Javier Vicente Wanchope Watson (born 10 August 1968) is a former
Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
n
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
striker, who played most of his career with
Deportivo Saprissa
Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its Association football, football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, Costa Rica, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aym ...
. He is the current manager of Panamanian club
Atlético Chiriquí
Club Atlético Chiriquí is a Panamanian football team playing in Liga Panameña de Fútbol. It is based in David, Chiriquí and was founded on June 18, 2002 by Luis Denis Arce. Their home stadium is Estadio San Cristóbal.
History
Atlético ...
.
He was the second famous Wanchope soccer player to emerge in Costa Rica, after his dad Vicente, who played in the 1950s and 1960 with Herediano and Limonense. His younger brother is international soccer forward
Paulo Wanchope
Paulo César Wanchope Watson (; born 31 July 1976), more commonly known as Paulo Wanchope, is a Costa Rican football coach and former professional footballer who is the manager of Deportivo Saprissa.
As a player he was a striker who notably ...
, and his uncle is current coach and former player Carlos Watson.
Club career
Javier began his career with Herediano, a team where all his soccer playing family members have played. He was transferred to
Club Nacional de Football
Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'') is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in La Blanqueada, La Blanqueada, Montevideo.
The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' an ...
Defensor Sporting
Defensor Sporting Club is a sports club based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Founded in 1913, Defensor has several sports sections, with football and basketball being the most important and the ones in which the club has achieved significant achievement ...
. His style of playing was similar to his brother Paulo's, and was projecting himself to a successful international career when a knee injury cut his career short, and almost ended it before it even started. He returned to his country to play with Deportivo Saprissa, where he won two national championships, as well as two
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 ...
s. He was an excellent scorer for
Saprissa
Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. Their colours are burgundy and white. It ...
national team
A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport.
The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...
, during two World Cup qualifiers, and was part of the
1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship
The 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship, the first edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Dalian in People's Republic of China from July 31, 1985, to August 11, 1985. Players born after August 1, 1968, ...
held in China, the first
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
tournament where Costa Rica ever appeared.
Managerial career
After retiring, Wanchope became manager at second division El Roble and assistant manager at Herediano in 2010 alongside