Cristian Antonio Montecinos González (born 29 December 1970) is a Chilean former

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 striker for several teams in Chile, Colombia, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. He also played for the Chile national team. Montecinos began his professional career in 1988. During his playing career he played for teams like

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional football club based in the Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile currently participating in the Primera División de Chile. History Foundation, Amateur Era and First seasons ...

Deportes Temuco Club de Deportes Temuco is a Chile, Chilean Soccer, football club based in Temuco, Araucanía Region. It currently plays in the Primera B de Chile, Chilean Primera División B, holding home games at the new ''Estadio Municipal Germán Becker''. T ...

Atlético Junior Club Deportivo Popular Junior F.C. S.A. (), commonly known as Junior de Barranquilla, by its old name Atlético Junior or simply as Junior, is a Colombian professional football team based in Barranquilla, capital of the department of Atlantic ...

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V., simply known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club based in Torreón, Coahuila. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 1983 as Club Santos I ...

, Deportes Concepción,

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

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 ...

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

, Al Wasl, among others. Montecinos was member of Chile's 23-man squad at

2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil were the two-time defending cha ...

, whilst the team was coached by

Nelson Acosta Nelson Bonifacio Acosta López, nicknamed ''Pelado Acosta'' (''Bald'' Acosta), (born 12 June 1944 in Paso de los Toros, Uruguay) is a former Uruguayan-born Chilean football manager and footballer. He became a naturalized Chilean citizen in 1984 ...

Club career

A product of his hometown's team youth set-up,

Rangers de Talca Club Social de Deportes Rangers is a Chilean football (soccer), football club based in the city of Talca. The club was founded November 2, 1902 and plays in the Chilean Primera División B, second level of the Chilean football system. Their home g ...

, he professionally debuted in 1988. That year he only played one game and didn't scored goals at the second-level (

Primera B Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Ely Rafael Primera Ros ...

. Then, and now at top-level following the team's promotion, he netted seven goals in 21 participations. In 1992, Montecinos was transferred to

, winning the cup title the same year. One year later, he was hired by

where was Copa Chile goalscorer with fifteen goals. In 1994, he moved to

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

to play for

. There he became a key player in a club where he had a teammates to players like Iván René Valenciano and

Carlos Valderrama Carlos Alberto Valderrama Palacio (Colombian Spanish: ; born 2 September 1961), also known as ''"El Pibe"'' ("The Kid"), is a Colombian former professional footballer and sports commentator for Fútbol de Primera, who played as an attacking m ...

. During his spell at

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of the Atlántico department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean region of Colombia, Caribbean coast region; as of 2018, it had a popul ...

-based side between 1995 and 1994, Montecinos scored 16 goals, which allowed him to be recruited by Mexico's

for the 1996–97 season. He was part of Necaxa's squad that finished third in the

2000 FIFA Club World Championship The 2000 FIFA Club World Championship was the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup, the world club championship for men's club association football teams. It took place in Brazil from 5 to 14 January 2000. FIFA as football's international governing bod ...

. He scored against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at the 2021 ...

in the group stage.

International career

Montecinos represented the Chile national side during the

Copa América 2001 Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Association * Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association * Parlia ...

, scoring three goals in four games.

Personal life

Montecinos is the father of the Chile international footballer Joaquín Montecinos who was born in Colombia when he played for

Junior de Barranquilla Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

Honours

;Rangers * Segunda División de Chile (1):

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

;Unión Española *

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 ...

(1):

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

;Junior de Barranquilla * Primera A (1): 1995 ;Santos Laguna * Mexico Primera Division: 1996 Invierno ;Necaxa *

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

: Third Place -

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

;Individual * FIFA Club World Cup All-Star Team:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montecinos, Cristian Living people 1970 births Footballers from Talca Chilean men's footballers Chile men's international footballers Rangers de Talca footballers Unión Española footballers Deportes Temuco footballers Atlético Junior footballers Deportes Tolima footballers Santos Laguna footballers Deportes Concepción (Chile) footballers Cruz Azul footballers Colo-Colo footballers Club Necaxa footballers Club Puebla players Al Wasl F.C. players Dubai CSC players Al-Gharafa SC players Al Wahda FC players San Marcos de Arica footballers Primera B de Chile players Chilean Primera División players Categoría Primera A players Liga MX players UAE Pro League players UAE First Division League players Qatar Stars League players Chilean expatriate men's footballers Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Chilean expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar 2001 Copa América players Men's association football forwards 20th-century Chilean sportsmen