. Previous to this incident, he already had disagreements with the team's management. Tigre's directive organization had asked Suarez to retire for years and join the management, but Suarez had refused. Other differences in defensive style were also cause for conflict with the team's management. The semi-final was the last excuse for separation. In 2006, he moved to

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

to play for

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conf ...

. On 8 March 2009, after negotiations with his contract fell, Suarez announced his retirement. However, on 20 March 2009, he decided to return to professional soccer for another year. He was the last active soccer player left from Mexico's

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 ...

squad until he announced his retirement on 26 March 2010. On 5 September 2010, Suárez came out of retirement to play for the Carolina Railhawks in an exhibition game with the Pumas Morelos.

International career

Suárez was a member and starter for the senior national team in the

in the United States as well as the

in France. He missed

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

due to injury before the tournament began, but was picked to go to the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

in Germany. This FIFA World Cup meant his third World Cup in his career. Despite being picked for the squad he saw no action, but he did wear his legendary number 2 jersey. He captained the national team for many years and officially represented Mexico 177 times (178 in Mexican record keeping) making him the 2nd player with the most caps in history for the Mexico national football team. On 25 March 2007, Suárez along with former national team and Chivas USA teammate Ramón Ramírez were honored in a friendly against

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

at Estadio Universitario. He was selected as one of 3 overage players on the Mexico Olympic team at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Personal life

Suárez currently resides in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

with his wife and three children, and works as a commentator for Fox Deportes.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

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

Honours

UNAM *

Mexican Primera División Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

: 1990–91 *

CONCACAF Champions' Cup 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, a ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

Guadalajara *

: Verano 1997 * Pre-Libertadores Tournament:

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 ...

UANL * InterLiga:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Chivas USA * Western Conference Regular Season:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

* MLS SuperClasico:

Mexico *

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...

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 ...

; third place:

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

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:

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 ...

; third place:

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 ...

* CONCACAF Gold Cup:

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 ...

Individual * CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI:

* IFFHS CONCACAF Men's Team of All Time: 2021 * IFFHS Men's All Time Mexico Dream Team

References

External links

*
Claudio Suárez Interview

Football Database.com provides Claudio Suárez's profile and statsProfile and Statistics

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suarez, Claudio 1968 births Living people People from Texcoco, State of Mexico Mexico men's international footballers Mexican expatriate men's footballers Mexican men's footballers Men's association football defenders Club Universidad Nacional footballers C.D. Guadalajara footballers Tigres UANL footballers Chivas USA players Liga MX players Major League Soccer players 1993 Copa América players 1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1995 King Fahd Cup players 1995 Copa América players 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1997 Copa América players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1999 Copa América players 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2004 Copa América players 2006 FIFA World Cup players CONCACAF Gold Cup–winning players FIFA Confederations Cup–winning players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Mexico Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Mexican expatriate sportspeople in the United States FIFA Men's Century Club CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning players 20th-century Mexican sportsmen